Afghan-born U.S. envoy says no presidential ambitions

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Washington's Afghan-born ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, rejected suggestions on Wednesday that he might run for president in his country of birth when Afghan President Hamid Karzai's term ends in 2009.

Asked about such reports while speaking at the Asia Society in New York, Khalilzad, who was US ambassador to Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion, said he would always be happy to help Afghanistan but not by running for office there.

"I am not a candidate and I will not be a candidate," he said.

He said he appreciated the "good thoughts" of those talking about him as a possible president, but he joked they might have another motive.

"These are people who want to get rid of me. Some of them are my competitors for jobs in this country so they want to export me to Afghanistan," he said.

"I made a decision a long time ago to be exported from there to here."

Khalilzad first came to the United States as an exchange student in 1966, attending high school in California, and has long been a US citizen.

A Bush appointee, his term at the United Nations is likely to end early in 2009.

(Reporting by Claudia Parsons)