(Image Source: YouTube/GeoNews)

BY EVAN BUSH 

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

Hoping to mend ties with the U.S., Pakistan has appointed a human rights, pro-Western woman as its new ambassador to the country. Both countries hope the move could spur a warming of their increasingly frosty diplomatic relationship.

KCPQ has the new ambassador’s background.

“Pakistan, meantime, is naming a new ambassador to the US. Sherry Rehman graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts, she served as Pakistan’s information minister in 2008 until her resignation in 2009. She also founded a public policy organization based in Pakistan. The country’s former ambassador to the US resigned yesterday amid allegations he he tried to get our countries help to reign in the military.”

The move was a surprise to most -- many media outlets are reporting the rumor is Pakistan’s military forced the previous ambassador out. Rehman does not have connections to the military, and is known as a liberal reformer. Pakistan’s Dawn News has more.

“Rehman, a former journalist, was information minister for Zardari. She resigned in March 2009 over a crisis in which the government was refusing to reinstate judges sacked under the military regime of President Pervez Musharraf. Rehman has been a strong advocate of women’s and minority rights and faced death threats for her calls to reform the country’s blasphemy laws.”

That liberal leader status makes her appointment important. She faces long odds in restoring relations between the two countries in a political climate the BBC describes as a minefield.

“Not only will Ms Rehman find herself facing a cynical and suspicious US administration...She will also have to tread with extreme caution when interacting with US officials over the seemingly relentless simmering tensions between her country's civil and military leadership.”

And a writer for the The Los Angeles Times says it’s a crucial time for the both countries because they rely on each other.

“Despite the mutual mistrust that continues to burden the relationship, both countries know they cannot afford to sever ties. The U.S. regards Pakistan, a nuclear armed state, as a crucial player in the volatile South Asian region... Pakistan is heavily dependent on aid from the U.S. and international lending institutions that are strongly influenced by Washington.”

So can she do the job? As the extremely popular Pakistani ambassador to the US leaves amid scandal, The Guardian has high hopes for Rehman, though it acknowledges things can’t get much worse.

“...the Haqqani affair is unlikely to have a significantly adverse impact on US-Pakistan relations, partly because they are already in the toilet, and partly because Haqqani's replacement, Sherry Rehman ... is every bit as smart and savvy as her predecessor."