Khalilzad, ex-top U.S. diplomat and Bush favourite, in laundering probe

Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations under President George W. Bush, is being investigated by American authorities for suspected money laundering, Austrian officials said Monday. The investigation centers on the alleged transfer of 1.15 million euros ($1.5 million) in May 2013 to an account in Vienna owned by Khalilzad’s wife, Cheryl Benard. The case became public after a blogger found documents while rummaging through a garbage container used by the state prosecutor’s office in Vienna. Between 2001 and 2003, many Afghan officials and foreign observers saw Khalilzad as the country’s de-facto ruler in the initial months after the Taliban’s collapse. He took center stage organizing the traditional grand councils, or loya jirgas, that would eventually approve Afghanistan’s constitution.

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