Gor, 38, was among 107 nominees confirmed by the Senate in a single en bloc vote on Tuesday, with 51 senators voting in favour and 47 against.
"I think the principle benefit would be greater visibility to the relationship at the highest level with President Obama and Prime Minister Singh," Karl F 'Rick' Inderfurth, the former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs said.
The United States apparently is always looking over its shoulder vis-a-vis China, conscious that its envisaged strategic partnership with India and its trilateral partnerships in East Asia and the Pacific -- with India and Japan and India and Australia respectively -- are not construed as ostensible encirclement of Beijing.
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Dr Alyssa Ayres, the keynote speaker at the National Federation of Indian American Association's conference on Women's Empowerment, has declared that promoting women's empowerment in India is a key goal of the United States administration, particularly Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
India has more credibility with developing countries on democracy promotion and governance than does the United States, a top United States official has admitted, even as Washington is pushing New Delhi to be part of the effort to make this phenomenon contagious worldwide.
Observing that China has been anxiously watching the rise of Indo-United States relationship, a former top US diplomat believes New Delhi doesn't want to be caught in this Sino-US game at the global level.
The India Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies -- a leading Washington, DC think tank -- will be occupied by Karl F Inderfurth, erstwhile Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in the Clinton Administration.
Taking part in an interaction following his speech to a conference of US-India Relations, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Robert Blake announced that US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will make her first trip to New Delhi in the spring for meetings with her counterpart Home Minister P Chidambaram and other senior officials in the Ministry and intelligence agencies.
Former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has alleged that it is not Pakistan that is carrying out a proxy war against India in Afghanistan, but the other way around, with the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad, veritable offices of the Indian intelligence, the Research and Analysis Wing, to foment terrorism in Pakistan.
Karl F Inderfurth, who was Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in the Clinton administration, and Nicholas Burns, who was Under Secretary of State in the Bush Administration, told rediff.com that Obama's endorsement during his address to a joint session of Parliament thus made his visit to India transformational too in a sense as had the trip by Clinton in March of 2000 and Bush in March 2006.
Confirming rediff.com's scoop of October 15 on how United States officials wanted US President Barack Obama to endorse India's bid for permanent membership in the United States Security Council, advising him it could make his India visit truly historic, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Robert Blake said Monday, that even though the President's announcement of support for India's candidacy during his address to Parliament came as a surprise to many people,
When Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs was challenged as to what action against terror groups, including the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, the US had been able to elicit from Pakistan and that President Obama's statements that Pakistan providing safe havens to these groups being unacceptable was said in India to pacify Indians, he defended the actions taken by Islamabad thus far.
"I believe it would a great thing if the president were to do this during his visit," Karl Inderfurth, professor of international relations at George Washington University, told Rediff India Abroad
In an exclusive interview to Rediff.com, US Assistant Secretary of State Robert O Blake speaks about President Obama's trip to India, the recent US-India Strategic Dialogue and the fate of the nuclear liability bill.
The US and India are in sync with their foreign policy toward Sri Lanka, particularly over the repatriation of the remaining 40,000 plus internally displaced persons after the government's victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the Tamil-populated northern province, said Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Robert O Blake.
Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Robert Blake said Pakistan had frequently raised the controversial and contentious water issue with India during his recent trip to Islamabad, but added that the US had no intention of intervening in the bilateral issue.
Karl F Inderfurth, former assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs in former United States President Bill Clinton's administration and a foreign policy adviser in the Barack Obama presidential campaign, says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to India was 'continuity plus', vis--vis the growing strategic partnership between Washington and New Delhi.Inderfurth said, "This visit was filled with areas to promote even closer cooperation."
Former Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs, Karl F Inderfurth, has told the US Congress that Washington should publicly support India's bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, arguing that the India's case has never been stronger.
Inderfurth, currently professor of international relations at George Washington University and, according to insiders, either the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the next administration or the next United States ambassador to India, says too much is being read into Obama's recent remarks on Kashmir.
Karl 'Rick' Inderfurth, foreign policy advisor on South Asia for United States President-elect Barack Obama's campaign, who is expected to play an influential role in the Obama administration's policy on the subcontinent, says, "It was said immediately after the 9/11 attack that 'we are all Americans'. Now, in the wake of the Mumbai tragedy, it is right for all of us to say 'we are all Indians.'
United States President Barack Obama has nominated US ambassador to Sri Lanka Robert O Blake, who has also served as the Deputy Chief of US Mission in New Delhi, as the Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs. If approved by the US Senate, Blake would replace Richard Boucher, who is currently Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs. However, the communique did not mention Central Asia being part of Blake's portfolio.
Pakistan says it will go with the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline despite skepticism over the project from the United States.
Over 90 Indian-American community leaders and political activists, who were catalytic in pushing through the passage of the legislation, took part in the ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
US eager to combat terror in Bangladesh
'How could we have gone from a position of strength in the international community to virtual isolation,' asks Karl F Inderfurth, former US assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs.
What will a BJP government in New Delhi mean for Washington? Four senior US officials who served in the Clinton administration during the NDA government, offer their perspective, says Aziz Haniffa.
Nisha Desai Biswal, Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in the Obama administration, has strongly asserted that India's support for Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine and Moscow's annexation of Crimea should not be conflated with the row over diplomat Devyani Khobragade.
US Senators want Obama administration to clarify what India's 12 agreements with Iran are all about.
The increase in home-grown radicalised Islamic groups and the rise of Islamic State and Al Qaeda in Bangladesh should be a matter of worry for India, which shares a 4,100 km border with its eastern neighbour, says Rajeev Sharma.
"The incident involving India's deputy consul general was outrageous, deplorable and inexcusable. Period. Full stop."
'India will soon have the world's largest and youngest population -- just imagine what tomorrow's citizens of India will be able to accomplish, given the right education, training, and opportunity.'
Diplomatic and Congressional sources tell Rediff.com that for all intents and purposes, the F-16 sale is dead.
'We have seen in India that radical ideology has by and large not been successful in taking root.'
'Part of the problem lies in the US failure to stay focused on the goal of convincing Pakistan to crack down on terrorists that attack India.'