Trump’s man: Paul Kapur is the new US Asstt Secy of State for South, C. Asia
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: In a signal to Pakistan, US President Donald Trump has nominated Islamabad-critic and Indian-origin expert Paul Kapur as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.
Kapur, an expert on India-Pakistan security and nuclear issues and a harsh critic of Islamabad, will replace Donald Lu of the Joe Biden era, the media reported on Thursday.
If confirmed, Paul Kapur, scholar and author of several books on South Asian geopolitics, will become only the second Indian-descent US diplomat overseeing the South Asian region tasked with managing diplomatic ties with India and the region around.
“Paul Kapur of California to be Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs,” a US press release stated.
A strong backer of close US-India relations, Kapur was part of the US State Department’s policy planning team on South Asia during Donald Trump’s first term as President (2017-21).
An accomplished scholar and an author of several books specialising in South Asian politics, he currently serves as a Professor in the US Naval Post Graduate School. He is also a visiting fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution.
Among the notable books Kapur has authored include “Jihad as Grand Strategy: Islamist Militancy, National Security and the Pakistani State” and “Dangerous Deterrent: Nuclear Weapons Proliferation and Conflict in South Asia.”
The Indian-American also manages consultancy and engagement projects for the US Department of Defence, and is part of the US-India Track 1.5 dialogue on defence cooperation.
The US President has appointed several Indian-Americans to key positions in his administration, including Kash Patel as FBI director and Sriram Krishnan as White House policy adviser on Artificial Intelligence (AI).
