WASHINGTON, Jan 8: US ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C. Crocker will now represent his country in Baghdad, the White House announced on Monday. The White House also said that President Bush will appoint the current US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, as Washington’s representative at the United Nations.
Although Mr Crocker’s replacement was not announced, diplomatic sources in Washington say that the United States deputy chief of mission in Baghdad, Daniel Z. Speckhard, may be sent to Islamabad as the new ambassador.
Mr Crocker, 57, has been a Foreign Service officer since 1971 and is among the State Department’s most respected voices in the Middle East.
