WASHINGTON — Only a few months ago, he was a foreign policy commentator in Boston known around the world for blasting the government of his native Pakistan and, sometimes, the Bush administration as well.
Today, Husain Haqqani is Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, charged with cultivating and promoting the turbulent U.S.-Pakistani relationship.
It may be the toughest diplomatic job in Washington.
The 52-year-old Haqqani represents the new government of a country whose citizens are wary of the United States. At the same time, the Bush administration harbors deep doubts about Pakistani leadership.
In recent weeks, Haqqani has met with officials on both sides after U.S. airstrikes that killed Pakistani civilians, media reports of secret U.S. military raids into Pakistan, and gunfire between U.S. and Pakistani troops near the Afghan border. In a recently released Gallup poll, 45% of Pakistanis said they viewed the U.S. forces in Afghanistan as a menace to their country.
"I haven't had a moment's rest through this whole period," says Haqqani, who regularly receives calls from his country's president and others for consultations at 2 a.m.
His message has been consistent: Pakistan's fragile new civilian government is committed to democratic reform and to the battle against extremists and that reports of conflict with the Bush administration are overblown.
Haqqani, who has worked at different times as a journalist, diplomat and political advisor, has lived in the United States since 2002 as a think-tank analyst and head of a foreign policy institute at Boston University.
He has cultivated a taste for American things, including the Boston Red Sox and "Larry King Live" ("when it's not about Lacy Peterson").
He is married to Farahnaz Ispahani, a member of parliament and spokeswoman for President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party. A former CNN producer, she is the granddaughter of Pakistan's first ambassador to the United States, M.A.H. Ispahani.
Haqqani regularly draws on his deep U.S. ties, but acknowledges questions back home. "Some people in Pakistan do ask snidely, 'Is he Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, or the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan?' " he says.
It's a tough job, but Haqqani has supporters in Washington. "If anybody can carry it off, it's him," said Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
