Obama may appoint envoy to deal with Kashmir

SPECIAL STATUS: Former president Bill Clinton was being considered as a special envoy to Kashmir.

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New York: An Obama transition team official has said that the incoming President is considering a proposal to appoint a special envoy to India, a media report said on Tuesday.

A transition official has confirmed that Obama's foreign policy advisers are discussing the possibility of appointing a special envoy to India, the New York Times said.

But the paper quoted another transition official as dismissing as "speculation" reports that former president Bill Clinton was being considered for appointment as a special envoy to deal with the Kashmir issue.

Clinton and President-elect Barack Obama have not settled on specific envoys or missions, although diplomat Dennis Ross's name has been mentioned as a possible Middle East envoy, as have those of Holbrooke and Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel, the Times said.

Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton, Obama's choice for Secretary of State, is seeking to build a more powerful State Department, with a bigger budget, high-profile special envoys to trouble spots and an expanded role in dealing with global economic issues at a time of crisis, it said.

Clinton is recruiting Jacob J Lew, the budget director under President Bill Clinton, as one of two deputies, the Times said, citing people close to the Obama transition team.

Lew's focus, they said, will be on increasing the share of financing that goes to diplomatic corps. He and James B Steinberg, a deputy national security adviser in the Clinton administration, are to be Hillary's chief lieutenants.

The incoming administration is also likely to name several envoys, the Times said quoting officials, thus reviving a practice of the Clinton administration, when Richard C Holbrooke, Dennis Ross and and other diplomats played a central role in mediating disputes in the Balkans and the Middle East.