Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb [Hardcover]

Strobe Talbott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2004

On May 11, 1998, three nuclear devices detonated under the Thar Desert in India shook the surrounding villagesand the rest of the world. The immediate effect was to plunge U.S.-India relations, already vexed by decades of tension and estrangement, into a new crisis. The situation deteriorated further when Pakistan responded in kind two weeks later, testing a nuclear weapon for the first time. Engaging India is the firsthand story of the diplomacy conducted between the United States and the two South Asian neighbors after the nuclear tests. In this book, the American point man for the dialogue takes us behind the scenes of one of the most suspenseful and consequential diplomatic dramas of our time, reconstructing what happenedand whywith narrative verve, rich human detail, and penetrating analysis. From June 1998 to September 2000, in what was the most extensive dialogue ever between the United States and India, Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott and Indian Minister of External Affairs Jaswant Singh met fourteen times in seven countries on three continents. They discussed both the immediate items on the security and nonproliferation agenda, as well as their wider visions for the U.S.-India relationship and the potential for economic and strategic cooperation between the two countries. As the relationship improved over the course of the talks, the United States was to able play a role in averting the possibility of nuclear war over the contested territory of Kashmir in the summer of 1999the specifics of which are included for the first time in this book, told in way only a protagonist can. The Talbott-Singh diplomacy laid the groundwork for the transformational visit of PresidentBill Clinton to India in March 2000 and helped end fifty years of estrangement between the worlds two largest democracies. As pursuit of Islamic militants continues across South Asia, the increased cooperation established by Talbott and Singh will be an invaluable asset for current and future leaders of both countries. This book provides, for the first time, an insiders perspective on the ground-breaking efforts to build a cordial relationship between the United States and India. The general reader will find it accessible, and more important, an indispensable tool for understanding Americas current role in South Asia, and the prospects for improved relations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Talbott. . . has written an admirably lucid and candid memoir of his involvement in this crisis." -- Sunil Khilnani, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Financial Times, September 4, 2004

"With humor, grace and insight, Strobe Talbott chronicles a fascinating journey of diplomacy to overcome decades of U.S.-Indian estrangement. . ." -- George Perkovich, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

"[A] gem of a diplomatic memoir. This ultimate insider account. . .manages the hat trick of being candid, fair, and authoritative." -- Richard Haass, President, Council on Foreign Relations

"[A] primer on the "do's" and "don'ts" of nuclear diplomacy." -- Richard D. Lugar, United States Senator

"[A] splendid, fast paced, deeply important insight into modern American foreign policy." -- Ambassador Frank Wisner, Former Ambassador to India

About the Author

Strobe Talbott is president of the Brookings Institution. He served as deputy secretary of state from 1994 to 2001. For twenty-one years prior to his service in government, he was correspondent and columnist for Time magazine. He has written nine books, including The Russia Hand: A Memoir of Presidential Diplomacy (Random House, 2002), a personal account of U.S. diplomacy toward Russia during the Clinton administration.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 268 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Inst Pr (August 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815783000
• ISBN-13: 978-0815783008
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,328,238 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strobe and Jaswant's Excellent Adventure, July 3, 2005

By 

Izaak VanGaalen (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb (Hardcover)

Strobe Talbot's memoir begins in 1998 when the Vajpayee Government in India shocked the world by conducting the Pokran II nuclear tests. The State Department - Talbot's employer - learned about the tests from CNN, and the CIA learned about them from the State Department. (The CIA used to know things.) The foreign service officer in charge of the State Department's bureau of intelligence and research wryly remarked, " It looks like we're all having a bad government day."

Talbot was the Clinton's Administration's resident expert on Russian-affairs, but after the tests (Pakistan followed with nuclear tests two weeks later), he was immediately reassigned as the point person and crisis manager for South Asia. His assignment was to persuade India to limit the development and deployment of their nuclear weapons; this included the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Talbot and his Indian counterpart Jaswant Singh met fourteen times over the last two and half years of the Clinton administration. This extended dialog between Talbot and Singh ended with Talbot's failure to persuade India to accept any restraints on its nuclear weapons program - which came as no surprise to either Talbot or Singh. The dialog -the engagement of India - brought many unintended benefits.

Treaties such as the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the (CTBT) are, from an Indian perspective, discriminatory and condescending against everyone except the original five nuclear powers. The nuclear option was seen by the Vajpayee Government, and especially by the right-leaning nationalists of the Bharatiya Janata Party, as not only a realistic defense policy, but also a tool for achieving great power status. They never had any intention of signing the CTBT. Talbot, for his part, was dealing with a weak hand because the Republican senators in the US were aslo unwilling to endorse the treaty.

What became valuable was the engagement itself in that it altered the direction of US-Indian relations from one of mutual estrangement to one of trust and cooperation. This was illustrated during the 1999 invasion by Pakistan of the Kargil area of Kashmir. As President Clinton was holding talks with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan to halt the invasion, he was at the same time consulting Vajpayee and seeking his advice. This so impressed the Indian side that it paved the way for Clinton's historic visit in 2000.

One of the fascinating things about this book is the personality of Jaswant Singh. Singh hails from Rajasthan where his intimate experience with Islamic extremism pushed him toward's the BJP's staunch Hindu idealogy. He had presciently warned Talbot that America did not fully appreciate the dangers of radical Islam. And regarding Pakistan, Singh was opposed to the very idea of Pakistan; the partition that took place more than fifty years ago had been a huge mistake. He noted with characteristic flair that, "Kashmir should be understood as an objectification of Pakistan's predicament as a lost soul among nations, an ersatz country whose founders' only legacy was a permanent reminder of what a tragic mistake partition had been." In the end, Talbot's own views on Islamic extremism and Pakistan had come closer to Singh's.

"Engaging India" is a fascinating account of the behind-the-scenes diplomacy that led to the improvement of US-Indian relations after fifty years of mistust. With India's growing economic and military power the Bush Administration has wisely decided to shelve the nuclear dispute and opt for military and strategic cooperation. We can only hope that it continues to be an excellent adventure.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book, fast read and an eye opener, September 23, 2004

By 

B. Shah (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb (Hardcover)

Anyone who has any doubts about Pakistan's involvement in world wide terrorism should read this book. This is not some curious author discovering the facts. This is a powerful ex-official in Clinton administration who has seen it all and describes how Pakistan is responsible for helping terrorists.

Also it throws light at the behind doors world of diplomacy and how it is played out between India and US.

I recommend this book to anyone interested on the subjects of Terrorism, US-India relations, Pakistan, Non-Proliferation and Nuclear bombs.

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing, relatively speaking that is, October 17, 2004

By 

TK (Sunnyvale, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Engaging India: Diplomacy, Democracy, and the Bomb (Hardcover)

Clearly Mr. Talbott has a favorable opinion of India and that alone is, I suspect, music to many an Indian's ears. Having said that, this book made me realize how little, in terms of appreciation for India and its core values, I have come to expect out of American leaders and diplomats past and present alike. While Mr.Talbott faithfully presents all the Indian arguments against the NPT, he fails to acknowledge, in spite of his relative security in retirement from public office, that those arguments make sense to ANY fair and balanced person, not necessarily Indian. Mr. Talbott, rather conveniently, switches to his I-was-just-a-state-department-peon hat to steer clear of commentary about the discriminatory and seriously flawed NPT. In the absence of that basic acknowledgement, I am unable to take to heart any of his criticisms, however justified, about India's social structure and body politic.

Mr.Talbott would have us believe that the "hyphenation" of India and Pakistan, that Jaswant Singh takes exception to, is a justifiable association rooted in common sense, while in fact, it is actually a result of a deliberate and successful cold war effort on the US State Department's part to equate the two countries.

Does Mr Talbott expect us to believe that only the purest and most innocent of assessments led to the prevalent notion in much of the western media that India and Pakistan are somehow "rivals", when in fact India is 7 times as populous as Pakistan, has an economy almost 10 times that of Pakistan, and has a system of governance that couldn't contrast any more sharply against Pakistan's?

In fact, so wildly successful has this disinformation campaign been, that any Indian suggestion to the contrary is dismissed as yet another indication of the free flowing cross-border vitriol.

To Mr. Talbott's credit he has made an honest and refreshing attempt to put into perspective the relative importance of India and Pakistan to the global world order. But I am afraid it's not enough. Not enough for the average American who needs a nuanced worldview more and more, and not enough for the average Indian who needs certificates from America less and less.