Politics, economics, regional dynamics of South Asia
The most important result of the India-U.S. strategic dialogue is the expansion of serious bilateral conversations about problems outside the immediate South Asian neighborhood. The two countries need to extend this strategic conversation, especially to difficult issues like Iran and Pakistan.
Read our op-ed article, published in The Hindu June 26, 2012.
Indian Foreign Minister Krishna’s visit to Beijing is showcasing the positive in India-China relations. A recent visit to Beijing and Shanghai after a long absence gave us a more complicated picture of how the rise of India and China, so central to U.S. strategic thinking, looks from the east. India is taken more seriously in China than ten years ago, but is still not seen as an equal. The United States accepts India’s global ambitions; China dismisses them as “dreams.” China works best with India on global issues, the reverse of the U.S. experience, where bilateral ties are best and global collaboration weak.
Read our article published in The Hindu June 7, 2012.
India and the United States have been at odds over nuclear issues for more than three decades, and yet both countries’ interests are powerfully affected by the spread of nuclear weapons. The Working Group on an Expanded Non- Proliferation System, chaired by Teresita Schaffer and Joan Rohlfing, President of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, set out to answer the question, “What would be necessary to have India and the United States work together as active participants in the international non-proliferation system?” The working group, which consisted of a dozen members from India and the United States, with each group drawn about equally from nuclear experts and senior foreign policy figures, recommended bringing India into the four major multilateral export control groups; its report recommends a number of other ways to enhance India-U.S. cooperation and help protect the world from nuclear dangers.
Read full report on NTI web site.
Follow links to the group’s working papers. (click on drop-down menu at top of page)
Read summary of seminar on the report and next steps in reducing nuclear dangers, at Brookings, January 5, 2012.
President Obama chose the U.S. government’s top South Asia hand, Nancy Powell, as his next ambassador to Delhi. She will need to address some long-running problems, help both governments find a compatible vision for their partnership and, importantly, keep the top leadership on both sides personally engaged.
See our article in The Hindu, December 21, 2011
With U.S. relations in Pakistan at a low point and the two countries’ strategic disagreement over priorities in Afghanistan on full display, it is time to review U.S. strategic options. One that deserves a close look is a grand bargain: give Pakistan what it wants in Afghanistan – but on two conditions: Pakistan assumes responsibility for preventing terrorism out of Afghanistan, and Pakistan agrees to settle Kashmir along the present geographic lines. This is not a panacea, nor would it be easy to execute. But it addresses the principal stumbling block to the current U.S. strategy, and provides an incentive to settle the region’s longest-running dispute.
Read our article published on foreignpolicy.com October 20, 2011.