Wednesday, June 29, 2011, from 5:30PM to 8PM, at the Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street, Manhattan

Following the discovery of bin Laden in Pakistan, should the U.S. declare Pakistan a rogue state and cut off all aid, or maintain ties with Pakistan in order to complete the mission in Afghanistan?

The US has commonly resorted to the carrot and stick policy of dealing with Pakistan: funding Pakistan liberally when Pakistan has been important to the US interests, as in the 1980s and after 9/11; and punishing Pakistan by choking off aid when Pakistan has engaged in adventurism, as in the 1990s when it clandestinely pursued a nuclear program. So what are the more realistic options open to the US in influencing Pakistan to change its behavior?

While Pakistan has always talked about democracy it has nonetheless drifted toward extremism, even harboring terrorist networks as assets against both Afghanistan and India. These issues are the basis of the essays in a new book Pakistan: From the Rhetoric of Democracy to the Rise of Militancy, and the subject of this discussion by four contributors, including the editor Ravi Kalia.

Ravi Kalia is a Professor of History at The City College New York/CUNY, and Board Member of AAARI. A graduate of the University of Delhi (BA Hons., MA) and University of California-Los Angeles (MBA, PhD), Prof. Kalia specializes in South Asian studies, with a focus on urban-architectural history in colonial and post-colonial India. His books include “Chandigarh: The Making of an Indian City” (Southern Illinois Univ. Press & Oxford Univ.Press, 1987; revised, 1999), “Bhubaneshwar: From a Temple Town to a Capital City” (Southern Illinois Univ. Press & Oxford Univ. Press, 1994), and “Gandhinagar: Building National Identity in Postcolonial India” (Univ. of South Carolina Press & Oxford Univ. Press, 2004). Prof. Kalia is the recipient of three Fulbright scholarships and numerous other research awards.

For details on the venue, please visit www.rmanyc.org/events/load/1250