♦ Indian-American security expert Paul Kapur was officially sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in the Trump administration.

♦ He was among 107 nominees approved by the Senate and will now lead America’s diplomatic engagement with key South and Central Asian nations, including India. 

♦ Kapur succeeds Donald Lu, who served as Assistant Secretary from September 2021 to January 2025.

♦ He previously served in the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, where he worked on issues related to South and Central Asia, Indo-Pacific strategy, and India-US relations between 2020 and 2021.