U.S. Senate confirms ambassadors to Afghanistan, India

(Reuters) - The U.S. Senate confirmed President Barack Obama'snominees to be the next American ambassadors to India andAfghanistan on Tuesday, filling two of the country's most important diplomatic posts days before leaving Washington for the year.

By unanimous voice votes, the Senate approved former State Department official Richard Rahul Verma as U.S. ambassador toIndia and Peter Michael McKinley to be the ambassador in Kabul.

Verma, who is Indian-American, will replace Nancy Powell, who resigned in March after a damaging dispute over the treatment of a junior Indian diplomat in the United States.

He served as assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs at the State Department in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011.

The United States sees India as a natural ally on a range of issues and a potential counterbalance to an increasingly assertive Chinain Asia and is eager to expand relations across the board, particularly in the security sphere.

McKinley, a career diplomat who has also served as U.S. ambassador in Colombia and Peru, is currently the deputy ambassador in Afghanistan, where the United States is drawing down its forces after 12 years of war.

He replaces the current ambassador, James Cunningham, who has held the Kabul post since 2012.  Read More