Ms.Shirin Raziuddin Tahir-Kheli was born on August 24, 1944, in Hyderabad, India. Her father was a scientist in the Osmania University before he and his family migrated to Pakistan. She is married and has two children
Dr. Tahir-Kheli studied in the Ohio-Wesleyan University (B.A., 1961) and the University of Pennsylvania (M.A., 1963; Ph.D., 1972).After her PhD, she served in several capacities at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA: as an academic adviser in the Office of the Dean, 1972 - 1973. ; as an Assistant Professor for Political Science, 1973 - 1979; and as an Associate Professor for Political Science, 1980 - 1982.
She joined the Reagan Administration in 1982 as a member of the Policy Planning Staff in the Office of the Secretary of State. She was Director for Political-Military Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House, 1984 - 1986 and Director for Near East and South Asia at the NSC 1986-1988. She also served as an Adjunct Professor for the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the Johns Hopkins University, 1988 - 1989.
On February 9, 1990, President George Bush (Sr) nominated her as the Alternate Representative of the US for Special Political Affairs at the United Nations, with the rank of Ambassador. She left the post in 1993,after President Clinton assumed office and returned to her academic pursuits.
She became a Fellow of the Princeton University’s Center of International Studies and co-chair of a Council on Foreign Relations Study Group on India and Pakistan. She was a member of the Presidential Commission on the Public Service and was, probably still is, a member of the Board of Trustees of The Aga Khan University in Pakistan and of the Princeton University’s Institute for the Transregional Study of Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. She also was a Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a Philadelphia-based think tank.
She also became the Director of the South Asia Institute of the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in the Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C. of which Dr. Wolfowitz, Ph.D. was the Chairman and Dean.
