S. Paul Kapur

Samir Paul Kapur is an American scholar and professor. He is currently serving as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs in the Second Trump administration.

Early life and education Kapur was born in Delhi, India, to an Indian father and an American mother. Before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on 10 June 2025, he said he traveled to India frequently and developed an interest in researching it academically. Kapur completed his Bachelor's degree at Amherst College, and did his PhD at the University of Chicago.

Career Kapur is, as of 2025, a professor at the US Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). He is a visiting faculty member at the Hoover Institution. He has taught at Claremont McKenna College, the Naval War College and was also a visiting professor at Stanford University. and Charles C. Readinger.

In 2025, he was nominated as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs by the Second Trump administration, succeeding Donald Lu. He took up the position on 22 October of the same year.

Views Kapur, in his book Jihad as Grand Strategy, argued jihad was a major part of Pakistan's grand strategy, and not just one of the political instruments it used. He claimed the utilization of jihad by Pakistan was not a result of the country's instability, and instead said it was an intentional government strategy.

Kapur said he would work on improving and strengthening US–India relations according to US interests. He said India and the US shared many common objectives like an unrestricted Indo-Pacific not bound by Chinese hegemony, and also interests in trade, technology and energy.

Works

With Sumit Ganguly:

Co-edited with Diana Wueger and Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan: