'Mother India Has Marked Us Deeply ...'

This past January while in Washington, I informed President Bush, Secretary of State Powell, Secretary ofDefense Rumsfeld and National Security Advisor Rice that I would be going back to the faculty at HarvardUniversity's John F. Kennedy School of Government near the end of this summer to continue my academic career.I will thus join my illustrious colleague, John Kenneth Galbraith, in proudly representing my country for twoyears as American Ambassador to India, and then returning to Harvard to teach and to write.

It has been a special privilege to serve the President over the past four years, first during the 2000Presidential Campaign, and then as US Ambassador to India. In naming me as his envoy to this magnificentcountry, President Bush did me a great honor. I have tried to justify his confidence by energeticallypromoting his vision of India as a rising great power of the 21st century, and his primary goal of the world'soldest and largest democracies operating together to transform their relations, to forge concentratedstrategic collaboration for the decades ahead.

Under the leadership of President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee, Washington and New Delhi have madeenormous strides to achieve this aim. I said in my Senate confirmation hearings that international peace,prosperity and freedom would be further advanced if the relationship between the United States and India werefundamentally transformed. In partnership with an accomplished Mission staff of Americans and Indians, I cansay with certainty that this is occurring powerfully each day between the two nations.

Before US-India transformation began, it was rare for members of a President's cabinet and senior Americanofficials to visit India. Almost a hundred have come in the past two years. Two years ago, there were economicsanctions applied by the United States against India related to its 1998 nuclear tests. Today, those sanctionsare long gone. Two years ago, the American and Indian militaries conducted no joint operations. Today, theyhave completed six major training exercises, and our defense cooperation flourishes. American and Indiancounterparts now intensively engage across a broad spectrum of other essential subjects: fighting terrorism,diplomatic collaboration, intelligence exchange, law enforcement, development assistance, the globalenvironment, HIV/AIDS and other public health problems. Two years ago, American and Indian policymakers didnot address together the important issues of cooperative high technology trade, civil space activity, andcivilian nuclear power. Today, all three are under continuing bilateral discussion. And in addition, there hasbeen crisis management from time to time along the way concerning tensions in South Asia.

With President Bush and Prime Minister Vajpayee showing the route and buttressed by the Indian Americancommunity in the United States and the US Congress, our consistently troubled bilateral past is behind us. Inmy view, close and cooperative relations between the United States and India will thrive in the decades aheadmost crucially because of the convergence of common democratic values and vital national interests. We haveoverlapping vital national interests in promoting peace and freedom in Asia, slowing the spread of Weapons ofMass Destruction, and combating international terrorism.

With respect to the global war on terrorism, President Bush emphasizes that this scourge threatens both ourvalues and our interests. As I have said many times during my stay in India, the fight against internationalterrorism will not be won until terrorism against India ends permanently. There can be no other legitimatestance by the United States, no American compromise whatever on this elemental geopolitical and moral truth.The United States, India and all civilized nations must have zero tolerance for terrorism. Otherwise, we sinkinto a swamp of moral relativism and strategic myopia. As was so often the case, the late Daniel PatrickMoynihan put it best, "reason and careful moral reflection…teach us that there are times when the firstand the most important reply to evil is to stop it."

There is another issue on which together we must try harder. As I used to teach students in my course onstrategy at Harvard University and will soon do so again, national economic strength is a prerequisite forsustained diplomatic influence and military muscle. Therefore, I hope for a robust India economic performancein the years ahead, and for a sharp increase in US-India trade and American investment in India. Promoting USbusiness has been one of my major preoccupations while Ambassador to India.

The US-India relationship has a glittering future. To play a part in advancing this cause under PresidentBush's direction has been my duty, my pleasure and my encompassing strategic conviction. In that context, Iparticularly thank senior members of the Indian Government for their unfailing generosity to me as I havecarried out my official duties. I especially have in mind Prime Minister Vajpayee, Deputy Prime MinisterAdvani, Finance Minister Singh, External Affairs Minister Sinha, Defense Minister Fernandes, and PrincipalSecretary and National Security Advisor Mishra. I would also like to express my appreciation to the leader ofthe opposition, Mrs. Gandhi, for her many courtesies to me.

Around this vast land, I have met men and women of superlative talent, of consummate entrepreneurial andpolitical skill, individuals committed to helping their fellow citizens. Countless Indians from every part ofsociety have given me their assistance, their views, and their hopes and dreams for stronger bonds between ourtwo nations. I am grateful to them as we all recognize that people-to-people ties are at the heart of theUS-India relationship. For my wife Wera Hildebrand and myself, getting to know something about this fabulouscountry has been one of life's pinnacles. From North Block and South Block to the valleys of Assam to thespare splendor of Rajasthan's deserts and Mumbai's exuberance, from the mountains of Kashmir to the GoldenTemple to Kutch and Bangalore's IT dynamism, all that is India compels us.

How could it not, for to quote Mark Twain,

"India is,
the cradle of the human race,
the birthplace of human speech,
the mother of history,
the grandmother of legend,
and the great grand mother of tradition.
Our most valuable and most instructive materials
in the history of man
are treasured up in India."

But we miss our five children in the United States. We have one grandchild there and, praise be, two more onthe way. We are attached to our home in Cambridge and to our friends in America. Harvard beckons. So duringthis coming New England winter, our vivid and lasting memories of India -- its people, its culture, its beauty-- will warm us as we face the snows.

Mother India has marked us deeply and only for the better - for all time.