The latest provocation from US President Donald Trump to India is the creation of a new post of Special Envoy of South and Central Asian countries, who will also double up as the US ambassador in New Delhi. This unprecedented saddling of Washington’s new man in New Delhi supervising a dozen other countries is intriguing, considering the current crisis in Indo-US ties.

To compound matters, the special envoy cum ambassador is 38-year-old maverick Sergio Gor, who has no expertise in the region nor diplomatic or political experience but is an inside hatchet man of Trump and a former collaborator of his son, Trump Junior.

South Block is struggling to wrap its head around the implications of this puzzling move from the White House amid the rapid downward spiral in bilateral ties. On the one hand, the belated discovery by Trump of not having an ambassador in a country of India’s size and purported strategic importance for seven long months, and the chosen envoy’s direct hotline to him, is a positive sign. However, there is considerable disquiet about whether Gor would have the time, diplomatic skills or even the inclination to repair the badly damaged relationship.

There is also deep concern at the larger ramifications of the wide regional mandate with which the US envoy has been armed. New Delhi has for long been overtly sensitive about foreign interference in this country’s relationships with its neighbours, strictly dealing with them on a bilateral level, particularly our troubled ties with Pakistan over Kashmir.

This was evident in the aftermath of the........

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