New Delhi: Appointment of former Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra as India’s next envoy to Washington is underway, and the United States has been informed of the same.
The post has remained vacant since January, when the then ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu retired from the service.
Kwatra, a 1988 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, demitted office as foreign secretary on 14 July, after serving a little over two years at the post. He previously served as India’s envoy to France between 2017 and 2020, and India’s ambassador to Nepal from 2020 to 2022.
People familiar with the matter told ThePrint that the US has been informed and India is awaiting an agreemo, a letter of acceptance from the State Department there.
All appointments in any foreign mission have to be cleared by the concerned country.
His appointment comes at a time as ties between New Delhi and Washington are witnessing multiple challenges. In November 2023, the US Justice Department made public the indictment of an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, and a government agent allegedly behind a foiled assassination attempt of US national Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Pannun, the founder of the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), an outfit banned by India, has been designated as a terrorist by New Delhi. In June 2023, US authorities were able to stop the alleged attempt to kill Pannun and induce Gupta to leave the country to Czechia, where he was apprehended.
Last month, Gupta was extradited to the US.
Why Kwatra may have to face challenges
In recent weeks, senior American officials, including US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, publicly highlighted their reservations over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Russia.
Incidentally, The Washington Post reported that Kurt Campbell, the US Deputy Secretary of State, had spoken with Kwatra (who was India’s foreign secretary at that time), to possibly reschedule the meeting. This was because it was scheduled to be held the same week as the US was hosting the leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Washington D.C. for a summit celebrating 75 years of the military alliance.
Apart from these challenges, the next ambassador may also have the additional burden of dealing with a new administration, in the event that Donald J. Trump and the Republican Party win the November presidential elections. The former US President has in recent polls been edging out incumbent President Joe Biden in the race to the White House.
Kwatra previously served in the US as minister (commerce) at the Embassy in Washington D.C. between May 2010 and July 2013. He also was posted twice to China, first as a Counsellor and then the Deputy Chief of Mission at the embassy in Beijing.
He was integral in implementing the Rafale jet deal, which saw India purchase 36 jets from France in a flyaway condition. According to reports, he is fluent in French, and extremely experienced with the full scope of India’s geostrategic challenges and partnerships.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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