Article
This piece argues that India’s central challenge is not managing a single flashpoint but resolving the underlying tension between expansion and institutional coherency of the BRICS grouping.
Vrinda Sahai
{
"authors": [],
"type": "pressRelease",
"centerAffiliationAll": "dc",
"centers": [
"Carnegie Endowment for International Peace"
],
"collections": [
"U.S. Nuclear Policy"
],
"englishNewsletterAll": "ctw",
"nonEnglishNewsletterAll": "",
"primaryCenter": "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace",
"programAffiliation": "NPP",
"programs": [
"Nuclear Policy",
"South Asia",
"Middle East"
],
"projects": [],
"regions": [
"North America",
"United States",
"Middle East",
"Iran"
],
"topics": [
"Foreign Policy",
"Nuclear Policy"
]
}
REQUIRED IMAGE
Press Release
Press Release: Tellis Analyzes Exaggerated Threat of Expanding Indian Nuclear Arsenal
Published on Jun 27, 2006
For Immediate Release: June 27, 2006
Contact: Jennifer Linker, +1 (202) 939-2372, jlinker@CarnegieEndowment.org
Tellis Analyzes Exaggerated Threat of Expanding Indian Nuclear Arsenal
New Report Refutes Assumptions Underlying Claims of Rapidly Expanding Nuke Stockpile
Among the most serious criticisms leveled at the U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation initiative is that it would enable India to rapidly expand its nuclear arsenal. Ashley J. Tellis, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, challenges these criticisms in a new report, Atoms for War? U.S.-Indian Civilian Nuclear Cooperation and India’s Nuclear Arsenal. Tellis argues that, contrary to current assumptions, India is not trying to construct the largest nuclear stockpile possible in South Asia, nor is its capacity to produce a large nuclear arsenal affected by the U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear agreement.
Tellis asserts that the evidence shows that the government of India is in no hurry to build the biggest nuclear stockpile it could construct based on material factors alone. The research in this report concludes that India already has the indigenous reserves of natural uranium necessary to develop the largest possible nuclear arsenal it may seek and, consequently, the U.S.-Indian civilian nuclear cooperation initiative will not materially contribute towards New Delhi's strategic capacities in any consequential way. Furthermore, that the current shortage of natural uranium in India is caused principally by constrictions in its mining and milling capacity but this is a transient problem that is in the process of being redressed.
Tellis also gives seven critical reasons why New Delhi views the U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation agreement as vital to ensuring India’s energy security, and how it provides meaningful technical alternatives to Homi Bhabha’s “three-stage plan.”
To access a PDF file of the report, go to: www.CarnegieEndowment.org/AtomsforWar.
Ashley J. Tellis is a senior associate specializing in international security, defense, and Asian strategic issues at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the co-editor of Strategic Asia 2005-06: Military Modernization in an Era of Uncertainty. He is also author of the Carnegie Report India as a New Global Power: An Action Agenda for the United States.
Press Contact:
Jennifer Linker, Tel: 202/939-2372, jlinker@CarnegieEndowment.org
###
Carnegie India does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
More Work from Carnegie India
- Managing Divergence: India’s BRICS Presidency in 2026
- India–Africa Strategic Partnership: Challenges, Potential, and Possible PathwaysArticle
A partnership between India, a country of subcontinental size, and Africa, a continent of fifty-four countries, may seem asymmetric until one notes that both are home to nearly the same number of people—1.4 billion. This essay spells out the existing challenges to the partnership, its optimal potential, and the possible pathways to realize it over the next quarter-century.
Rajiv Bhatia
- The Unresolved Challenges in U.S.–India Semiconductor CooperationCommentary
The U.S.–India semiconductor cooperation story is well-stocked with top-level strategic intent. What remains unresolved, however, are some underlying challenges that will determine whether the cooperation actually functions. Three such friction points stand out.
Shruti Mittal
- Emerging From the “Zombie State” of Trade Agreements: The India-EU FTACommentary
The India–EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is shaping up to be one of the most consequential trade negotiations, both economically and strategically. But, what’s in the agreement, what’s missing, and what will determine its success in the years ahead
Vrinda Sahai, Nicolas Köhler-Suzuki
- India and a Changing Global Order: Foreign Policy in the Trump 2.0 EraResearch
Trump 2.0 has unsettled India’s external environment—but has not overturned its foreign policy strategy, which continues to rely on diversification, hedging, and calibrated partnerships across a fractured order.
- +6
Milan Vaishnav, ed., Sameer Lalwani, Tanvi Madan, …
