Event Summary
While many assume that the era of India-Pakistan crises is over, authors P.R. Chari, Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema and Brookings Senior Fellow Stephen P. Cohen question whether new crises might lie just ahead. In their new book Four Crises and a Peace Process: American Engagement in South Asia (Brookings Institution Press, 2007), the authors explore this critical question, made even more urgent given current political instability in Pakistan. The book focuses on four contained conflicts on the subcontinent: the Brasstacks crisis of 1986; the compound crisis of 1990; the Kargil conflict of 1999; and the border confrontation of 2001. The four crises are notable because any one could have escalated into a large-scale conflict—or even all-out war. Further, three of these conflicts took place after India and Pakistan had gone nuclear.
On November 27, the Brookings Institution launched
Four Crises and a Peace Process. The authors explored the underlying causes of these crises, their consequences, the lessons to be learned from each and the particular role of the United States. Stephen P. Cohen provided introductory remarks and moderated the panel discussion. The panelists–Brookings Senior Fellows Peter Rodman, Teresita Schaffer of the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace–comment edon the book and discuss U.S. engagement in South Asia.
Four Crises and a Peace ProcessP.R. Chari, Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema and Stephen P. Cohen