With the appointment of key point-persons, ties between the two countries are set to get a boost; officials work on possible Modi-Trump meeting in Kuala Lumpur
TAfter months of rocky relations, the India-U.S. engagement is set to get a boost as the U.S. Senate confirmed the nominations of Sergio Gor as Ambassador of the United States to India.and S. Paul Kapur, an American of Indian origin as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.
Mr. Gor has also been appointed as U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy on South and Central Asia, a new post that did not require confirmation. His role in the region has been watched keenly, and with some misgivings in New Delhi, especially as Mr. Gor met with leaders of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan in New York last month, and Pakistani leadership had travelled to Washington.
Officials did not indicate a date for Mr. Gor to take up his post as Ambassador in Delhi, but did not rule out his arrival in the next few weeks in his role as special envoy, ahead of a possible meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Trump on the sidelines of the upcoming ASEAN-related summits in Kuala Lumpur on October 26-27, where they may repair ties and discuss scheduling the Quad summit.
At the Senate hearing on September 11, Mr. Gor, who said the U.S.-India relationship would “define the 21st century”, indicated that he and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau would travel to the region in October, and set out the tasks before him. Mr. Gor said that he would work to advance the India-U.S. trade relationship so that it is “fair” to American businesses, adding that “India’s protectionist policies and regulatory barriers have prevented [the two countries] from fully realising this partnership”. He also said that “getting” India to stop buying Russian oil is a “top priority”.
Mr. Gor and Mr. Kapur, who will be the point-persons for India and the region, were confirmed among 107 nominees in a single vote with 51 Senators in favour and 47 against, who convened despite the U.S. government shutdown, on Tuesday.
“Ambassador Gor’s confirmation is a signal to New Delhi that the U.S.-India relationship is a top priority for the administration and the region, and together, through the right diplomatic channels, [India and the U.S.] can iron out the creases and reach consensus,” Mukesh Aghi, president and CEO of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, said on Wednesday, referring to Mr. Gor as a “trusted confidante” of Mr. Trump, and Mr. Kapur as a “stellar academic and a South Asia scholar who is second to none in understanding the security of the region and New Delhi’s concerns vis-a-vis Beijing and Islamabad”.
Kapur, an experienced analyst
While Mr. Gor, a 38-year-old close Trump aide and MAGA (Make America Great Again campaign) insider, has no previous experience on India, Mr. Kapur is an experienced analyst on India and the region, known well in South Block. He has worked in the U.S. State Department’s policy planning division in 2020-21. The author of several books and papers on Pakistan-sponsored jihadist groups in South Asia, U.S.-India relations, and India and Pakistan’s nuclear programmes, Mr. Kapur has been a frequent visitor to the region and was a visiting fellow at the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation until recently.
Tasks cut out
They will assume their positions with their tasks cut out for them, given the downturn in India-U.S. relations over a number of issues in the past few months, including the U.S.’s 50% tariffs on Indian goods, sanctions over Russian oil imports, deportations, a crackdown on students, a $100,000 fee for H-1B immigrant visas, and the imposition of sanctions over Chabahar port. Recent weeks have seen a thaw as External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mr. Gor in New York, and trade negotiators resumed talks for a free trade agreement.
However, Mr. Trump’s repeated claim that he has made more than 40 times, including this week, of mediating the India-Pakistan conflict using trade ties as leverage to avert a “nuclear war”, which the Ministry of External Affairs has strenuously denied, has increased the strain in ties.
The claim is part of a campaign by the U.S. government for a Nobel Peace Prize for Mr. Trump for his attempts to settle at least seven conflicts this year. According to U.S. media portal Politico, Mr. Trump’s travel to Malaysia to attend the East Asia Summit, is contingent on the 10-nation ASEAN grouping’s endorsement for the Nobel Prize for his role in ending the Cambodia-Thailand conflict at a special commemoration ceremony, which has not so far been confirmed. He is also expected to travel to Japan for a bilateral visit and South Korea for the APEC Summit on October 31-November 1. Although Mr. Modi’s visit to Kuala Lumpur has not so far been announced, sources confirmed that he is expected to travel there, and Indian and U.S. officials are in contact about scheduling a bilateral meeting.
U.S. Senate confirms Gor as Ambassador to India, seasoned-hand Kapur as top State Department regional official
With the appointment of key point-persons, ties between the two countries are set to get a boost; officials work on possible Modi-Trump meeting in Kuala Lumpur
TAfter months of rocky relations, the India-U.S. engagement is set to get a boost as the U.S. Senate confirmed the nominations of Sergio Gor as Ambassador of the United States to India.and S. Paul Kapur, an American of Indian origin as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.
Mr. Gor has also been appointed as U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy on South and Central Asia, a new post that did not require confirmation. His role in the region has been watched keenly, and with some misgivings in New Delhi, especially as Mr. Gor met with leaders of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan in New York last month, and Pakistani leadership had travelled to Washington.
Officials did not indicate a date for Mr. Gor to take up his post as Ambassador in Delhi, but did not rule out his arrival in the next few weeks in his role as special envoy, ahead of a possible meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Trump on the sidelines of the upcoming ASEAN-related summits in Kuala Lumpur on October 26-27, where they may repair ties and discuss scheduling the Quad summit.
At the Senate hearing on September 11, Mr. Gor, who said the U.S.-India relationship would “define the 21st century”, indicated that he and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau would travel to the region in October, and set out the tasks before him. Mr. Gor said that he would work to advance the India-U.S. trade relationship so that it is “fair” to American businesses, adding that “India’s protectionist policies and regulatory barriers have prevented [the two countries] from fully realising this partnership”. He also said that “getting” India to stop buying Russian oil is a “top priority”.
Mr. Gor and Mr. Kapur, who will be the point-persons for India and the region, were confirmed among 107 nominees in a single vote with 51 Senators in favour and 47 against, who convened despite the U.S. government shutdown, on Tuesday.
“Ambassador Gor’s confirmation is a signal to New Delhi that the U.S.-India relationship is a top priority for the administration and the region, and together, through the right diplomatic channels, [India and the U.S.] can iron out the creases and reach consensus,” Mukesh Aghi, president and CEO of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, said on Wednesday, referring to Mr. Gor as a “trusted confidante” of Mr. Trump, and Mr. Kapur as a “stellar academic and a South Asia scholar who is second to none in understanding the security of the region and New Delhi’s concerns vis-a-vis Beijing and Islamabad”.
Kapur, an experienced analyst
While Mr. Gor, a 38-year-old close Trump aide and MAGA (Make America Great Again campaign) insider, has no previous experience on India, Mr. Kapur is an experienced analyst on India and the region, known well in South Block. He has worked in the U.S. State Department’s policy planning division in 2020-21. The author of several books and papers on Pakistan-sponsored jihadist groups in South Asia, U.S.-India relations, and India and Pakistan’s nuclear programmes, Mr. Kapur has been a frequent visitor to the region and was a visiting fellow at the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation until recently.
Tasks cut out
They will assume their positions with their tasks cut out for them, given the downturn in India-U.S. relations over a number of issues in the past few months, including the U.S.’s 50% tariffs on Indian goods, sanctions over Russian oil imports, deportations, a crackdown on students, a $100,000 fee for H-1B immigrant visas, and the imposition of sanctions over Chabahar port. Recent weeks have seen a thaw as External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Mr. Gor in New York, and trade negotiators resumed talks for a free trade agreement.
However, Mr. Trump’s repeated claim that he has made more than 40 times, including this week, of mediating the India-Pakistan conflict using trade ties as leverage to avert a “nuclear war”, which the Ministry of External Affairs has strenuously denied, has increased the strain in ties.
The claim is part of a campaign by the U.S. government for a Nobel Peace Prize for Mr. Trump for his attempts to settle at least seven conflicts this year. According to U.S. media portal Politico, Mr. Trump’s travel to Malaysia to attend the East Asia Summit, is contingent on the 10-nation ASEAN grouping’s endorsement for the Nobel Prize for his role in ending the Cambodia-Thailand conflict at a special commemoration ceremony, which has not so far been confirmed. He is also expected to travel to Japan for a bilateral visit and South Korea for the APEC Summit on October 31-November 1. Although Mr. Modi’s visit to Kuala Lumpur has not so far been announced, sources confirmed that he is expected to travel there, and Indian and U.S. officials are in contact about scheduling a bilateral meeting.
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