Rend Al-Rahim is a nonresident senior fellow with the Iraq Initiative in the Atlantic Council’s Middle East programs. Al-Rahim is also president and co-founder of the Iraq Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit promoting democracy, human rights, and civil society in Iraq. A leading expert on Iraqi politics and civic development, she served as Iraq’s first ambassador to the United States from 2003to 2005, following the fall of Saddam Hussein. 

Al-Rahim has advised and collaborated with numerous institutions, including the United States Institute of Peace—where she was a senior fellow—and academic centers such as Princeton University, Georgetown University, and the University of Pennsylvania. She has testified before the US Congress and remains a frequent commentator on Iraqi affairs in international media. 

She is the co-author of The Arab Shi’a: Forgotten Muslims and has contributed widely to scholarship on Iraq’s constitution, transitional justice, and national reconciliation. Al-Rahim holds a BA and MA from the University of Cambridge and an MA from the University of Sorbonne.