Puneet Talwar (born 1965 in

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

) is an American diplomat who served as the

United States Ambassador to Morocco This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Morocco. Morocco was the first country to recognize the United States of America in 1777. Regular diplomatic relations were established in 1905. In 1912 Morocco came under the control of Fran ...

from November 2022 to 2025. He previously served as the

Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Assistant may refer to: * Assistant (by Speaktoit), a virtual assistant app for smartphones * Assistant (software), a software tool to assist in computer configuration * Google Assistant, a virtual assistant by Google * ''The Assistant'' (TV seri ...

from 2014 to November 2015. Talwar served as a top

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

advisor to

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and played a central role in the backchannel diplomacy that produced the

Iran nuclear deal The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; (, BARJAM)), also known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement to limit the Iranian nuclear program in return for sanctions relief and other provisions. The agreement was finalize ...

. Prior to working in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

, he was a top advisor to then-Senator

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

on the

Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for authorizing and overseeing foreign a ...

for twelve years.

Education

Talwar earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree from

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

and a Master of International Affairs from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Career

From 1995 to 1999 and again from 2001 to 2008, Talwar served as the Chief Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia Advisor to

on the

United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of the United States Senate, U.S. Senate charged with leading Foreign policy of the United States, foreign-policy legi ...

. Talwar then worked on the Policy Planning Staff of the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

from 1999 to 2001. Talwar was a foreign policy advisor for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, and served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Iraq, Iran, and the Gulf States on the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

from 2009 to 2014. In 2012, Foreign Policy Magazine named Talwar as one of the 50 most powerful Democrats in foreign policy. In 2014, Talwar was nominated by

to serve as

. He left office in 2015 and was eventually replaced by R. Clarke Cooper in 2019. Since leaving government service, Talwar has served as chairman and President of Crest International, a US-based private investment company. He is also a senior advisor at

WestExec Advisors WestExec Advisors LLC is a consulting firm founded in 2017 by Antony Blinken, Michèle Flournoy, Sergio Aguirre, and Nitin Chadda, all former Obama administration officials. Lisa Monaco, Robert O. Work, Avril Haines, David S. Cohen, and Jen Psa ...

, a strategic advisory firm founded by former

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

officials

Michèle Flournoy Michèle Angélique Flournoy (; born December 14, 1960) is an American defense policy advisor who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy under President Bill Clinton and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, under secretar ...

and

Tony Blinken Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 71st United States secretary of state from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 and deputy secr ...

. In November 2020, Talwar was named a volunteer member of the Joe Biden presidential transition Agency Review Team to support transition efforts related to the

Ambassador to Morocco

On March 18, 2022, President

nominated Talwar as the

. Hearings on his nomination were held before the

on July 27, 2022. The committee favorably reported the nomination on August 3, 2022. He was confirmed by the entire Senate via voice vote on September 8, 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talwar, Puneet 1965 births Living people Cornell University alumni School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University alumni United States assistant secretaries of state Ambassadors of the United States to Morocco