S. Paul Kapur Nominated to Head U.S. State Dept's South Asia Bureau
S. Paul Kapur, who previously worked on India relations, has been appointed by the Trump administration to lead the South Asia bureau at the State Department, overseeing diplomatic relations with India and the surrounding region.
“Paul Kapur, of California, to be Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs”. said a statement from the office of Vice-President J.D. Vance, including a huge number of appointments that were sent for the US Senate’s consideration and confirmation.
Kapur currently serves as a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School, specialising in South Asian politics, and security, and international relations.
If confirmed, he will be the second Indian-descent top US diplomat for relations with South Asian countries, but unlike his predecessor in this category, he will head a smaller regional spread.
Nisha Biswal, the first Indian-descent Assistant Secretary of State, had headed a bureau that was called the South and Central Asia, which included many countries that are now out.
According to his bio on the Naval College website, from 2020 to 2021, Kapur served on the State Department’s policy planning staff, working on issues related to South and Central Asia, Indo-Pacific strategy, and US-India relations.
Before this assignment, Kapur taught at Claremont McKenna College, and was a visiting professor at Stanford University.
Books authored by him are Jihad as Grand Strategy: Islamist Militancy, National Security, and the Pakistani State; and Dangerous Deterrent: Nuclear Weapons Proliferation and Conflict in South Asia.
He has co-authored India, Pakistan, and the Bomb: Debating Nuclear Stability in South Asia; and co-edited The Challenges of Nuclear Security: US and Indian Perspectives.
The website also highlighted that his work has been featured in prominent academic journals like International Security, Security Studies, Asian Survey, and Washington Quarterly, as well as in outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, The National Interest, and RealClearPolicy. Additionally, Kapur leads a US-India Track 1.5 strategic dialogue and other US-India initiatives for the Department of Defense.