WASHINGTON, Sept 22: The US Senate on Saturday approved new American ambassadors to Pakistan and Iraq, both veteran diplomats nominated by President Barack Obama.

In a voice vote, the Senate confirmed Robert Stephen Beecroft as the new envoy to Iraq, and Richard Olson to be the new ambassador to Pakistan.

The appointment of Olson — a 30-year veteran of the State Department who was envoy to the United Arab Emirates between 2008 and 2011 — will aim to turn a page in diplomatic relations with Islamabad.

The outgoing American ambassador to Pakistan, Cameron Munter, resigned in May after a turbulent tenure in which a covert US forces raid killed Osama bin Laden near a major military academy.

Until June Olson served in the US embassy in Kabul as the coordinator for development and economic affairs, a key priority for Washington as the United States prepares to withdraw its forces.

Beecroft has served at the US embassy in Baghdad since July 2011, first as the deputy chief of mission and from June this year as the charge d’affaires.

Earlier he was US ambassador to Jordan from 2008 to 2011, and has held positions at the American embassies in Saudi Arabia and Syria. —AFP