US President Donald Trump has announced his "intent to nominate" Mary Catherine Phee as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States to Qatar, the White House has said in a statement.

Phee, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, class of minister-counsellor, currently serves as the deputy special representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation at the Department of State.

She has previously served as US ambassador to South Sudan, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Bureau of International Organisation Affairs, and deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Additionally, she has served on the National Security Council as director for Iraq and was the senior civilian representative of the Coalition Provisional Authority to Maysan Province, al-Amarah, Iraq. Phee, who is from Illinois, earned her BA from Indiana University and MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

She is a recipient of the State Department’s Robert C Frasure Memorial Award and the Baker-Wilkins Award for Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission. She has also received the Secretary of Defence Meritorious Civilian Service Award and the Order of the British Empire.

Phee speaks Arabic, the White House statement adds. William Grant is currently serving as the US charge d’affaires in Doha.

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