ISLAMABAD: Paul Kapur, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, said this week he would pursue security cooperation with Pakistan “where beneficial to US interests.”
Kapur was speaking during a confirmation hearing before the US Senate on Tuesday.
“On Pakistan, if confirmed, I will pursue security cooperation where beneficial to US interests, while seeking opportunities for bilateral collaboration in trade and investment,” Kapur said in his testimony.
“South Asia recently avoided a costly conflict, with the [US] Vice President and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio intensely engaged on the issue. If confirmed, I will continue to promote longstanding US security interests with India and Pakistan through the pursuit of peace and stability, and the fight against terrorism.”
Kapur is, as of 2025, a professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School. He is a visiting faculty member at the Hoover Institution and has taught at Claremont McKenna College. He was also a visiting professor at Stanford University.
In 2025, Kapur was nominated as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs by the second Trump administration, succeeding Donald Lu.
Pakistani observers are carefully watching Kapur’s appointment as he wrote in his book ‘Jihad as Grand Strategy’ that jihad was a major part of Pakistan’s grand strategy, and not just a “political instrument” it used. He has claimed that the utilization of jihad by Pakistan is an intentional government strategy.
