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Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United States
Assistant Secretary of State
for South and Central Asian Affairs
Seal of the United States Department of State
Flag of an Assistant Secretary of State
Incumbent
Donald Lu
since September 15, 2021
Reports toUnder Secretary of State for Political Affairs
NominatorPresident of the United States
Inaugural holderEdward Djerejian
Formation1992
WebsiteOfficial Website

The assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs is the head of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs within the United States Department of State, which handles U.S. foreign policy and relations in the following countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The position of Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs was renamed when responsibility for policy for five countries (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan) was transferred from the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs to the Bureau of South Asian Affairs, which became the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. Richard A. Boucher was sworn in as the first to hold the current title on February 21, 2006 after the previous Assistant Secretary, Christina B. Rocca, left the Department.

List of assistant secretaries of state for South Asian affairs

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# Name Assumed office Left office President served under
- Edward P. Djerejian[1] August 24, 1992 May 30, 1993[2] George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton
- James P. Covey [3]
1 Robin Raphel August 6, 1993 June 27, 1997 Bill Clinton
2 Karl Inderfurth August 4, 1997 January 19, 2001
3 Christina B. Rocca June 1, 2001 February 17, 2006 George W. Bush
4 Richard Boucher February 21, 2006 January 20, 2009
5 Robert O. Blake, Jr. May 26, 2009 October 20, 2013 Barack Obama
6 Nisha Desai Biswal October 21, 2013 January 20, 2017
- William E. Todd (Acting) January 20, 2017 June 12, 2017 Donald Trump
- Alice G. Wells (Acting) June 26, 2017 June 20, 2020
- Dean R. Thompson (Acting) January 20, 2021 September 15, 2021 Joe Biden
7 Donald Lu September 15, 2021 present

References

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  1. ^ Edward P. Djerejian held the title of "Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs" from September 30, 1991. On August 24, 1992, he became Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs. He was never formally Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.
  2. ^ "Edward Peter Djerejian - People - Department History - Office of the Historian".
  3. ^ The Senate did not act upon Covey's nomination and he never became Assistant Secretary.
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