How will John Kerry view South Asia?

Obama nominates 5-term Senator from Massachussets as next Secretary of State for the US

"I think it's fair to say that few individuals know as many presidents and prime ministers, or grasp our foreign policies as firmly as John Kerry. And this makes him a perfect choice to guide American diplomacy in the years ahead,” said President Barack Obama as he nominated the five-term Senator from Massachusetts, a winner of three purple hearts and several other medals from the war in Vietnam and a friend of Pakistan’s to be the next Secretary of State for the United States.

Not surprisingly, Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s Ambassador in the United States was first off the South Asia block to congratulate Kerry. “Senator Kerry is a man of towering stature and accomplishments, having served the United States with great vigor and distinction… Senator Kerry has demonstrated through the years an extraordinary understanding of the complexities of South and Central Asia,” she said in a statement.

India has said nothing.

To say that for a US Secretary of State the years ahead are going to be challenging would be an understatement. Western forces begin pulling out of Afghanistan in 2014 amid Pakistani doubts and global anxieties about how ready that country is for even partial democracy. Kerry was one of the most important influences on Hamid Karzai to persuade him to accept the 2009 election verdict and go for a run-off against challenger Abdullah Abdullah. It is another matter that the Afghanistan Election Commission cancelled the run off and declared Karzai President for a second term. Kerry was also the envoy Obama sent to Pakistan handle the ugly face-off after CIA-contracted Raymond Davis killed two Pakistanis and was put in jail.

In the past, Kerry has been withering about India’s nuclear disarmament record, especially on the NPT. But with the Civil Nuclear Agreement, all that is water under the bridge now. He is unlikely, also, to be as assertive about outsourcing-related issues now as he has been before.

There are a host of other US headaches to be handled: from accomodating India’s softer view on Iran, to counselling Israel, to grasping the big picture that Egypt’s Morsi is looking at, and redefining friends and foes in the Middle East against the context of the Syria uprising against Basher al Assad.

For the record, in 2011 when he spoke about India at a reception to honour Indian Ambassador to the United States, Nirupama Rao, he gushed: "It is simply a reality that India is a powerhouse. It is an extraordinary country, a place of the most vibrant debate, remarkable cultural diversity, great political diversity and increasingly critical to the conduct of global affairs”. But New Delhi has noted (and protested) earlier this month that the State Department should accept Pakistan’s contention that two former Directors General of the ISI who had a hand in plotting the Mumbai attacks had diplomatic immunity and could not be proceeded against in the US. South Block will expect to hear Kerry say something about this.