India, Pakistan, and the United States; Breaking with the Past

New York: Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1997. First Printing [Stated]. Trade paperback. Good. xv, [1], 156 pages. Notes. Index. Ex-library with the usual library markings. Shirin R. Tahir-Kheli is an American political scientist who also served in the Department of State. Ambassador Tahir-Kheli has an MA and a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and past member of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. In 2006, she was appointed as the first Ambassador for women's empowerment by the United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as well as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State on United Nations Reform. She was sworn in as the First American Muslim Ambassador in July 1990. Dr. Tahir-Kheli was the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Democracy, Human Rights and International Operations at the White House National Security Council, from 2003-2005. She has served three Republican presidential administrations since 1980. Prior to her appointment, Tahir-Kheli was the Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University Foreign Policy Institute at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, in Washington, DC, where she was the founding Director of the South Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Institute (1992-2002). Ambassador Tahir-Kheli has dedicated more than a dozen years to finding areas of agreement between India and Pakistan that could change their relationship to one of productive peace. This book examines the triangular relationship among the United States, India, and Pakistan over the last fifty years. In her analysis, Tahir-Kheli discusses India and Pakistan's place in the Cold War, regional alliances and alignments of South Asia, disputes within the region, and the prospects of nuclear proliferation. The author argues that the United States must break with its past policy practice of focusing on South Asian issues only during periods of high tension caused by regional wars, Soviet occupation, or nuclear-related crises. The absence of superpower competition and the rise of a new generation of Pakistanis and Indians willing to break from the past and focus on economic development and foreign investment provide an important opportunity for both the United States and South Asia. Sustained U.S. involvement in the region could also help provide creative solutions to the intransigent problems of Kashmir and nuclear proliferation. And such an approach could generate tremendous economic opportunities for the United States in one of the world's largest markets. In summary, this comprehensive study closes the gap in American understanding of the two most populous states in South Asia, realizing that greater knowledge must precede a constituency for sustained interest in the region by Washington."...I was very impressed with her more detailed and comprehensive analysis of the U.S.-Pakistan and U.S.-Indian relations in the post-Cold War era, and also her deepened analysis of the nuclear proliferation issues in the post-1990 period." Leo Rose, Editor, Asian Survey.