The United States and South Asia After Afghanistan (DC Launch)

U.S. interests in South Asia are evolving.  An intense focus on counterterrorism and Afghanistan since 9/11 is giving way to a broader range of interests. Washington takes India’s global status seriously and is working closely with New Delhi on a range of regional and global issues. China’s rise, often neglected as a factor in South Asia policy, is encouraging a more strategic U.S. approach to Asia policy as a whole. As a result, a significant opportunity now exists to rethink U.S. South Asia strategy.

An upcoming report by Asia Society Bernard Schwartz Fellow Alexander Evans draws on over 90 interviews with a range of current and former U.S. policy practitioners from the State Department, National Security Council, Congress, and the intelligence community to consider how the United States can achieve an integrated South Asia policy following the 2014 military drawdown in Afghanistan. The report, which benefits from the expertise of the Asia Society Advisory Group on U.S. Policy toward South Asia, includes recommendations for better incorporating expertise into policy planning.

In conjunction with the report’s release, please join us for a discussion on the prospects for achieving a strategic U.S. approach to South Asia and the hard choices an incoming Administration will need to make to get there. An event will also take place in New York on December 12, Islamabad, Pakistan on December 18, and New Delhi, India on December 20.

SPEAKERS:

Alexander Evans is a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at Asia Society, a Senior Fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, and a member of the British diplomatic service. He was a senior advisor to the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke and then to Ambassador Marc Grossman, the U.S. Special Representatives for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has served as a British diplomat in Islamabad and New Delhi and was a member of the Policy Planning Staff in London.

Husain Haqqani is Director of the Center for International Relations at Boston University. He served as Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States and Sri Lanka, as well as advisor to Pakistani Prime Ministers Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto, and Yusuf Raza Gilani.

Karl F. Inderfurth is Senior Advisor and Wadhwani Chair of U.S.-India Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS). He served as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, U.S. Representative for Special Political Affairs to the United Nations, Deputy U.S. Representative to the UN Security Council, and spent time on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the National Security Council.

Cameron Munter is a Visiting Professor at Columbia University’s School of Law. He will join Pomona College as a Professor of International Relations in January 2013. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan and Serbia, Deputy Chief of Mission in the Czech Republic and Poland, Director for Central Europe at the National Security Council, and led the first Provincial Reconstruction Team in Mosul Iraq.

Wendy Chamberlin (moderator) is President of the Middle East Institute. She served as Ambassador to Pakistan (2001–2002) and Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees (2004–2007).

Please check back for updates on additional panelists.

EVENT DETAILS:

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Root Room A/B/C
1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington DC 20036

3:00-3:30 pm: Registration
3:30-5:00 pm: Discussion and Q & A

More information on the upcoming report can be found here. For more information on Asia Society's work on Pakistan, please see our recent reports, Stabilizing Pakistan through Police Reform and Pakistan 2020: A Vision for Building a Better Future.