WASHINGTON, DC – After two years, President Donald Trump has nominated Natalie A. Baker, currently serving as the U.S. chargé d’affaires in Pakistan, to become the next U.S. ambassador to the country, potentially ending a nearly two-year vacancy in the key diplomatic post.

The White House submitted Baker’s nomination to the Senate on November 10. Her appointment will require approval by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee before it can proceed to a confirmation vote in the full Senate.

Baker, a Minister Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service, has headed the U.S. diplomatic mission in Islamabad since January 2025, following the departure of former ambassador Donald Armin Blome.

She arrived in Pakistan in August 2024 as deputy chief of mission before assuming the responsibilities of chargé d’affaires. If confirmed, she will formally take over as ambassador.

Baker previously served as deputy chief of mission at the U.S. 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.

Her earlier overseas assignments include serving as deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Mission to Libya, deputy director of the Iran Regional Presence Office at the U.S. Consulate in Dubai, and economic counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait.

Baker also served in Libya as political and economic counselor from 2009 to 2011, during a period when Washington and Tripoli were working to normalize relations after nearly three decades of estrangement. She remained in the country until the Libyan Revolution forced the U.S. Embassy to evacuate in February 2011.

Her other State Department assignments include special assistant in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, consular officer in Islamabad and cultural affairs officer in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.

Baker holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. She is also a 2017 Distinguished Graduate of the National War College at the National Defense University.

Her foreign-language skills include Arabic, Spanish, Farsi and Russian.

@IW