The relations between United States and South Asia now impact the global order. Nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, 9/11 and the subsequent U.S. war on terror against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, America's dependence on Pakistan as an indispensable, if reluctant, ally in that war, and India's emergence as a formidable economic, knowledge and military power have all provided a fillip to the engagement between the United States and South Asia in recent times.

Rajesh Kadian is an Indian-born medical specialist in practice in the United States of America. He comes from a military family and has keenly examined Indian strategic issues from close quarters for a number of years.

Since 1990, he has published critically acclaimed and engagingly readable books on The Indian Army, India’s Sri Lanka Fiasco (1987-1990), The Kashmir Tangle and Tibet, India and China.

Three years of extensive research in three continents has gone into the making of this book, including trips to India, Tibet and Nepal and meetings and interviews with the Dalai Lama, most members of his Kashag (cabinet), Chinese officials, including one who has dealt with Tibet since 1951, numerous noted scholars and members of the Indian government, both active and retired.