Kapur’s appointment may shift US policy towards South Asia

ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump has nominated Indian-American Paul Kapur to be the assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs.

Donald Lu was asked to step down after a change in the US administration, and Kapur will now replace him, but this requires final Senate confirmation. Until this process is completed, Eric Meyer is serving as the senior bureau official for the region. Meyer was previously posted as the US charge d’affaires in Oslo.

If approved by the Senate, Kapur’s appointment could lead to a significant change in the US policy for South Asia. In particular, a strategy of further strengthening relations with India and adopting a cautious approach towards Pakistan could be adopted. Kapur’s nomination has sparked considerable debate in Pakistan.

According to Indian media, Kapur is seen as a strong supporter of deepening the strategic relationship between the US and India. According to Christopher Cleary, associate professor of Political Science at the University at Albany, Kapur considers India a high-level strategic partner of the US. “Kapur is skeptical of Washington’s focus on human rights issues in India and finds such discussions unhelpful,” Cleary wrote in a post. “His position on Pakistan is more strident.” Cleary says Kapur’s scholarly work has been highly critical of the Pakistani state. This could mean that under Kapur, the US could adopt a tougher policy towards Islamabad, which would differ from the policies of his predecessors, who sought to balance relations with India and Pakistan.