Rep. Frank Pallone writes to Trump to appoint US Ambassador to India on priority

White House has not officially responded to the letter.

Congressman Frank Pallone has urged the Trump administration to appoint US envoy to India on a priority basis citing the relationship between the two nations as of  “utmost” importance.

The post of US Ambassador to India has been lying vacant since Richard Verma vacated it after the new administration took office on January 20.

For the last several months, Chargé d’Affaires MaryKay Carlson has the additional charge as the appointment of the Ambassador has been long overdue.

It has been three months since a White House official told Washington Post that Kenneth I Juster, 62, who currently serves as the international deputy to White House’s National Economic Council, will be America’s new ambassador to India.

.@realDonaldTrump says #India is critical to @Afghanistan strategy, but after 7 months he has failed to appoint an amb. to India. pic.twitter.com/G6pupuQif0

— Rep. Frank Pallone (@FrankPallone) August 22, 2017

The letter dated August 22, was made public by Pallone through his official twitter handle in which he wrote, “India is crucial ally of the US and President Trump must appoint an ambassador immediately.”

ALSO READ: Trump’s top aide Kenneth Juster to be new US Ambassador to India

He also criticized Trump quoting his statement from Monday on India’s role in US’s Afghanistan strategy, saying that despite knowing the importance of India, Trump has failed to appoint an ambassador.

“@realDonaldTrump says #India is critical to @Afghanistan strategy, but after 7 months he has failed to appoint an amb. to India,” Pallone tweeted along with an image of the letter that he sent to the President.

“After more than seven months in office, this critical appointment is long overdue and should be an immediate priority,” Pallone wrote in the letter citing the dichotomy in the statement given by the president on Monday and the current reality wherein he has failed in filling up the vacancy of US Ambassador to India.

“For 71 year, India has stood as a leading democracy in a fast-changing region of the world. With $115 billion in trade of goods and services between our two nationals in 2016, and with a new 10-year defense agreement signed between our two nations last year, the United States and India are indispensable partners,” Pallone said in the letter.

“India is also our strongest ally in South Asia, which you referred in your address to the nation last night. These are among the reasons the United States has long supported India’s permanent membership to the United Nations Security Council. It is in our immediate national interest to send an accomplished American to serve as our country’s senior diplomat in India,” Pallone added.

He concludes the letter saying, “As the co-founder and former chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India, Indian issues and representing one of the largest Indian-American constituencies in Congress, the relationship between our two great nations is of the utmost importance to me and my constituencies. I urge you to make the appointment of a US ambassador to India a top priority of your administration.”

Meanwhile, White House has not officially responded to the letter but US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, without explicitly mentioning India said during a press conference that the current diplomats are capable of running the office.

ALSO READ: Next US Ambassador to India could be Mumbai-born Ashley Tellis

“In terms of our footprint on the ground, we have very competent, capable, experienced people there now,” Tillerson told reporters at a news conference.

“We are looking at a couple of different people for the special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan position. It is open currently; it is being filled with a very experienced individual today. So we are ready to get going with very competent people we have, and I am not at all concerned about the competency level or the experience of the people that we have working on this. I am quite confident with them,” Tillerson added without divulging the Trump administration’s plan for appointing an ambassador to India.

Juster has been in the service for over 35 years in government, law, business, finance, and international affairs.

According to Ashley Tellis, who was earlier rumored as the likely pick for the Ambassadorship, Juster knows India well and had been deeply involved in successful bilateral negotiations between the two countries.