[Python] how to do a left,right and mid of a string in a pandas dataframe

in a pandas dataframe how can I apply a sort of excel left('state',2) to only take the first two letters. Ideally I want to learn how to use left,right and mid in a dataframe too. So need an equivalent and not a "trick" for this specific example.

data = {'state': ['Auckland', 'Otago', 'Wellington', 'Dunedin', 'Hamilton'],
'year': [2000, 2001, 2002, 2001, 2002],
'pop': [1.5, 1.7, 3.6, 2.4, 2.9]}
df = pd.DataFrame(data)

print df

pop state year
0 1.5 Auckland 2000
1 1.7 Otago 2001
2 3.6 Wellington 2002
3 2.4 Dunedin 2001
4 2.9 Hamilton 2002


I want to get this:

pop state year StateInitial
0 1.5 Auckland 2000 Au
1 1.7 Otago 2001 Ot
2 3.6 Wellington 2002 We
3 2.4 Dunedin 2001 Du
4 2.9 Hamilton 2002 Ha

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