Donald Lu
Donald Lu (born 1966) is a United States diplomat serving as Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs since 2021. He previously served as both the United States Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan from 2018 to 2021 and the United States Ambassador to Albania from 2015 to 2018.
Donald Lu | |
|---|---|
| Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs | |
| Assumed office September 15, 2021 | |
| President | Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Alice G. Wells |
| United States Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan | |
| In office October 12, 2018 – September 14, 2021 | |
| President | Donald Trump Joe Biden |
| Preceded by | Sheila Gwaltney |
| Succeeded by | Lesslie Viguerie |
| United States Ambassador to Albania | |
| In office January 13, 2015 – September 19, 2018 | |
| President | Barack Obama Donald Trump |
| Preceded by | Alexander Arvizu |
| Succeeded by | Yuri Kim |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1966 (age 57–58) Huntington Beach, California, U.S. |
| Spouse | Ariel Ahart |
| Education | Princeton University (BA, MPA) |
He is accused by the then Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan of threatening to overthrow Khan's government through a no-confidence vote and having sent a cryptic message to him through Pakistan's ambassador to the US Asad Majeed. According to an alleged leaked Pakistani diplomatic cable obtained by The Intercept covering a March 7, 2022 meeting between Lu and Majeed, Lu stated that relations between the U.S. and Pakistan were already cooling because of Khan's "aggressively neutral" stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a recent visit of his to Moscow; Lu allegedly related that if there was no change in the Pakistani government's stance on Ukraine, it would likely become "isolated" from the U.S. and Western Europe, but that if Khan was removed in an upcoming no-confidence vote, the rift would be likely to heal quickly.