Munter confirmed for Islamabad post
Just before its pre-election break, the Senate confirmed a host of Obama administration appointees, including Cameron Munter as the new U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan. Munter heads to Islamabad during one of its most tumultuous periods in recent history. The CIA is hunting down operatives involved in a plot to attack European cities, the government is ...
Just before its pre-election break, the Senate confirmed a host of Obama administration appointees, including Cameron Munter as the new U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan.
Munter heads to Islamabad during one of its most tumultuous periods in recent history. The CIA is hunting down operatives involved in a plot to attack European cities, the government is under assault from elements of the opposition, and now Pakistan has cut off NATO supply routes to Afghanistan in retaliation for the killing of three Pakistani soldiers by a NATO air strike. Oh, and the country is still reeling from devastating floods.
In his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Munter identified himself as a clear supporter of Pakistan's civilian government led by President Asif Ali Zardari.
Just before its pre-election break, the Senate confirmed a host of Obama administration appointees, including Cameron Munter as the new U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan.
Munter heads to Islamabad during one of its most tumultuous periods in recent history. The CIA is hunting down operatives involved in a plot to attack European cities, the government is under assault from elements of the opposition, and now Pakistan has cut off NATO supply routes to Afghanistan in retaliation for the killing of three Pakistani soldiers by a NATO air strike. Oh, and the country is still reeling from devastating floods.
In his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Munter identified himself as a clear supporter of Pakistan’s civilian government led by President Asif Ali Zardari.
“Success will come in Pakistan by building confidence in, and working with, a strong civilian government,” he said. “It will be the result of patient efforts on our part to define and address areas of interest that America and Pakistan share — our counterinsurgency against violent extremists, Pakistan’s ability to achieve its full economic potential, our commitment to social development. We can only achieve this common success with a strong partner in Pakistan’s democratically elected civilian government.”
He also said that Pakistan would have to raise taxes on its own people to get out from under the flood crisis, a call that Hillary Clinton echoed Tuesday.
“Pakistan must raise its revenues internally to pay for the needs of its people,” Munter said.
Munter heads to Pakistan with his wife, Marilyn, whom he was separated from during his last posting in Baghdad.
The Senate also confirmed Donald Steinberg to be deputy administrator of USAID, Nancy Lindborg to be USAID’s assistant administrator for democracy, conflict, and humanitarian assistance, and Kristie Kenney to be Ambassador to Thailand.
A full list of all of Wednesday’s confirmations after the jump
< li>William Claud Sibert, of Missouri, to be United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Missouri for the term of four years
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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