American President George W Bush has nominated Anne Woods Patterson of Virginia, a career member of the Foreign Service, as the next ambassador to Pakistan.
Patterson currently is assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and will be replacing Ryan C Crocker who has gone on to become the American ambassador to Iraq some six weeks ago.
Besides being ambassador to Colombia in 2000-2003, Patterson was the No 2 US diplomat at the United Nations in 2004-2005, including a period as acting head of the mission.
The nomination of Patterson will have to be approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee headed by Joseph Biden.
The name will then be forwarded to the full Senate for a vote.