Lakhdhir has served as the U.S. Consul General in Belfast.
AB Wire
President Barack Obama has nominated an Indian American-origin career member of the Foreign Service, Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir, to the post of Ambassador of Malaysia.
If appointed, Lakhdhir will be the fourth Indian American in the U.S. Foreign Service nominated by the Obama administration, after Ambassador Richard Verma to India, Atul Keshap to Sri Lanka (both confirmed), and Geeta Pasi, to Chad (yet to be confirmed).
According to a White House announcement, Lakhdhir, a career member of the Foreign Service, Class of Counselor, was the Executive Assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, a position she held from 2011 to 2015.
Lakhdhir served as the U.S. Consul General in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom from 2009 to 2011. She previously worked in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs as the Director of the Office of Maritime Southeast Asia from 2007 to 2009 and as the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2005 to 2006.
From 2001 to 2005, Lakhdhir was a Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China. From 2000 to 2001, she served as a Pearson Fellow in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Asia and the Pacific Subcommittee and the House Financial Services Committee, Monetary Policy and Trade Subcommittee.
From 1998 to 2000, Lakhdhir was Deputy Coordinator of the Taiwan Coordination Staff in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. She was a Line Officer in the Department’s Executive Secretariat from 1996 to 1998. Since joining the Foreign Service in 1991, Lakhdhir has also served as a Political Officer in Indonesia and as a Consular Officer in Saudi Arabia.
Lakhdhir received a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.S. from the National War College.