Wendy Chamberlin
Born: October 12, 1948 in Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Nationality: American
Occupation: executive, Ambassador to Pakistan (August 13, 2001 - May 28, 2002)
When Wendy Chamberlin accepted her appointment as the new United States ambassador to Pakistan in August of 2001, she knew she would be making important decisions and resolving key issues. But she never could have foreseen how crucial her role would become in just a few weeks. After the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., the United States needed to make an ally of Pakistan, with whom relations had been strained. As ambassador, Chamberlin brokered a deal with Pakistani leader General Pervez Musharraf, who accepted the United States's offer to lift sanctions and supply $1 billion in aid in exchange for help with its war on terrorism.
Chamberlin's successful negotiations with Pakistan earned her a reputation as a talented peacekeeper and crisis manager. She worked closely with the Pakistani government as new events unfolded, including U.S. military action against Afghanistan and increasing tensions between Pakistan and its neighbor, India. Although she remained ambassador for only nine months, Chamberlin played a major diplomatic role and helped relations between the United States and Pakistan vastly improve.
Born in Bethesda, Maryland, Chamberlin was the second of three children and the only daughter of William, a Marine colonel, and Beverly, a homemaker. Like other "army brats," Chamberlin moved often with her family according to her father's military assignments. As a child she lived in Hawaii, California, and Falls Church, Virginia, where she graduated from George C. Marshall High School.
Reminiscing about their childhood to People magazine, Chamberlin's brothers, William and Barry, described their sister as "fearless" and "a tomboy." As a girl at California's Camp Pendleton, she thought nothing of plunging from 50-foot towers into the swimming pool below.
At Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, Chamberlin made the varsity swim team, racing in the notoriously difficult butterfly competition. Planning to become a teacher, she studied education and went on to obtain a Master's Degree in the subject from Boston University in 1971. After graduate school, Chamberlin took a job with International Voluntary Services in Laos, where she taught history and education at the National Teachers College.
"I was very troubled by the Vietnam War," Chamberlin told Update, Boston University School of Education's alumni newsletter. "I come from a family of Marine officers, but I had a different view [of the war]. I wanted to contribute what I could to Southeast Asia, and what I could do was to become a teacher there." Chamberlin remained in Laos until 1973.
Upon her return to the United States, Chamberlin encountered a tight job market due to a surplus of high-school history teachers. Considering other job options, she took and passed the entrance test for the Foreign Service. Suddenly she found herself on a new career path—one that would let her continue working abroad.
"I enjoyed working overseas," Chamberlin told People, "and service to my country is what drives me." After working as a Foreign Service Officer in Laos and Zaire, she returned to the United States in the mid-1970s to work for the State Department in Washington, D.C. Her various assignments included a post as director of press and public affairs in the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau, and a tour as a political/military officer in the Office of Israel and Arab-Israeli Affairs.
Chamberlin met Senior Foreign Service Officer John Houston Hawes in 1984, when she briefed him about Israeli affairs. After a business lunch, the two began dating, and they married two years later. Chamberlin and Hawes had two daughters, Jade and Chynna.
In 1993 the family moved to Malaysia, where Chamberlin had been appointed Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. During this assignment, Chamberlin received the Howard Wilkins Jr. Award for outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission. Also during this time, Chamberlin was appointed Director of Counter-terrorism Affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) under U.S. President George H.W. Bush.
In a career milestone, Chamberlin was named U.S. Ambassador to the Laos People's Democratic Republic in 1996. She and her family moved to Laos, where Chamberlin completed a three-year term as ambassador. It was a challenging assignment, since the Asian nation still harbored resentment for what it viewed as the United States's aggressive imperialism during the Vietnam War. Yet Chamberlin proved to be a skillful diplomat and peacekeeper.
During Chamberlin's ambassadorship, she and Hawes divorced. While Hawes returned to Washington, D.C., the two girls remained in Laos with their mother. In 1999 Chamberlin, too, returned to Washington with her daughters, taking a post as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. She was serving in this position when she was asked to consider becoming an ambassador again—this time to Pakistan. If she accepted the appointment, she would become the first female U.S. ambassador to the Muslim country.
Clearly, this ambassadorship would be a challenging job: the relationship between the United States and Pakistan had been strained since 1998, when the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on Pakistan in response to its nuclear testing. These sanctions were made even more severe after a 1999 coup d'etat in Pakistan. Chamberlin was also aware of internal problems within Pakistan. "It was next door to Afghanistan, which produced 70 percent of the world's heroin, much of that trafficked through Pakistan," she told Update. Pakistan's proximity to Afghanistan's extremism and terrorist involvement was another concern, as was its "very troubled relationship with its huge neighbor, India, over Kashmir."
Despite these challenges—in fact, because of them—the ambassadorship was attractive to Chamberlin. She told People, "No embassy offered more scope for resolving issues that are important to the U.S." At her confirmation hearing in June of 2001, she spoke of visiting Pakistan's inspiring Khyber Pass in the 1980s, and of her desire to return and serve the country. "We should help the people of Pakistan as they develop the conditions of good governance, rule of law, a strong economy, and social services to protect and provide for all citizens," she said at the hearing (quoted in Update). Chamberlin moved with her daughters to Islamabad, Pakistan, in August of 2001, and presented her credentials to the President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, the following month.
She had hardly begun her ambassadorship to Pakistan when the September 11 attacks took place in New York City and at the Pentagon. On a television at the Islamabad embassy, she watched the second of two planes strike the World Trade Center towers.
Suddenly, Chamberlin had to put her diplomatic skills to work. Pakistan's government had supported the Taliban government in Afghanistan, which the United States blamed for harboring Al Qaeda—the terrorist organization believed to be responsible for the attacks. Chamberlin immediately worked to win over Pakistan as an ally for the United States, which needed help in combating terrorism. Just days after the September 11 attacks, Chamberlin brokered a deal: the United States would lift its sanctions and give Pakistan $1 billion in aid in exchange for help fighting the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden, the terrorist leader of Al Qaeda.
If Chamberlin won kudos for her political diplomacy, she also garnered praise for her ability to forge personal ties with Musharraf and the people of her host country. She worked closely with the Pakistani leader and with other diplomats, and she reported that Musharraf was willing to give strong support to the United States as it geared up for a war on terrorism.
On her brief visits to the United States, Chamberlin spoke with reporters about the situation in Pakistan, and often alleviated fears generated by reports of anti-Americanism there. Asked about news coverage of Pakistani protests against the Musharraf administration, Chamberlin told CBS television (quoted on the U.S. Department of State's website): "You have to understand that the [protesters] represent a very small fringe minority. These are religious extremist parties."
Chamberlin also supported U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to continue the bombing campaign during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Despite concern that such a decision would anger Musharraf, Chamberlin reported to CBS that the Pakistani leader "understood the position" and supported a "swift end to this war." Meanwhile, Chamberlin earned the respect of many Pakistanis when she observed Ramadan herself by participating in the month-long, daily fast from dawn to dusk.
Yet the ambassador would face more challenges in Pakistan in December of 2001, when an attack at the Indian Parliament—believed to be waged by Pakistani extremists—intensified the antagonism between Pakistan and India. As a result, tensions escalated on the border with Kashmir. International concern mounted as Pakistan and India—both nuclear powers—geared up for what many thought would become a military standoff.
Over the next several months, a series of events—the kidnapping and killing of an American reporter, Daniel Pearl; an attack on a church in which Americans died; and a bus bomb in Karachi—wracked the nerves of embassy workers and their families. "I have to tell you," Chamberlin later told Raymond Bonner in the New York Times, "the crises [in Pakistan] were unrelenting. We couldn't catch our breath."
Safety became a concern for all embassy workers, including Chamberlin. Her daughters had been evacuated from Islamabad in mid-September of 2001, when they returned to Washington, D.C., to live with their father. Chamberlin remained separated from them for several months as she continued to do her work in Pakistan. With bodyguards and an armored car to keep her safe, she visited local villages, refugee camps, schools, and orphanages. "They call me the ambassador of the people," she told Update, "which is a comment on the way I operate. In the middle of everything else, I'm pursuing those interests that are important to me, which are the people."
Chamberlin surprised the U.S. media when she announced in May of 2002 that she would step down from her ambassadorship to be with her family. "My girls were very clear, very firm, they wanted me back," Chamberlin told the New York Times's Bonner. "I owe it to them, I'm a mother first." Her departure was met with both disappointment and understanding from Pakistani officials and the public. "She was seen as somebody who is fair," Pakistan Embassy spokesman Asad Hayauddin told the Washington Times. "As a parent, myself, I have much regard for her decision. Family values make a difference."
By the end of May, reports circulated that Chamberlin's replacement would be Nancy Powell, who was then serving as ambassador to the West African nation of Ghana. With experience gleaned from previous assignments in the Middle East, Powell proved to be a qualified candidate for the job.
Chamberlin returned to Washington, D.C., in the late spring of 2002, and in July the Washington Times reported that she would take a new job as assistant administrator at the U.S. Agency for International Development. Her job would entail working in the bureau for Asia and Near East affairs.
Further Reading
Periodicals
- New York Times, May 12, 2002, p. A6.
- People, February 4, 2002, pp. 81-82.
- Washington Times, May 29, 2002; July 12, 2002.
Online
- "Interview on CNN: Wendy Chamberlin, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan," U.S. Department of State, http://www.state.gov/p/sa/rls/rm/5981.htm (May 30, 2002).
- "U.S., Pakistan Want to 'Resolve the Threat of Terrorism,'" U.S. Department of State, http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/pol/terror/01110611.htm (May 30, 2002).
- "Wendy J. Chamberlin, Former Ambassador to Pakistan," U.S. Department of State, http://usembassy.state.gov/posts/pk1/wwwh01128.html (May 30, 2002).
Source: "Wendy Chamberlin." Newsmakers. Issue 4. Gale Group, 2002.
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