Blackwill resigning as Ambassador to India



The United States ambassador to India, Robert D. Blackwill, said today that he was resigning to return to his academic career at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He said that he had informed President Bush of his decision in January, and that he would leave near the end of the summer. Mr. Blackwill's tenure has been marked by the strengthening of ties between India and the United States, and included a serious enough erosion in relations between India and Pakistan to prompt American intervention. Mr. Blackwill was appointed ambassador in June 2001, after serving as a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign. Along with Mr. Bush, he was a committed advocate of taking India seriously as an American ally, and implicitly as a bulwark against China's growing power. The result was perhaps the closest tie between India, the world's most populous democracy, and the United States since India's independence in 1947. Robert Blackwill served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi, Ambasssador to India, and as a Deputy National Security Advisor to Condoleezza Rice.

Blackwill resigning as Ambassador to India

U.S. Ambassador to India Resigning Post After 2 Years

By AMY WALDMAN

Published: April 22, 2003

The United States ambassador to India, Robert D. Blackwill, said today that he was resigning to return to his academic career at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He said that he had informed President Bush of his decision in January, and that he would leave near the end of the summer.

Mr. Blackwill's tenure has been marked by the strengthening of ties between India and the United States, and included a serious enough erosion in relations between India and Pakistan to prompt American intervention.

Mr. Blackwill was appointed ambassador in June 2001, after serving as a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign.

Along with Mr. Bush, he was a committed advocate of taking India seriously as an American ally, and implicitly as a bulwark against China's growing power. The result was perhaps the closest tie between India, the world's most populous democracy, and the United States since India's independence in 1947.

The changing relationship has been evident on several fronts, noted by Mr. Blackwill in the statement he released today. Almost 100 members of Mr. Bush's cabinet and senior American officials have visited India in the past two years, a sharp increase from previous administrations. Economic penalties applied by the United States against India for its 1998 nuclear tests were lifted. The American and Indian military forces have jointly completed six major training exercises.

Mr. Blackwill's management style prompted complaints from embassy staff members and led to a review by the State Department's inspector general, although the complaints have since died down.

He has been an unusually high-profile ambassador, often blunt in the advocacy of his positions. He was disappointed by India's halting progress on economic reform and the tepid economic ties between India and the United States, for example, and did not hesitate to say so.

Last summer, after a series of terrorist attacks for which India blamed Pakistan, the two nuclear-armed nations nearly went to war. As tensions rose, Mr. Blackwill was said to have been a strong advocate of a State Department advisory against travel to India, which prompted the evacuation of embassy staff members.

Whether intended as a pressure tactic or not, the advisory put a crimp in India's economy and tourism, and was partly credited for drawing India away from war.

Mr. Blackwill continuously prodded India to resume dialogue with Pakistan. But he also offered India support in its effort to halt terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

In his statement today, he said the fight against international terrorism would not be won until terrorism against India ended. The statement read, ''There can be no other legitimate stance by the United States, no American compromise whatever on this elemental geopolitical and moral truth.''

Links to Related Topics (Tags):

Headlines: April, 2003; RPCV Robert Blackwill (Malawi); Figures; Peace Corps Malawi; Directory of Malawi RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Malawi RPCVs; Diplomacy; Peace Corps India; Directory of India RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for India RPCVs

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