India should not expect much from Powell's exit (Dawn, Pakistan)

The [outgoing] US state secretary had a penchant for public diplomacy on India-Pakistan issues that have not been appreciated by foreign policy mandarins here.

The Indian diplomats try very hard to avoid any impression that the US dictates India's intenal as well as external interactions. And yet Powell tried more than once to imply that.

Curiously, the title of the article doesn't match the gist of it.

This Asia Times Online article is much better when explaining why Rice will be better than Powell when it comes to US-India relations.

A September 2000 interview with The International Economy sums up Rice's views on foreign policy vis-a-vis India. She said: "We need to encourage new centers of stability, new centers of prosperity. Let me give you an example: India. This is a country that we have generally treated as if it is simply a nuclear problem and a problem concerning Kashmir, and that's all we ever talk about with India. But this is an emerging knowledge economy that has a real place in the new international economy."

In fact Rice, Robert Blackwill (US ambassador to India during 2001-03) and Stephen Hadley (the new national security adviser) have been considered as the three-person team working to implement Bush's India policy, often meeting resistance from Powell