While the next US Ambassador to India is not named, Indian-American S Paul Kapoor is nominated by President Donald Trump for the post of Assistant State Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, a top diplomatic status, in which he will look after India and its neighborhoods along with the intersections of America-including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
If confirmed, Kapoor will step into Donald Lu’s shoes, who completed their term in January this year, put charge of one of the world’s most complex, sensitive and unstable regions. For the Indian establishment, however, who are constantly looking to expand and strengthen their relations with the US in important areas such as defense, technology and science, and to sign a bilateral trade agreement, camphor will become an important negotiator. America also banks in India to offset China’s dominance in India in India.
Therefore, it may be appropriate that on June 10, during his nomination hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kapoor started by touching his Indian roots and also placed the India-American partnership agenda. “If confirmed, I will work to carry forward the US-India relationship and put my partnership on the syllabus to feel my tremendous promise,” he said.
“The United States and India share a host of general interests: to ensure an independent and open Indo-Pacific sector, which is not dominating China; expanding bilateral trade, creating our economic relations, so that it is more symmetrical and profitable; to ensure access to the energy required to fuel our economies and to renovate the necessary energy to fuel our economies.
Saying that he could not escape the spirit of “full cycle”, Kapoor – Born for an Indian father and an American mother in New Delhi – he said that he grew up as “a well -American child” in America, never imagined that my career would someday return me to the place where I was born.
He said, “Today, I have been really returned to my beginning with this committee.”
Recently referring to the enmity of India-Pakistan, Kapoor said, “South Asia recently avoided an expensive struggle, with the Vice President (JD Vance) and Secretary (Marco) Rubio on the issue.
The story continues below this advertisement
Especially in Pakistan, he said he would carry forward security cooperation “where American interests are beneficial, while looking for opportunities for bilateral cooperation in business and investment”.
In the presence of his wife and three of his five children, Kapoor said during the hearing that he often visited India during childhood, but was interested in studying the field in graduate school and worked on (field) as a scholar and a government official.
Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan are important for stability in the Indo-Pacific sector, Kapoor said that in hearing, Sri Lanka and Maldives are located with major ocean trade routes, while Bangladesh claims the largest economy in the later region of India. “If confirmed, I would advocate to increase American cooperation with these countries to expand my safety, imbalance, China’s influence and trade,” he said.
In Afghanistan, he said that he would support President Trump and Secretary Rubio to bring “the remaining detained Americans”, saying that he would work to ensure that the country would never become a launching pad for terrorism again, which is threatening the motherland.
The story continues below this advertisement
Kapoor has written several books and articles about the security environment of South Asia and American policy in the region, taught military officers about the region, led US-India strategic engagement projects, and cover South and Central Asia on the policy planning employees of State Department.
,
