As promised, on Saturday President Musharraf ended the emergency rule that he had imposed on November 3. However . . . it is very unclear whether the elections will be held in a manner that could truly be described as free or fair.

The United States and India have, in the words of U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, made the civil nuclear deal the “symbolic centerpiece” of the bilateral relationship.  However, India’s coalition politics have created an obstacle to completing the deal.  How important is this deal really and how should we move forward?

"While local politics in India mandate an internal focus, recent Indian administrations have understood that it will require engagement with the international community to achieve their domestic objectives.  In words, India still focuses inwardly: in actions, however, India is beginning to feel its way outside its borders.  In recent years, India’s military, diplomatic and economic energies have expanded far beyond Nehru’s Non-Aligned position.  But what does that mean for India, its region, and to the United States?"

Anirudha Dutta of CLSA-U interviews Xenia Dormandy on the issues surrounding the U.S.-India bilateral relationship.

As the nuclear deal flounders under pressure from the Left, and with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh belatedly awakened to the cruel compulsions of coalition politics, officials in the Bush administration are venting their frustration in private. Xenia Dormandy of Harvard University is optimistic: "The only question is whether it is in early 2008 or after a new US administration in 2009," she says, adding a rider that it will require the Indian PM to use all his political equity to face down the Left parties.

The Project on India and the Subcontinent is a new initiative of the Belfer Center, directed by former Executive Director for Research Xenia Dormandy. Its mission is to build knowledge, leadership and recommendations on key policy-critical issues related to the rise of India and South Asia. Dormandy answered the following questions about the new project.

As the centerpiece of the transformed relationship, there is enormous political will to complete the deal, but the devil is in the details.

It has become a cliche that the key strategic challenges facing Washington and the wider international community, such as energy, water, terrorism, economic development, and nonproliferation, cannot be solved by the United States alone. Although the United States unarguably retains its post-Cold War preeminent position, events since the September 11 attacks have shown the limitations of Washington's hard and soft power.

Election season is on in both countries. Despite the distinct differences between the two democracies (or in one case quasi-democracy), the pounding that both leaders are taking is not dissimilar.

There is talk about the U.S.-Pakistan-Afghanistan tripartite, but it's the wrong focus. The focus should be on the Afghanistan-Pakistan-India triangle.