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US Names Chargé d'Affaires; Delays Appointment Of Ambassador To India
Amid controversy over US Ambassador to India designate Eric Garcetti's appointment, the US has named Ambassador Elizabeth Jones as Chargé d'Affaires, ad interim.
By: TNI Team | NEW DELHI
Updated: 25 October, 2022 11:30 pm IST
US has named Ambassador Elizabeth Jones as Chargé d'Affaires, ad interim, for India
The seventy-four-year-old envoy carries the highest Foreign Service rank of a Career Ambassador. She has served as the US Ambassador to Kazakhstan.
"In India, Ambassador Jones will join our Embassy and Consulate interagency teams in advancing and expanding the partnership between our governments and people, a partnership that Secretary Blinken has called one of the most consequential in the world," the White House said in a statement on Monday.
Ambassador Elizabeth Jones was the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts. Prior to assuming the Coordinator post, she was Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia and acting Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East.
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Patricia A Lacina is currently the Chargé d'Affaires at the US Embassy in New Delhi since September 2021. Since US Ambassador Kenneth Juster's departure from the office, Washington has yet to fill the post of Ambassador to India. Juster served as the US Ambassador to India during Donald Trump's presidency.
In the US, Ambassador-designate Eric Garcetti's appointment is on hold due to an allegation over Garcetti's inaction against his close aide Rick Jacobs, who faces complaints of sexual misconduct.
ALSO READ: Tainted US Ambassador-Designate To India Eric Garcetti Lobbying For Senate Votes
Eric Garcetti is currently the mayor of Los Angeles, US. He doesn't have 50 votes in his favour in the Senate to confirm his appointment – a fact admitted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Garcetti's patrons are lobbying the law firm, McGuire Woods, to turn the votes in his favour. Republican Senator Charles Ernest Grassley (Chuck) initiated an investigation and perjury charges, confirmed Naomi Seligman, former director of communication for Garcetti, to The New Indian over the phone in March.
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