New US ambassador assuming charge on 23rd

LAHORE: Donald Armin Blome, a career member of the senior United States Foreign Service and class of Minister-Counselor, will assume charge as the new American ambassador to Pakistan on May 23, it has been learnt on authority.

On October 19, 2021, US President Joe Biden had nominated eminent diplomat Blome to be the next US ambassador to Pakistan, where the country’s former premier Imran Khan is consistently blaming Washington for hatching a conspiracy to oust him from power.

The American Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on Ambassador Blome’s nomination on December 14, 2021. The committee favourably reported his nomination to the Senate floor on January 12, 2022. The entire Senate confirmed his nomination on March 1, 2022 by a voice vote.

Donald Blome’s appointment was announced some four years after Ambassador David Hale completed his three-year term in Islamabad.

A Middle East expert, he is currently the US ambassador to Tunisia, an African country that had attracted global limelight in 2011 after a revolution, triggered by the lack of freedom and democracy under the 24-year rule of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, had overthrown his regime and catalyzed the broader Arab Spring across the region.

Ambassador Blome has also served US diplomatic missions in Kabul, Jerusalem, Cairo, Baghdad and Kuwait. He has long experience in the Middle East region and speaks fluent Arabic.

Earlier in his career, he had served as the civilian co-director, Multinational Force Strategic Engagement Cell, Baghdad, political counsellor, Embassy Kuwait, and as Israel desk officer, deputy director and acting director, Office of Israel and Palestinian Affairs. Blome received a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan.