President Joe Biden names Indian American Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir for key ambassador position in Indonesia

Ritu Jha–

President Joe Biden announced on October 20 his intent to nominate Indian American diplomat Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir to serve as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Indonesia. Lakhdhir, whose father moved from Mumbai, India to the United States for higher studies, formerly served as Ambassador to Malaysia from 2017 to 2021.

Lakhdhir is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of Minister-Counselor, and was most recently Executive Secretary of the Department of State.

She has served as Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Lakhdhir served as U.S. Consul General in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

She has served as Director of the Office of Maritime Southeast Asian Affairs, which includes responsibility for U.S. relations with Indonesia. She also served as a Pearson Fellow in the House International Relations Committee’s Asia and Pacific Subcommittee, and the House Financial Services Committee’s International Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee.

Early in her career, she was Deputy Coordinator of the Taiwan Coordination Staff in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. Other overseas assignments were in China, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia.

Lakhdhir earned a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.S. from the National War College. She also speaks Chinese and Bahasa Indonesia.

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