Mary Kabir-Seraj Bischoping, an Afghan-American with royal lineage, has been appointed to lead the U.S. policy on Afghanistan at the Department of State.
Khaama Press News Agency reported on April 21 that in the first Afghanistan-related political appointment since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Afghan-American attorney Mary Kabir-Seraj Bischoping has been named Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Afghanistan.
In this new role, Bischoping will oversee U.S. foreign policy toward Afghanistan under the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.
Previously, U.S. engagement on Afghanistan was led by Thomas West, former Special Representative for Afghanistan, and Rina Amiri, who served as Special Envoy for Afghan Women, Girls, and Human Rights.
Khaama Press notes that Bischoping, 33, is a descendant of the Barakzai royal dynasty, which ruled Afghanistan from 1823 to 1978. Her last name comes from her German-American husband. She was born and raised in California and belongs to a prominent Afghan family with historical ties to the former monarchy.
She is also a descendant of King Amanullah Khan and Queen Soraya Tarzi, iconic figures in Afghanistan’s political history, and Latifa Kabir Seraj, one of the country’s first female journalists.
According to a biography released by the University of Virginia, Bischoping’s family fled Afghanistan after the Soviet invasion in 1979 due to political threats. Her parents completed their education in Europe before settling in Southern California.
She earned her undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2016 and later received her Juris Doctor (JD) from the University of Virginia School of Law. She is fluent in Persian and German.
Following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Bischoping joined the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department. In 2023, she was appointed Senior Counsel to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, where she led Republican-led oversight investigations into the Afghanistan withdrawal and advised on regional strategy.
Prior to her Congressional role, Bischoping served as a legal adviser at the State Department, clerked for Judge Kent A. Jordan on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and worked at major law firms including Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Willkie Farr & Gallagher in New York.
Her appointment to this high-level diplomatic post reflects a combination of legal expertise, policy experience, and a personal understanding of Afghanistan’s complex history—positioning her to play a key role in shaping future U.S. engagement with the region.
The New York Times reported on August 25, 2019 that Mary Kabir-Seraj Bischoping is a daughter of Nahid Y. Seraj and Habib K. Seraj of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. Her father is a linguist working with the Department of Defense in Central Asia, The New York Times said, noting that her mother was a stay-at-home parent.
She is a great-granddaughter of King Inayatullah Khan, a former king of Afghanistan.
On August 24, 20219, she married Gregory Thomas Schwartz Bischoping. They were reportedly married at the Roman Catholic Parish of Our Saviour in New York.
