Ambassador Sohail Mahmood

Ambassador Sohail Mahmood is serving as the Director General of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI).

Ambassador Sohail Mahmood has been a career Foreign Service officer with diplomatic experience spanning 37 years that included various assignments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as Pakistan’s Missions Abroad in both bilateral and multilateral arenas.

Ambassador Sohail Mahmood joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1985.

From April 2019 to September 2022, Ambassador Sohail Mahmood served as the 30^th Foreign Secretary of Pakistan.

Prior to his appointment as Foreign Secretary, he served as Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India from August 2017 to April 2019. Earlier, he had served as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkiye (with concurrent accreditation to North Macedonia and Kosovo) from 2015 to 2017, and as Pakistan’s Ambassador to Thailand & Permanent Representative to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), Bangkok, from 2009 to 2013.

At the Headquarters, he worked as Desk Officer for the South Asia region from 1987 to 1988 and again from 1990 to 1991. He later worked as Director (Iran and Turkiye) from 1995-1998; as Director General (Americas) from 2005-2008; Director General, Foreign Secretary’s Office (FSO) in 2009; and as Additional Secretary (Afghanistan/West Asia) from 2013-2015.

Ambassador Sohail Mahmood’s diplomatic assignments abroad also included working at Pakistan’s Missions in Ankara, Washington as well as New York, including as Political Coordinator for Pakistan’s delegation to UN Security Council for the term 2003-2004.

He has also served on the Boards of AIT (Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok), ADPC (Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, Bangkok), ISSI (Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad), IRS (Institute of Regional Studies, Islamabad), NUML (National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad), and PNCA (Pakistan National Council of Arts, Islamabad).

Ambassador Sohail Mahmood holds a Masters degree in International Affairs (M.I.A.) from the Columbia University, New York, as well as a Masters in History from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.

He is married and has three children.