3. Biodata
Sima Wali was born April 7, 1951, in Kandahar, where her father worked for the Afghan national bank. Both parents, who belonged to the Afghan aristocracy, encouraged her education. She studied business administration at Kabul University, graduating in 1971. She worked for the Peace Corps mission in Afghanistan before fleeing the country. Wali settled in Washington, where she received a master’s degree in international relations from American University in 1984.

Sima Wali is President and CEO of Refugee Women in Development (RefWID), Inc. an international institution focusing on women in conflict and post-conflict reintegration issues. Wali was one of three female delegates representing Afghanistan's former king Mohammad Zahir, at the U.N. Peace Talks on Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany in December 2001.

Mrs. Sima Wali died Sept. 22 at her home in Falls Church, Va. She was 66. The cause was multiple system atrophy, a degenerative neurological disorder, said her nephew, Suleiman Wali.(20171015)