Washington DC - June 26, 2009 - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has asked Farah Pandith to
head the new Office of the United States Special Representative to
Muslim Communities. Special Representative Farah Pandith and her staff
(S/SRMC) will be responsible for executing the Administration's efforts
to engage with Muslims around the world on a people-to-people and
organizational level.

"I am pleased to announce the
appointment of Farah Pandith to serve as Special Representative to
Muslim Communities. Farah brings years of experience to the job, and
she will play a leading role in our efforts to engage Muslims around
the world," Secretary Clinton said.

Pandith was the senior
adviser on Muslim engagement in the European and Eurasian region at the
State Department. The position was created for the first time in the US
history. Prior to the State Department, she served on the National
Security Council at the White House where she worked on Muslim
engagement and combating extremism. She worked at the U.S. Agency for
International Development in the early 1990s and again in 2003. She
also served in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2004.

Pandith, a Muslim,
immigrated to the United States with her parents from Srinagar, India.
She has said that she sees her personal experience as an illustration
of how Muslim immigrants to the US can successfully integrate
themselves into American society. She grew up in Massachusetts with a
diversity of faiths, ethnicities and perspectives.