As US's New Envoy to India Atul Keshap Takes Charge, Here's Everything We Know About Him

Atul Keshap took charge as India’s Charge’d Affairs in Delhi today. The appointment of the Indian-American career diplomat, an old India-hand at the US state department, will help reinforce the close US partnership with the Government and people of India, demonstrated by our collaboration to overcome global challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic, the US State Department had said.

“Namaste! My name is Atul Keshap, and it is my honor to serve as Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Mission in India. As a proud Indian-American, it is my privilege to work with all of you as we further strengthen the warm and dynamic #USIndia partnership,” Keshap said in a tweet on Friday.

What will Keshap bring to the role? Here’s a lowdown on the official’s career:

The US State Department said Keshap would bring a wealth of experience to the role.

He most recently served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs and as the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives. The two countries signed on to a framework for their security relationship last September.

Keshap’s appointment underscores the fact that the White House is yet to send the candidacy of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to the United States Senate, despite the fact that his name has been floating around for the Ambassador job in New Delhi since the end of May.

From 2013 to 2015, Keshap worked as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, coordinating US strategy for India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, and Bhutan alongside Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal. Nearly 1.5 billion people live in this diverse and crucial region, which generates over $2 trillion in economic production.

Keshap was the US Senior Official for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) from 2012 to 2013, a trade organisation whose members account for 55 percent of global GDP. During the Russia and Indonesia host years, Keshap was responsible for US policy initiatives while also serving as Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell’s Economic Policy Coordinator in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Between 2010 and 2012, Keshap served as Director of the Office of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, and Bhutan Affairs in the State Department’s Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, where he oversaw US foreign policy toward a strategically important region with a fifth of the world’s population.

From 2008 to 2010, Keshap served as Director of the State Department’s Bureau of International Organizations’ Office of Human Rights, Humanitarian, and Social Affairs, where he assisted in the formulation of multilateral human rights policy in the UN system, including instructions to US delegations to the Human Rights Council and the United Nations General Assembly.

From 2005 until 2008, Keshap worked as Deputy Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the US Embassy in New Delhi, where he was one of Ambassador David Mulford’s primary advisors on the US-India civilian nuclear energy cooperation effort. He also managed a big political reporting and outreach staff while working to implement the broader strategic partnership with India at all levels in close consultation with the Indian government. 

Keshap worked on the National Security Council staff in the Executive Office of the President from 2003 to 2004 as the Director for North African and Middle Eastern Regional Affairs. He was in charge of making policy recommendations to President Bush and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice for five countries in North Africa. He also assisted in the implementation of a historic breakthrough in relations with Libya, as well as the completion of negotiations on the Morocco–US Free Trade Agreement.

He was named Vice–Chancellor of the National Defense University in October 2018. 

Keshap’s Family

Keshap, who is from Charlottesville, Virginia, has lived in Nigeria, Lesotho, Afghanistan, Zambia, and Austria. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Virginia. He studied Economics, International Relations, Diplomacy, Religious Studies, and French while he was there.

Keshap’s father, Keshap Chander Sen, PhD, was from Punjab and worked as a United Nations development economist in Nigeria. Keshap was born there in the June of 1971. When his mother, Zoe Calvert, met and married Dr. Sen in London, she was a member of the US Foreign Service. She’d previously worked at the US embassy in India.

Karen Young Keshap, who is also a US Foreign Service Officer, is his wife. They have a son and three daughters.

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