Episode 66: Pakistan's Role in the World

Global in the Granite State

For the past 77 years, since the founding of Pakistan at the partition of British held India, the United States and Pakistan have worked together to try and bring stability to this region of the world. As the fifth largest country in the world, as measured by population, and sitting at a geopolitical strategic crossroads, Pakistan remains an important partner on a wide range of issues of global, regional, and national interest. Whether it is managing their own relations with India, balancing the interests of the United States and China, or working on transnational issues such as climate change and terrorism, this country plays a key role in responding to the various challenges facing the world today. In this episode, we speak with Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan, to explore the role that Pakistan would like to fill in the international system, to discuss where interests overlap, and to identify what Pakistan wants to see from its relationship with the United States. Through this conversation, we highlight the importance of understanding the deeper relationships than what is typically talked about. By discussing how the US-Pakistan relationship goes deeper than counterterrorism, we can better understand the ways this relationship can be leveraged to benefit both countries.
Ambassador Masood Khan is currently serving as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, a role he has held since 2022. Prior to that he was the President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir from August 2016 to August 2021. Immediately before becoming the President he was the Director General of the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, one of the top think tanks in Pakistan.
Ambassador Masood Khan had a distinguished diplomatic career. Most notably, he served as:

• Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2005;
• Pakistan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, from 2005 to 2008;
• Pakistan’s Ambassador to China from 2008 to 2012; and
• Pakistan’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Headquarters, New York, from 2012 to 2015.

In his earlier diplomatic career, he held important diplomatic positions in China, The Netherlands, United Nations (New York) and the USA (Washington D.C. from 1997 to 2002).
Over the years, he has also held leadership positions in the international community which include:

• President of the Conference on Disarmament,
• Chairman of the Committee on Internet Governance of the 2005 World Summit for Information Society.
• President of the Biological Weapons Review Conference 2006,
• President of the Governmental Group of the International Labour Organization (ILO),
• Chairman of the ILO Reform Committee,
• Chairman of the Council of the International Organization for Migration
• Chairman of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Geneva.
• Chairman of the Group of 77 and China.

In New York, Ambassador Khan represented Pakistan as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council from 2012 to 2013 and became the President of the Security Council in January 2013.
While in New York, he was also the

• Vice President of the Economic and Social Council,
• Vice President of the UN General Assembly and
• President of the Executive Board of UNICEF.

Ambassador Masood Khan also remained Pakistan’s Chief Negotiator (Sherpa) for the US-led Nuclear Security Summits, from 2009 to 2015.