"To the Brink? Nuclear Weapons, Religious Extremism, and US Foreign Policy in So

Co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Center for South Asia StudiesThe state of India-Pakistan relations has been in constant flux, but the basic problems remain unchanged: long-term conflict over Kashmir; the divisive presence of Islamist and Hindu nationalist extremists; and since 1998, nuclear weapons on both sides of the border. These tensions nearly led to nuclear war in late 2001 – a near catastrophe that drew little attention in a US still gripped by 9-11 and its aftermath. While tensions have eased since then, a string of local bombings, most recently in the Indian holy city of Varanasi and in front of the US consulate in Karachi, once again threaten to undermine efforts to create a lasting peace. Where do relations between India and Pakistan stand today? How does the recent Bush administration decision to allow India to import nuclear fuel and technology affect regional politics? What does the US refusal to offer Pakistan a similar deal mean for General Musharraf’s hold on power? Has the threat of religious extremism peaked, or is it growing worse?Speakers: Stephen Cohen, an internationally renowned expert on South Asian politics, has served as a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution since 1998.Ambassador Husain Haqqani is a Visiting Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC and Director of Boston University’s Center for International Relations. Lloyd Rudolph is Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and is widely regarded as the leading American expert on South Asian politics. Steven Simon, an expert in US security policy in the Middle East and South Asia, is a senior analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations.

$5 Asia Society members
$10 Non-members

Registration begins at 5:30 pm