WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has nominated S. Paul Kapur, a scholar of Indian origin known for his critical views on Pakistan, as the next Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.<\/p>\n
Kapur\u2019s nomination was leaked to the media at a pivotal moment, coinciding with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s visit to Washington.<\/p>\n
In this context, Kapur\u2019s appointment signals a broader shift in Washington\u2019s South Asia policy \u2014 one that places greater emphasis on New Delhi while adopting a more sceptical stance towards Islamabad.<\/p>\n
His nomination signals a potential hardening of US policy towards Pakistan, with reduced engagement on security and economic matters.<\/p>\n
As Michael Kugelman, an American scholar of South Asian affairs, put it: \u201cLike others already in the administration, Kapur is a strong backer of the US-India partnership and a harsh critic of Pakistan.\u201d<\/p>\n
A professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School and a fellow at Stanford\u2019s Hoover Institution, Kapur has long argued that Pakistan\u2019s security policies rely on \u201cIslamist militancy as a tool of statecraft\u201d.<\/p>\n
His book, Jihad as Grand Strategy, contends that while this approach once provided Islamabad with strategic leverage, it has since backfired, weakening the Pakistani state, straining its economy, and provoking a more aggressive Indian military posture.<\/p>\n
His influence at the State Department may mean a tougher stance on issues such as financial aid and diplomatic backing on Kashmir. If his perspective shapes official US policy, Islamabad could find itself under greater pressure to rethink its strategies \u2014 or risk deeper diplomatic and economic isolation.<\/p>\n
If confirmed by the Senate, Kapur will replace Donald Lu, who is leaving the position following the change in administration. For now, Eric Meyer continues to serve as the senior official overseeing the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has nominated S. Paul Kapur, a scholar of Indian origin known for his critical views on Pakistan, as the next Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia. Kapur\u2019s nomination was leaked to the media at a pivotal moment, coinciding with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi\u2019s visit to Washington. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5621,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5619\/revisions\/5621"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}