Both Ambassadors Schaffer are former US diplomats, veterans of South Asia who served in all the major capitals of our region – New Delhi, Colombo, Islamabad, Dhaka – at the ambassadorial and principal levels. Teresita Schaffer is now the director of the South Asia programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington D.C. Howard Schaffer is currently Senior Counselor at Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.
The luncheon was intended to learn about the Obama administration’s policy towards South Asia, and India in particular. Has the effort put in by the previous Bush administration run out of steam, or been wasted by this administration? Will the intentions of the India-US nuclear deal be realized in the course of this administration? What is likely to be the hallmark of the current India-US diplomatic engagement? Where will they find common cause, and where will they diverge? How deep will the commitment or divergence be? What are likely to be the flashpoints of disagreement, both political and economic? Most importantly, what impact will it have on the deepening business ties between the two nations?