If confirmed, Nancy Powell will be the first woman ambassador to India, but some have questioned if she would have the ear of the President unlike a political appointee. Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington DC.
The Senate confirmed ambassadors to 16 countries following Obama administrations's concern over the posts lying vacant. The confirmation had been lying pending before the senate for about two months now.
In a sudden development, United States Ambassador to India Nancy Powell has resigned from her post, days after media speculation that she may be shipped out.
Ambassador Nancy Powell's sudden resignation does not indicate any realignment of America's ties with India, the United States has said, asserting there is "no big behind the scenes story" that led her to quit.
The February 13 meeting between Nancy Powell, who quit as United States ambassador to India on Monday, and Narendra Modi, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate, was frosty enough to convince the Roosevelt House (the official address of the US embassy in New Delhi) and the White House in Washington DC that much had to be done before US diplomats could aspire to any significant access to a Modi-led government in India.
India and the United States have jointly refuted the perception that there was a "lull and dip" in the relation between the two countries and it is "oversold".
'The American envoy has not quit over any tension in ties or over any issue related to meeting BJP PM hopeful Narendra Modi.'
Nancy J Powell, a career diplomat with wide experience in South Asia, has been named by United States President Barack Obama as the next ambassador to India, the first woman to be nominated for the coveted post.Powell, 64, will replace Timothy J Roemer, who resigned from his post in April 2011 following a two-year stint as US envoy to India, after going through a confirmation process by the Senate. Peter Burleigh is currently serving as the Charge d'affaires of the US embassy
United States Ambassador to India Nancy Powell will leave New Delhi on May 22, four days before Narendra Modi takes oath as the prime minister.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Thursday downplayed US Ambassador Nancy Powell's meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying diplomats in India are free to move and get information to understand better the dynamics of Indian politics.
Nancy Powell, the new United States envoy to India, will be bring a bust of Eleanor Roosevelt -- the first lady of the US from 1933 to 1945 with her when she will leave for New Delhi next week.
Expansion of defence and trade ties, cooperation in new areas and combating common global threats with enhanced mutual partnership will be the key priorities for United States Ambassador-designate to India Nancy Powell. In a video message, the 64-year-old career diplomat, who will arrive in New Delhi later this week, said she shared President Barack Obama's vision of India and America forming one of the "definitive partnerships" of 21st century.
The Congress on Wednesday expressed sadness over 'pictures of Indians getting handcuffed and humiliated' while being deported from the United States and recalled that America had to express regret over the treatment meted out to India diplomat Devyani Khobragade in 2013 after the then United Progressive Alliance government retaliated sharply.
The meeting between United States Ambassador to India Nancy Powell and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was a "pragmatic" and "necessary step", according to a media report, that said it seems "likely" the visa status of BJP's prime ministerial candidate "could change" if he is elected to the top post.
The US has taken the first step to open channels of communications with a leader it had so far refused to engage with, at least openly.
Nancy Powell's pledges to cement US-India strategic partnership. Aziz Haniffa reports
Neither Barack Obama or John F Kerry were involved in the decision for Ambassador Nancy Powell to meet Narendra Modi. Rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
United States Ambassador to India Nancy Powell plans to meet Narendra Modi, signalling a shift in America's stand towards the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Seasoned American diplomat Nancy Powell, who was sworn in as United States ambassador to India, has identified five priority areas to take the relationship between the two countries to a new level. "Our look forward will encompass: Bolstering trade and investment to reduce barriers, including through negotiation of a bilateral investment treaty, and expansion of the areas where we can do business, including full implementation of the Civil-Nuclear Agreement," Powell said.
Reaching out to the Sikh community in the wake of the shooting incident at a Gurudwara in Wisconsin, United States Ambassador to India Nancy Powell on Monday offered her prayers at a Gurudwara here and said the incident will be probed thoroughly.
Noting an upswing in bilateral ties over the years, the United States has pitched for greater role for India in the world and said it was keen to work with New Delhi on it.
United States Ambassador Nancy Powell on Thursday met Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai and assured him US will share with India its inquiry report in the US navy ship firing incident in which one Indian fisherman was killed in Dubai.
India's tough measures against United States diplomats following the arrest of a senior Indian diplomat in New York has impacted US Ambassador Nancy Powell who called off her travel to Nepal after her special privileges were withdrawn.
Powell agreed that her number one task in Nepal would be to focus on what the US could do to be supportive, without being viewed as interfering or managing it.
Domestic business endorsement for Mr Modi never wavered, not even after 2002.
US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell headed back to her country on Thursday after an eventful stint here and will be replaced temporarily early next month by Kathleen Stephens, a career diplomat.
An Indian fisherman was killed and three others were wounded on Monday when a security team onboard a US Navy ship fired on their boat off Dubai, a United Arab Emirates official said.
Top CIA officials met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon on Monday and are understood to have discussed evidence of Pakistani involvement in the July 11 Mumbai blasts.
"I don't think there's any change. There's no change in their status," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, commenting on the issue in the backdrop of a meeting between a top American envoy in Kathmandu Nancy Powell and Maoist leader Prachanda.
She also met American Ambassador to Pakistan Nancy Powell, who was in New Delhi on a stopover to her vacation.
Headed for New Delhi next week, new US Ambassador to India Nancy J Powell has said realizing the true potential of economic relationship between India and the US would be her top priority.
United States Senator John F Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in convening the nomination hearing of Nancy J Powell to be the next US ambassador to India, said, America's partnership with India "is without doubt one of the most significant partnerships in US foreign policy."
Kathleen Stephens, the new United States interim ambassador, on Friday took charge of the American embassy in New Delhi and said she was looking forward to working with India for strengthening and broadening the Indo-US partnership.
In an escalating diplomatic row, India has asked the United States to return IDs issued to all its consular officers posted in the country, a move which may be a precursor to reviewing immunity and benefits enjoyed by them as a protest to the treatment meted out to India's deputy consul general in New York.
Ahead of United States envoy Nancy Powell's meeting with Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday hoped America will apply with regard to the Gujarat chief minister the standards consistent with its policies in dealing with issues like human rights.
Ending a nine-year-long boycott after the 2002 Gujarat riots, the United States opened a channel of communication with Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi on Thursday, when America's envoy Nancy Powell met the Gujarat strongman.
India on Monday made it clear to the United States that it cannot be "business as usual" between the two sides till the Devyani Khobragade issue is resolved.
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