ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump has nominated Natalie Baker, a career diplomat, as Washington’s next ambassador to Pakistan, sending her name to the US Senate for confirmation, the White House said on Tuesday.
Baker, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counsellor, is currently heading the US mission in Islamabad as chargé d’affaires.
She arrived in Islamabad in August 2024 as deputy chief of mission and assumed the role of chargé d’affaires as interim in January 2025, following the departure of then-ambassador Donald Blome. She was appointed permanent chargé d’affaires in October this year.
Her nomination comes at a time when Pakistan and the US are seeking to strengthen bilateral engagement in areas including trade, investment, security and regional cooperation.
The ambassadorial position has remained vacant since Blome completed his tenure and left Pakistan in January 2025.
Baker brings extensive diplomatic experience, particularly in Middle East and North Africa, having served in several senior positions at US diplomatic missions and the US State Department.
Before arriving in Islamabad, she served as deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Doha, Qatar, from August 2021 to July 2024.
She subsequently served as director of the office of North African Affairs in the US State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.
Her previous assignments include deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires at the US Mission to Libya, deputy director of the Iran Regional Presence Office at the US Consulate in Dubai, and economic counsellor at the US Embassy in Kuwait.
Baker also served as political and economic counsellor in Libya from 2009 to 2011, during a period when Washington and Tripoli were normalising bilateral relations.
She remained in the country until the 2011 Libyan revolution prompted the evacuation of the US Embassy.
Earlier in her diplomatic career, she worked as a special assistant in the US State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, a consular officer in Islamabad and a cultural affairs officer in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
In 2017, she graduated with distinction from the National War College at the National Defence University in Washington, DC.
Baker speaks Arabic, Spanish, Persian and Russian.
Her nomination will now go through the US Senate confirmation process before she can formally assume the ambassadorial post.
Her nomination comes against the backdrop of a shift in the US political landscape, with Democrats having won control of the Senate in the November 3 midterm elections.
The incoming Democratic majority, which takes office in January 2027, will have the authority to consider and vote on ambassadorial nominations, including Baker’s.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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