deccan_goa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >From Indian Express, July 28
Bush team: 'Indian' face from Delhi Ashley Tellis special assistant to Bush, brief: south-west Asia Jyoti Malhotra New Delhi, July 28: The 'Indian connection' is growing in the White House. In the wake of the appointment of the outgoing US ambassador to India Robert Blackwill as 'deputy assistant' to President George Bush -- he takes over his new job next week -- Blackwill's friend and comrade in New Delhi, the India-born Ashley Tellis, is also moving to the White House. Tellis will be called a -- special assistant -- to Bush and will have overarching responsibility for South-West Asia, an arc that spans Afghanistan and the Gulf kingdoms. Blackwill himself will report to National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice on Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, but is likely to have an additional "policy planning" role that allows him to focus on issues and countries of interest to the US. Such as India and Pakistan and their links in the war against terrorism, diplomatic sources here said. The Blackwill-Tellis duo, observers here say, are likely to be a "formidable combination" in the White House. On the eve of his sojourn in India two years ago, it was Blackwill who picked out Tellis, then a nuclear and strategic affairs scholar at the Rand Corporation and asked him to accompany him to New Delhi. Tellis's seminal work on India's nuclear programme makes him a respected figure in the international strategic community. His two years in New Delhi as the "eyes and ears of the most powerful diplomat in Delhi, the American ambassador", said an observer, "gave him an unusual understanding and access to the Indian establishment." In fact, when Blackwill made his very quiet trip to Kabul, Afghanistan last weekend, it was Tellis who accompanied him. Of Goan origin, Tellis is really the first Indian to make it into the heart of the top American establishment. Shirin Tahir-Kheli, who works for the President on human rights issues, was born in India, moved to Pakistan along with her family after Partition and later emigrated to the United States. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
