Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
President Obama was the first American head of state to watch India’s Republic Day parade.
Narendra Modi will be sworn in this week as India’s new prime minister. His new government will face a number of critical challenges.
India has to make some hard choices in order to sustain growth over the long term. In making those choices, there is an important role for the state, but the state cannot be prioritized to the neglect of markets.
The global order has changed since the end of the Cold War, and with more nuclear-armed states than ever, it is time to adapt old tenets of nuclear deterrence for the 21st century.
India and Afghanistan's new strategic security agreement may be aimed at persuading Pakistan to stop supporting forces fighting the Afghan government, but it not likely to be a precursor to Indian troops on Afghan soil.
Prime Minister Singh's visit to Washington this week heralds a commitment to strengthening the relationship between India and the United States.
The global economic crisis, the growing instability in Pakistan, and the Afghanistan War present several challenges to U.S. foreign policy in Asia.
The civilian government in Pakistan faces hard choices in its response to the Mumbai attacks. Action against the groups responsible for the violence will overturn traditional strategy that considers these groups national security ‘assets’ against India. There is also the danger of opening up another battle front for an army already conducting counter-terrorism operations on its western border.
The objective of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group which carried out the Mumbai attacks, is global jihad. They are second only to al-Qaeda as a terrorist group of global reach.
The Mumbai attacks bear the hallmarks of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group which operated in Kashmir in the 1990s, but has global reach today. It was founded and supported by the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence agency. If Lashkar-e-Taiba responsible for the attacks, Pakistan will face new scrutiny from the U.S. as an ally in the war on terror.
