Washington: In a surprise move, Indian-American Nikki Haley Tuesday resigned as the US Ambassador to the United Nations, becoming the latest casualty in the dysfunctional Trump administration just weeks before the crucial mid-term elections.

President Donald Trump, who accepted her resignation, said Haley has done an incredible job as the top American diplomat at the United Nations. Haley said she plans to stay in this position till year end.

In a rare, the president made the formal announcement about Haley’s resignation in the Oval Office and applauded her work.

“I wanted to do this (Oval Office send-off) because Nikki Haley, ambassador to the United Nations, has been very special to me. She’s done an incredible job. She’s a fantastic person, very importantly. But she also is somebody that gets it,” Trump said in the Oval Office in a hastily arranged session with reporters.

“She told me probably six months ago,” Trump told reporters, ‘”I want to take a little time off.'”

Haley, considered as a moderate Republican alternative to Trump, ruled out a 2020 presidential bid and said that she would be campaigning for Trump’s re-election in two years from now.

The first ever Indian-American in any presidential cabinet, 46-year-old Haley said this has been an honour of a lifetime to serve in this position.

“It has been an honour of a lifetime. I — you know, I said I am such a lucky girl. To have been able to lead the state that raised me and to serve a country I love so much has really been a blessing and I want to thank you for that,” she told Trump.

Trump applauded Haley as having done an incredible job in her position as the top US diplomat at the United Nations.

“She got to know the players. She got to know China, Russia, India. She knows everybody on a first-name basis, and they like her, except maybe a couple, which is normal,” he said.

The daughter of Indian immigrants from Punjab, Haley said she wants to take a break after nearly eight years of hectic pubic life including six years as the governor of South Carolina.

“You have to be selfless enough to know when you step aside and allow someone else to do the job,” she said.

In response to a question why she was leaving this position, Haley said it’s time for her. “My family is very supportive. So no, there’s no personal reasons,” she said.

After becoming the US envoy to the UN, Haley travelled across the globe including a highly successful trip to India in June and made an incredible impact at the New York-based world body.