An empty bunker is seen near the fenced border with Pakistan in Suchetgarh, about 28 km southwest of Jammu, January 7, 2009. (Reuters/Amit Gupta)
Opinion
The Limits of U.S. Diplomacy in Kashmir
January 15, 2009, Anit Mukherjee and Dhruva Jaishankar
The Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan has once again received international attention following November’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, and there are reports that the Obama administration plans to appoint a special envoy for the region. However, as Dhruva Jaishankar and Anit Mukherjee explain, renewed U.S. engagement on Kashmir—especially if it were led by a high-profile envoy—is likely to prove counterproductive, a setback for U.S. foreign policy, for the India-Pakistan peace process and, ironically, for Kashmir itself.