What Sergio Gor's appointment as ambassador-cum-special envoy means for India

Days before the 50 per cent Trump tariff hits Indian exports on 27 August, the US President announced close aide and MAGA loyalist Sergio Gor as his pick to be the next Ambassador to India. He also announced that Gor will be the Special Envoy for South and Central Asian affairs.

It’s the first time that a US ambassador to India is also a Special Envoy for South and Central Asian affairs. This means he will have a much wider mandate covering the jurisdiction of the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs in the State Dept. He will be supervising India’s relationship within this region, with Pakistan and our other neighbours, consulting and coordinating with other US ambassadors.”

Indian diplomatic circles have made no secret of their uneasiness. “The intention behind this double nomination is problematic. A version of Holbrook’s mandate as special envoy for India and Pakistan which we rejected…this time the same approach is being pursued by giving the Ambassador himself a double role to which we cannot object,” observed one of them.

The responsibility of a US ambassador to a huge country like India with many US consulates and massive amount of bilateral work (the US embassy in India is amongst its biggest in the world) is such that this kind of “concurrent accreditation” is not normal,” observed another.

“Sergio is a great friend, who has been at my side for many years. He worked on my historic Presidential campaigns, published my bestselling books, and ran one of the biggest super political action committees, which supported our movement,” Trump said. The nomination will require confirmation by the US Congress and till then Gor will continue to serve in the White House as the head of Presidential Personnel, he added.

Gor’s appointment was greeted by members of the Trump cabinet but the response was muted in New Delhi. Part of the disappointment in New Delhi stemmed from the US president’s announcement that Gor will also serve as his ‘special envoy for south and central Asia’.

In this capacity he will look after US relations in the entire region including India’s immediate neighbours, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The US ambassador to Pakistan and other neighbouring countries besides the US department of State will also be reporting to Gor about the region, giving him more leverage and power.

When Richard Holbrooke was appointed special envoy for Af-Pak by President Obama, New Delhi objected to India being added to his brief. While Holbrooke believed a solution of the Af-Pak tension could also lead to a settlement of the Kashmir issue, the UPA government put its foot down and ensured that India was kept out of his brief. The Modi government does not appear to be in a position to oppose the ‘hyphenation of India with Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan’ which the appointment of Sergio Gor as both ambassador to India and a special envoy entails.

Born Segio Gorkhovsky in Uzbekistan, the ambassador-designate is said to be very close to the US President. The Hill reported that “Gor’s MAGA credentials are not in question. He co-founded a publishing company with Donald Trump Jr. that has published books by the president and conservative figures such as Charlie Kirk and senior President Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro."

"Gor also led the pro-Trump super PAC Right for America. Gor has maintained a mostly low-key profile, though he has been in the headlines as a central figure in the acrimonious split between the president and Tesla CEO Elon Musk."

By doubling the nominee’s role as special envoy for South and Central Asia, Washington signals a throwback to the Cold War era that bracketed India with Pakistan, commented foreign policy wonks. ‘America weakens its own hand by reducing India from a global partner to a South Asian player’, was how some of them reacted to the announcement. Analyst Michael Kugelman however speculated that the US and President Trump could be signalling the importance of ties with India by having the special envoy for two key regions posted in Delhi.

Some foreign policy experts noted that while his role as the US Ambassador to India needs confirmation by the US Senate, he can start his job as the Special Envoy for South and Central Asian Affairs immediately. “This is worse than Holbrooke pushing to have India included in Af-Pak mandate, which the UPA government strongly rebuffed.