Paul Kapur was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs in the Trump administration, the US State SCA announced on X (formerly Twitter). With this, he succeeds Donald Lu, who served as Assistant Secretary from September 2021 through January 2025.
“Welcome to @State_SCA, Assistant Secretary Paul Kapur! This morning, Dr Kapur was officially sworn in as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs,” it said. The department plays a crucial role in shaping US policy on security, economic engagement, counterterrorism, and infrastructure development in the broader South and Central Asia region.
Welcome to @State_SCA, Assistant Secretary Paul Kapur! This morning Dr. Kapur was officially sworn in as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. pic.twitter.com/dLjqmPjHVP
— State_SCA (@State_SCA) October 22, 2025
Who is Paul Kapur?
Paul Kapur is an Indian-American. According to his own account, he was born in New Delhi to an Indian father and an American mother. He grew up as a “thoroughly American kid” but visited India often. He earned his undergraduate degree from Amherst College and later completed a PhD at the University of Chicago.
Kapur has written several books, such as “Jihad as Grand Strategy: Islamist Militancy, National Security, and the Pakistan State” in 2016, and “Dangerous Deterrent: Nuclear Weapons Proliferation and Conflict in South Asia” in 2017.
He has taught at Stanford University, the US Naval War College, and the US Naval Postgraduate School, and is known as an expert on South Asian security, US-India relations, nuclear strategy, and the foreign policies of both India and Pakistan.
From 2020 to 2021, he served on the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, focusing on South and Central Asia, Indo-Pacific strategy, and US-India relations. He has also overseen the India-US Track 1.5 dialogue, as well as other strategic defence initiatives between the two nations.
Currently, he is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. In early October, the Senate confirmed him, along with Sergio Gor, who was appointed as the new US Ambassador to India.
‘My career has come a full circle’
During his Senate confirmation hearing in June, he reflected that his career “has come full circle,” noting that he has transitioned from studying the region academically to taking on a senior diplomatic role.
“I can’t avoid the feeling of having come full circle. I was born in New Delhi to an Indian father and an American mother. Although I visited India often during my childhood, I grew up in the United States as a thoroughly American kid, never imagining that my career would someday return me to the place where I was born,” he added.
Kapur, who assumed the role of US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, is pro-India-US ties.
“The United States and India share a host of common interests: ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific region, which is not dominated by China; expanding bilateral trade, building our economic relationship so that it is more symmetrical and profitable; facilitating technology sharing and innovation; and ensuring access to the energy necessary to fuel our economies,” he said at the time.
On Pakistan, he said that he would “pursue security cooperation where beneficial to US interests”. He also warned that Pakistan would face a “serious risk of catastrophe” if it fails to abandon its long-standing militant strategy.
