ISLAMABAD: The White House has nominated Natalie A. Baker, currently serving as the US chargé d’affaires in Islamabad, to be the next US ambassador to Pakistan. Baker assumed charge as chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in Islamabad in January 2025, having arrived in the country as deputy chief of mission in August 2024. She previously served as deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Doha, Qatar, from August 2021 to July 2024. Before that, she was director of the Office of North African Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Baker has also served as 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. Her earlier assignments included a posting as political and economic counsellor in Libya from 2009 to 2011, during the normalisation of bilateral relations after a nearly 30-year pause. She remained in the country until the Libyan Revolution prompted the US Embassy to evacuate in February 2011. Baker’s other diplomatic roles included special assistant in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, consular officer in Islamabad and 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.