The end of the Cold War has meant a re-alignment of traditional partners in South Asia, a region where a fifth of humanity resides. The focus of US policy has also been affected by changes in the international environment. The speakers will address a number of issues that confront US choices in the region. These include: the nature of the threat from and to the region; the role of regional powers such as China and Russia vis-à-vis the subcontinent; the continuing hostility between India and Pakistan — the two newest nuclear powers; and Track II attempts to build confidence between them. The presentation will end with a discussion of some of the creative projects underway to build bridges between India and Pakistan.

Ambassador Shirin Tahir-Kheli is the Director of the South Asia Program at The Johns Hopkins University, Foreign Policy Institute, School of Advanced International Studies, in Washington, D.C. She serves as a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Philadelphia, PA. She was formerly the United States' Ambassador to the United Nations for Special Political Affairs (1990-1993) and served at the National Security Council (1984-1990). Tahir-Kheli received her Ph.D. in International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania in 1972. She has taught numerous courses in comparative politics and international relations at The John Hopkins University, the U.S. Army War College, and Temple University. She is the author of numerous publications, including India, Pakistan, and the United States: Breaking with the Past (Council on Foreign Relations Press, 1997).

Major General Mahmud Ali Durrani (Retd) was educated at Burn Hall, Government College Abbotabad and the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul where he graduated at the top of his class. He commanded the elite Armoured Division for five years before becoming the Chairman and Chief Executive of POF- the largest defense-industrial complex in Pakistan: a position he held for over six years before retiring from the Pakistan Army in 1998. During a critical period for US-Pakistan relations (1977-1982), General Durrani was posted as Defense and Military Attache to the US Department of Defense, where he served with distinction earning the US Legion of Merit as well as the Pakistani 'Sitara-e-Basalat' awards. General Durrani is a member of the Balusa Group which is an influential non-government organization consisting of high level Indian and Pakistani officials who seek to promote peace and cooperation in the region. Last year he completed a study on the cost of conflict in South Asia that has been widely distributed.