Biography
At the United Nations
H.E. Zahir Tanin, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the 19th of December 2006. During his time at the United Nations, Ambassador Tanin has delivered many statements on subjects of concern to Afghanistan before the Security Council, the General Assembly, other UN organs, and at side events.
Ambassador Tanin was elected as one of the Vice Presidents of the General Assembly during the 63rd session, and in that capacity he has chaired a number of General Assembly plenaries on behalf of the President of the General Assembly, including part of the 2008 High Level Meeting on Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue.
On October 10, 2008, Ambassador Tanin, in his personal capacity, was appointed to chair the intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform on behalf of the President of the General Assembly. The negotiations began 19 February, 2009. Ambassador Tanin was also named Vice-chair of the Open Ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation of and an Increase in Membership to the Security Council and Other Related Matters (OEWG). As Vice-chair of the OEWG, and Chair of the intergovernmental negotiations, Ambassador Tanin is involved in extensive consultations with all interested parties in an attempt to guide negotiations towards a successful conclusion.
Ambassador Tanin also serves as Vice-Chair of the Bureau on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. He has served in this capacity since his appointment in 2006, and has so far attended meetings of the Bureau in New York, Rome, Paris, Amman and Brussels.
In addition to his official duties, Ambassador Tanin participates in a variety of forums to raise awareness on Afghanistan and Afghan issues, and to lend Afghanistan’s experience to helping the international community in policy issues. In the fall of 2008, he spoke to various groups of foreign parliamentarians and other government officials, participated in a UNITAR conference on post-conflict stabilization policies and coordination, and spoke to the students of the Whitehead School of Diplomacy about the future of Afghanistan.
Before the United Nations
Prior to his appointment, Dr. Zahir Tanin was Editor of BBC World Service (Persian and Pashto Section) for Afghanistan from 2001-2006. Before that, he worked as Producer and Senior Producer in the BBC.
Having started his career in 1980 as a journalist in Kabul, Mr. Tanin came to BBC from the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he was a Research Fellow at the International Relations Department from 1994 to 1995. Prior to that, he was Editor-in-Chief of Afkbar-e-Haftah and Sabawoon Magazine in Kabul and a freelance writer in France. Mr. Tanin was co-author of The Communist Regime in Afghanistan, a comprehensive study of the political and social changes in Afghanistan from 1978 to 1992, and authored Afghanistan in the Twentieth Century, published in Tehran. He also produced a 29-part programmed entitled The Oral History of Afghanistan in the 20th Century, broadcast by the BBC.
A graduate of the Kabul Medical University, Mr. Tanin has also completed several BBC broadcasting and media management, and other courses, as well as an extensive one-year BBC leadership program.
Born on May 1 1956, Mr. Tanin is married with two children.