Indian-American academic S Paul Kapur on Thursday took oath as the next Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.

Kapur will be America’s principal diplomatic official handling ties with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, as reported by HT.

“Welcome to @State_SCA, Assistant Secretary Paul Kapur! This morning Dr. Kapur was officially sworn in as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs,” the department wrote in a post on X.

Earlier this month, the United States Senate had confirmed Paul Kapur’s appointment.

Who is Paul Kapur?

• Born in New Delhi to an Indian father and an American mother, Kapur attended Amherst University before earning a PhD from the University of Chicago in 1999.
• He taught at Stanford University, the US Naval War College and the US Naval Postgraduate School.
• Kapur specialises in South Asian security and has emerged as a leading voice on US-India relations, nuclear policy and the foreign policies of both India and Pakistan.
• As report by HT, Kapur has emerged as a votary of the US-India relationship and a sceptic of Pakistan due its support for terrorist groups in India and Afghanistan.
• He has publicly questioned the Biden Administration’s decision to grant a $450 million sustainment package for Pakistan’s F-16 fighter jets in 2022.
• Kapur has maintained that Washington’s desire to build closer defence relations with Pakistan would only hurt its ties to India, which would see America as untrustworthy.