News & Announcements

Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has named Ambassador Richard Verma a non-resident Senior Fellow. Verma, who served as U.S. Ambassador to India from 2014-2017 and earlier as Assistant Secretary of State, will share with students and faculty lessons on diplomacy, developments in Asia, and U.S. national security policy.

Two days after presenting his credentials to President Trump, His Excellency Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, the newly appointed Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, expressed optimism about bilateral relations between the two countries. Respondent Adil Najam, Dean of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was more cautious in his assessment of the relationship after years of "reset."

Ambassadors Daniel Feldman, Marc Grossman, and Rick Olson, former Special Representatives to Afghanistan and Pakistan, spoke about the status of the conflict and made recommendations for current and future administrations. 

“It’s been the same war fought 12 times over,” said Sean Carberry, former Afghanistan correspondent for NPR, in a public address on April 27 entitled “Afghanistan - Covering America’s Longest War.” As part of the Future of Diplomacy Project’s annual “South Asia Week,” jointly sponsored by the India and South Asia Program at Harvard University, Sean Carberry was joined by fellow Afghanistan-based journalist, Anand Gopal, who also shared reflections on covering the complex conflict. Their insightful remarks, concerning the different layers of conflict at play in Afghanistan, were moderated by the project’s Executive Director, Cathryn Clüver.

The Future of Diplomacy Project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs announces the appointment of spring 2015 Fisher Family Fellows; former NATO Secretary-General and Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen; former EU Trade Commissioner and Belgian Foreign Minister, Karel de Gucht; former National Security Advisor and Foreign Secretary of India, Shivshankar Menon; and Brazil’s former Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Celso Amorim.

Hosting speakers such as US Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, President of Turkey Dr. Abdullah Gül, and China's Ambassador to the US Cui Tiankai, the Future of Diplomacy Project has had an amazing year in 2014, pursuing its mission to promote public understanding of modern diplomatic practice in response to complex international issues.

The Future of Diplomacy Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School has appointed C. Raja Mohan as a fall 2013 Fisher Family Fellow. Mohan will be in residence for two weeks in October, teach a study group on India’s foreign policy and regional priorities and deliver a public address on October 31 titled “India and the U.S. pivot to Asia: Between Geopolitical Opportunity and Strategic Autonomy.”

Xenia Dormandy, Director of the Project on India and the Subcontinent, was interviewed for National Public Radio's All Things Considered on the impact of Musharraf's resignation for U.S. foreign policy.

Xenia Dormandy writes from Pakistan that elections "appear to have been in large part peaceful, notwithstanding some being delayed due to security threats and some bombings at polling stations.  While the results are still being counted and a formal tally will not be out for some while, informally, we are likely to know the results even this evening."