India expert Lisa Curtis gets key White House position

Lisa Curtis, an India expert has been roped in for an important White House position by US National Security Advisor Lt Gen HR McMaster.She would be Trump administration's point person of South Asia.

"Yes, (Lisa) Curtis will be joining (NSC) as Senior Director for South Asia," a White House official told PTI confirming the news first reported by The Washington Post.

It was previously held by Peter Lavoy, who has now joined the private sector.

The White House has not officially announced her appointment.

A well-known and respected foreign policy expert on SouthAsian issues, Curtis, from The Heritage Foundation recently was a co-author of a report 'New US Approach to Pakistan: Enforcing Aid Conditions without Cutting Ties" along with Husain Haqqani, the former Pakistani ambassador to the US.

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Well known in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Curtis has been a strong advocate of the fight against radical Islamic terrorism ranging from Afghanistan to Bangladesh.

Curtis has been a leading voice on the Republican side of the South Asia expert community for decades, having worked at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as an advisor to theState Department during the George W Bush administration and as an analyst with the CIA.