DUSHANBE, 12.03.2019. (NIAT Khovar) – The newly appointed US Ambassador to Tajikistan John Mark Pommersheim arrived in Dushanbe. This was reported in a statement released yesterday by the US Embassy in Tajikistan.

“Ambassador Pommersheim is honored to serve the United States as the US Ambassador to Tajikistan. He took the oath of office in the rank of Ambassador of the United States to Tajikistan on February 22, 2019 in Washington, DC,” the statement reads.

Pommersheim was appointed US Ambassador to Tajikistan by President Trump on January 7. From 2015 to 2018, he served as deputy chief of mission at the US Embassy in Astana, Kazakhstan. Prior to Kazakhstan, he served as director of the Office of Caucasus Affairs and Regional Conflicts in the State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs where he was responsible for managing the full spectrum of US relations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

During his diplomatic career, he has served in a wide array of positions in Washington DC and worked in Japan, China, Belarus, and Germany. He also served as consul general in Vladivostok, Russia.

Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Pommersheim worked for CNN in Moscow and with the US Information Agency in Georgia and Uzbekistan. Pommersheim is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a graduate of Bucknell University as well as Columbia University.

He is married to Natalya Pommersheim, with whom he has three sons. Pommersheim speaks Russian, German, Japanese and Chinese.

The post of US Ambassador to Tajikistan has remained vacant since the summer of 2017, after Elizabeth Millard’s departure. Since that time on, Kevin Covert served as the Charge d’Affairs of the US Embassy in Tajikistan.