Puneet Talwar appointed as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political Military Affairs

Puneet Talwar, an Indo American was nominated as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs by the US President Barack Obama on 11 September 2013. Political Military Affairs is the Department of State's principal link to the Department of Defence. He is the second Indian-American to be nominated as the Assistant Secretary position in the State Department. In July, Nisha Desai Biswal became the first person of Indo-American origin to be nominated as the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia.

About Puneet Talwar
• Puneet Talwar received a BS from Cornell University and an MA from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
• He was the chief advisor on the Middle East to Vice President Joseph R Biden, who was then the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1997 to 1999.
• He served as a member of the Department of State's Policy Planning Staff from 1999 to 2001
• From 1992 to 1995, he served as a foreign policy advisor to House member Thomas C Sawyer and from 1990 to 1992, as an official with the United Nations
• He has served as a senior professional staff member on the committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate (SFRC) from 2001 to 2009
• He has been  a Special Assistant to the US President and Senior Director for Iran, Iraq and the Gulf states on The White House National Security Staff since 2009