Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Nov 11: US President Donald Trump has nominated career diplomat Natalie Baker as the next US ambassador to Pakistan, seeking to fill a key diplomatic position that has remained without a Senate-confirmed ambassador for nearly two years.
Baker, who has been heading the US Embassy in Islamabad as charge d'affaires since January 2025, was among several diplomatic nominees whose names were submitted by the White House to the Senate on Monday.
The White House identified Baker, a native of Texas, as a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor and nominated her as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Pakistan.
Her nomination has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and will require Senate confirmation before she can formally assume the position.
Baker arrived in Islamabad in August 2024 as deputy chief of mission. She took charge of the embassy in January 2025 following the departure of Ambassador Donald Blome, who had served in Pakistan since 2022 and left the post on January 10, 2025.
A career diplomat with extensive experience across the Middle East and North Africa, Baker previously served as deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Doha, Qatar, from August 2021 to July 2024.
Before that, she headed the State Department's Office of North African Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.
Her other assignments include serving as deputy chief of mission and charge d'affaires at the US Mission to Libya, deputy director of the Iran Regional Presence Office at the American Consulate in Dubai, and economic counsellor at the US Embassy in Kuwait.
During her posting in Kuwait, she worked with the US Defence Department to support the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.
Between 2009 and 2011, Baker served as political and economic counsellor in Libya, when Washington and Tripoli were working towards normalising relations after nearly three decades of strained ties.
She remained in the country until the uprising against former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi forced the US Embassy to evacuate in February 2011.
Her earlier diplomatic assignments also included a posting in Islamabad as a consular officer, a cultural affairs position in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, and service as a special assistant in the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.
During her tenure as charge d'affaires in Pakistan, Baker has focused on commercial diplomacy and cooperation in emerging technologies.
During a visit to Lahore on August 11-12, she met Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif and provincial adviser Ali Dar to discuss opportunities in artificial intelligence, higher education, innovation and investment.
A graduate of Princeton University, Baker holds a master's degree in public policy from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. She was also a distinguished graduate of the National War College in 2017 and speaks Arabic, Spanish, Farsi and Russian.
The White House has also nominated Jeffrey Colyer of Kansas as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Cynthia Kierscht to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau, and Ian McCary to Mali, among several other diplomatic appointments.