The position of Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs was renamed when responsibility for policy for five countries, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, was transferred from the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs to the Bureau of South Asian Affairs, which became the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. Richard A. Boucher was sworn in as the first to hold the current title on February 21, 2006 after the previous Assistant Secretary, Christina B. Rocca, left the Department.
List of Assistant Secretaries of State for South and Central Asian Affairs