President Barack Obama has nominated Nisha Desai Biswal to head the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs at the US Department of State.
Once approved by the Senate, Biswal will become the first person of South Asian origin to the head the bureau which oversees US foreign policy and relations with Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan.
The South Asia bureau has always been headed by “all-American” diplomats.
Currently an assistant administrator with the USAID, she will replace Robert O Blake once the Senate endorses her.
A graduate from the University of Virginia, Biswal began her career with the American Red Cross in the mid-90s before joining the USAID in her first stint.
She became an Assistant Administrator for Asia at the USAID on Sep 20, 2010.
Nisha Biswal served as the majority clerk for the State Department and Foreign Operations Subcommittee on the Committee on Appropriations in the House of Representatives, which has jurisdiction over the State Department and USAID, as well as other aspects of the international affairs budget, according to the USAID website.
She served as the Director of Policy and Advocacy at InterAction, the largest alliance of US-based international humanitarian and development nongovernmental organisations.
Apart from them, she previously served on the professional staff of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, where she was responsible for South and Central Asia policy as well as oversight of the State Department and USAID.
The news of her appointment has been greeted with cheers in the expatriate Indian and other South Asian communities.
Source: Bd news24
