Ashley J Tellis, Mumbai-Born Strategic Expert, Could Be United States’ Next Ambassador To India

Ashley Tellis could be the next United States ambassador to India, the Washington Post has reported. “Transition sources said Trump is close to selecting Ashley Tellis, a former White House official and renowned India expert, to be the next US ambassador to India”, the report read.

The present ambassador Richard Verma informed on Sunday that he will demit office on 20 January, the day Trump takes over as US President.

Tellis grew up in India and is currently working as a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace specialising in international security, defence, and Asian strategic issues. From 2001 to 2003, he served as senior adviser at the US Embassy in New Delhi. In 2003, he also served on the National Security Council staff as special assistant to the President and senior director for Strategic Planning and Southwest Asia.

Tellis is a strong proponent of closer US-India relations and has played a prominent role improving relations between the two countries in the past decade. Tellis was intimately involved in negotiating the landmark civil nuclear agreement between the two nations. He is the author of several books including India’s Emerging Nuclear Posture Strategic Asia 2016-2017: Understanding Strategic Cultures in the Asia-Pacific and Getting India Back on Track: An Action Agenda for Reform (2014).

“It is simply impossible to predict what a President Trump would mean for US-India relations. Trump is incredibly erratic in the way he approaches the world and that seems to be his distinctive personality trait”, Tellis had said in a recent interview when asked about the future of US-India relations under the new administration.