Washington D.C.: In a transfer that highlights America’s deal with South and Central Asia, the US Senate confirmed Indian-origin educational S Paul Kapur as assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs on October 7, regardless of the continuing authorities shutdown.
Kapur replaces Donald Lu and is now poised to form Washington’s engagement with international locations, together with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The White Home introduced the appointment on X, stating, “Paul Kapur, of California, as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs.”
Kapur was amongst 107 nominees cleared by the Senate and is predicted to steer US diplomacy throughout a area of rising strategic significance.
Who Is Paul Kapur?
Born in New Delhi to an Indian father and an American mom, Kapur brings experience in South Asian safety and international coverage. He presently serves as a professor on the US Naval Postgraduate College and is a visiting fellow at Stanford College’s Hoover Establishment.
His expertise features a tenure on the State Division’s Coverage Planning Workers through the earlier Trump administration, the place he centered on Indo-Pacific technique and US-India relations.
He holds a PhD from the College of Chicago and a bachelor’s diploma from Amherst Faculty. His scholarly work spans many years, protecting nuclear technique, safety dynamics and geopolitical challenges throughout South Asia.
Kapur is the writer of ‘Jihad as Grand Technique: Islamist Militancy, Nationwide Safety and the Pakistani State’ and ‘Harmful Deterrent: Nuclear Weapons Proliferation and Battle in South Asia’. His analysis usually emphasises that Pakistan’s use of jihadist teams is a deliberate state coverage, a perspective that would sign a more durable US stance towards Islamabad below his management.
He additionally co-authored ‘India, Pakistan and the Bomb: Debating Nuclear Stability in South Asia’ and co-edited ‘The Challenges of Nuclear Safety: US and Indian Views (2024)’.
His writings have appeared in distinguished journals and retailers, together with Worldwide Safety, Safety Research, Asian Survey, The Wall Road Journal and The Nationwide Curiosity.
With Kapur on the helm, Washington is predicted to recalibrate its diplomatic and strategic engagement throughout South and Central Asia, balancing longstanding alliances with a deal with safety, nuclear stability and regional cooperation.