Obama administration important member United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s first overseas trip to Asia has elicited diametrically opposite views from two South Asia experts.
Stephen P Cohen, who heads the South Asia Program at the Brookings Institution, told "I think this administration is not quite sure about their map of Asia and India doesn't seem to be part of it."
"There are a lot of signs, which are quite, I won't say alarming, but, interesting," he said, and added, "The way in which they have put India in the National Security Council under China. The same guy who is in charge of matters concerning China also looks at Indian issues, even though he is from East Asia, not South Asia."
Jeff Baden, a specialist on China, heads the Asia Division in the NSC. So far, no one has been appointed as the director for South Asian affairs in the White House.
Cohen acknowledged that including India on Clinton's trip to Asia would have had a significant symbolic value. "It is really impressive that India doesn't seem to figure at all in the American foreign policy," he said.
"They certainly don't seem to have taken any special interest in India, as compared with the Bush administration," he added.
Cohen pointed out that so far, "Nobody has raised the issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal with India. It sort of has simply vanished from the screen. So we'll see what happens. But I am not encouraged by the first couple of weeks."
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