Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs

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Assistant Secretary Christina B. Rocca, left.
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Assistant Secretary Christina B. Rocca, left.

The Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, renamed in February 2006 when the Bureau of South Asian Affairs absorbed the Office of Central Asian Affairs, is an agency of the Department of State within the United States government. The bureau presently deals with U.S. foreign policy and U.S. relations with the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. It is headed by the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, who is currently Ambassador Richard Boucher. Boucher replaced Christina B. Rocca as Assistant Secretary shortly after the renaming of the bureau in February 2006.

The Bureau of South Asian Affairs was established on August 24, 1992. Section 122 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993 had authorized the appointment of an Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs on October 28, 1991. Prior to 1992, there had been a Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs.

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