The Pakistan Ambassador to the United States is in charge of the Pakistan Embassy, Washington, D.C., and Pakistan's diplomatic mission to the United States. The official title is Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to the United States of America.
History The embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C., was built on 28 August 1947, when Pakistan attained independence from Great Britain and separated from India to form the Dominion of Pakistan. From the onset, Pakistan adopted a pro-American policy, with relations taking an upturn in 1954 when Pakistan signed several defense pacts with the United States – first the SEATO and then CENTO in 1955. Their relations were soured because of the subsequent Indo-Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971, but were rejuvenated due to the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the ensuing covert war of 1980–88. Pakistan's secret nuclear programme led the US to impose sanctions on Pakistan, thus deteriorating Pakistani-American relations, but the war on terrorism again placed Pakistan in the good books of America, improving the two countries' bilateral relations once more.
Therefore, the Pakistani ambassadors to the US were not only the top officers of the Pakistani civil service, but also political appointees of respective governments of the time. Some former ambassadors later rose to command positions in the Pakistani government, with one of them, Muhammad Ali Bogra, becoming the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
List of Pakistani Ambassadors to the United States
Name and Title Image Entered Office Left OfficeAbul Hassan Isphani 8 October 1948 8 February 1952Muhammad Ali Bogra 27 February 1952 16 April 1953Syed Amjad Ali 26 September 1953 17 September 1955Muhammad Ali Bogra November 1955 March 1959Aziz Ahmed 23 March 1959 July 1963Ghulam Ahmed 19 July 1963 15 September 1966Agha Hilaly 21 October 1966 20 October 1971Maj Gen (R) N.A.M. Raza 22 October 1971 22 April 1972Sultan Mohammed Khan 15 May 1972 8 December 1973Lt Gen (R) Sahabzada Yaqub Khan 19 December 1973 3 January 1979Sultan Mohammed Khan 13 January 1979 31 December 1980Lt Gen (R) Ejaz Azim 7 July 1981 15 September 1986Jamsheed Marker 17 September 1986 30 June 1989Air Chief Marshal (R) Zulfiqar Ali Khan 12 July 1989 15 September 1990Najmuddin Shaikh 14 October 1990 22 November 1991Abida Hussain 26 November 1991 24 April 1993Maliha Lodhi 21 January 1994 30 January 1997Riaz Khokhar 12 March 1997 7 September 1999Tariq Fatemi 8 September 1999 16 December 1999Maliha Lodhi 17 December 1999 4 August 2002Ashraf Qazi 19 August 2002 6 August 2004General (R) Jehangir Karamat 17 August 2004 3 June 2006Maj Gen (R) Mahmud Ali Durrani 5 June 2006 9 May 2008Husain Haqqani 26 May 2008 22 November 2011Sherry Rehman 23 November 2011 14 October 2013Jalil Abbas Jilani 2 December 2013 26 February 2017Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry 1 March 2017 11 May 2018Ali Jehangir Siddiqui 29 May 2018 25 December 2018Asad Majeed Khan 11 January 2019Dr Asad Majeed Khan presents credentials to US President Donald Trump | The Express Tribune 24 March 2022Masood Khan 19 April 2022 August 2024Rizwan Saeed Sheikh August 2024 Incumbent
See also United States Ambassador to Pakistan Embassy of the United States, Islamabad
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