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Join on Telegram Rabat – US President Joe Biden on Friday announced he will nominate diplomat Puneet Talwar for the position of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Morocco. Biden announced Talwar’s coming nomination in a March 18 press release, along with four other nominees for positions in the Biden administration.
Talwar’s appointment to lead the US embassy in Morocco brings a foreign policy professional, not a career diplomat, to Morocco. As has been common over the past 60 years with US appointees to the role of ambassador to Morocco, Talwar is a clear political appointee by Biden, who is sending a trusted advisor to lead diplomatic efforts in Morocco.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
The pending nomination of Talwar would make him the top US official in Morocco, with full authority to represent the US and the Biden administration in the North African country.
The US sees the role of “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary” for which Talwar is nominated as being “at the apex” of the US embassy in Morocco. Filling this position allows the US to facilitate easier cooperation with Morocco and streamline the decision-making process at the embassy.
Now that Biden has announced Talwar as his intended nominee, the veteran diplomat will first be evaluated by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who have to approve his nomination.
Should it approve Tawlar’s appointment, the committee will send the nomination to the US Senate for a vote. As part of the US system of checks and balances, any senator can delay the nomination process until the moment the senate votes on the nominee.
Close advisor to Biden
Puneet Talwar is a DC-born veteran public servant with a close personal working relationship with US President Joe Biden. Talwar holds an engineering bachelor and a master degree in international affairs and has served as a close advisor to Biden since the nineties.
He served as chief advisor to then-Senator Biden between 1995 and 1999, when he joined the US State Department as part of its strategic Policy Planning Staff. In 2001 he rejoined Joe Biden as Chief Advisor on the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia to serve Biden for seven years in his role on the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Biden ascended to the role of US vice-president following the election of Barack Obama in 2008, and Puneet Talwar became an integral part of the new administration. Talwar took part in the Obama administration’s top foreign policy decision-making as Foreign Policy Advisor for the United States House of Representatives.
Foreign policy expert
Besides his advisory role for US Congress, Talwar served on the important US National Security Council as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Iraq, Iran, and the Gulf States for five years.
After five years at the National Security Council, then-President Obama nominated the foreign policy expert for the role of Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs. Talwar has been credited with having had a key role in the realization of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly known as the Iran Nuclear Deal, which temporarily reduced tensions with Iran until the Trump administration nixxed the agreement.
Tawlar’s time in the halls of power in the US ended in 2015, when he joined the private sector and served as senior member of several NGOs and universities. He has filled functions at the Asia Society Policy Institute, the University of Pennsylvania, NGO InterMediate and Georgetown University until Biden’s election in 2020, when he was asked to join the presidential transition team.
Talwar in Morocco
Biden’s nomination of his former close advisor to the role of ambassador in Morocco with extraordinary and plenipotentiary authority is likely a sign Biden is taking Morocco very seriously.
Talwar’s experience within the world’s most powerful foreign policy circles and his track record on the Iran deal appears to indicate that Biden is looking for an experienced deal-maker to head the US embassy in Morocco.
Once confirmed, the Indian-American diplomat’s presence at the US embassy in Morocco would ensure close relations with the US president, and have a veteran diplomat in charge of the diplomatic mission in Rabat.
With Morocco closely connected to several geopolitical trends, including security in the Sahel, climate change, terrorism and migraton, the appointment of a close confidant of Biden is likely an indication of further collaboration between Rabat and Washington.
