US Senate Confirms Indian-American Nisha Desai As Assistant Secretary Of State
Culture & Lifestyle Oct 18, 2013
The US Senate has confirmed Nisha Desai Biswal, an accomplished Indian-American administrator, as America's new assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, making her the first person from the South- Asian community to hold the top diplomatic position.
President Barack Obama himself had nominated her for the position on July 18.
Nisha will take over the current secretary Robert Blake. She will oversee US foreign policy and relations with India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan.
Biswal is currently the assistant administrator for Asia at the US Agency for International Development, which is headed by Rajiv Shah, the highest-ranking Indian-American in the Obama administration. She has held this position since September 2010.
A graduate of the University of Virginia, Biswal began her professional career in Washington DC with the American Red Cross in the mid-1990s before she joined USAID in her first stint.
As a Hill staffer with the US House of Representatives International Relations Committee from 1999 to 2002, she worked extensively with diplomats from the region before doing another stint with NGO InterAction.
From 2005 to 2010, she was the Majority Clerk for the State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee, on the Committee on Appropriations in the US, a crucial position for allocation of American foreign aid.
Although there have been several other Indian-Americans at the assistant secretary level, namely Bobby Jindal, Richard Varma, Karan Bhatia, Suresh Kumar among them, this is the first time an Indian-American would be heading the South Asia bureau.
Source: IANS, firstpost.com,timesofindia.com
Feature Image: dc40.devex.com
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