US President Donald Trump has nominated Natalie Baker, the current chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in Islamabad, as the next US ambassador to Pakistan, paving the way for the appointment of a permanent envoy after a gap of nearly two years.
The White House announced the nomination in a list of appointments sent to the US Senate on Monday. Baker, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor, has been nominated to serve as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Her nomination has been submitted to the Senate for consideration and is subject to confirmation. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will review the nomination before it proceeds to a vote in the full Senate. If confirmed, Natalie A Baker will become the first US ambassador to Pakistan since Donald Blome left the post in early 2025.
Baker has been leading the US Mission in Pakistan as chargé d’affaires since January 2025, following Blome’s departure after Trump returned to the White House. She joined the US Embassy in Islamabad as Deputy Chief of Mission in August 2024, according to details available on the embassy’s website.
Before her posting in Pakistan, Baker served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Doha, Qatar, from August 2021 to July 2024.
Her diplomatic career has also included assignments as director of the Office of North African Affairs at the US State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, 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.
From 2009 to 2011, she served as political and economic counsellor in Libya during the normalisation of bilateral relations following a nearly 30-year break. She remained in the country until the Libyan Revolution forced the US Embassy to evacuate in February 2011, according to her official biography.
Baker has also previously served as a consular officer in Islamabad. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University and is a graduate of the National War College at the National Defense University in the United States.
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Blome, the last US ambassador to Pakistan, took charge in May 2022 after his nomination was confirmed by the Senate in March that year. His appointment ended a gap of nearly four years without a full-time US ambassador in Islamabad. He was the first permanent US envoy to Pakistan since David Hale completed his tenure in August 2018.
Baker’s appointment will become official if she secures Senate confirmation.
