Report 57
US Crisis Management in South Asia's Twin Peaks Crisis
Polly Nayak and Michael Krepon
September 2006
The Twin Peaks crisis was prompted by a brazen attack by militants on the Indian Parliament building in New Delhi in December 2001. The second peak in the crisis occured in May 2002, with an attack by militants in Jammu. The Bush administration's crisis management effort was central in resolving the Twin Peaks crisis. The lessons learned by US officials, which are recounted in this report, could have lasting value, as another crisis between India and Pakistan cannot be discounted. This Stimson Center report provides an extraordinarily detailed, inside look at the US response to this extended crisis.
Polly Nayak is an independent consultant. She retired from government in 2002. From 1995-2001, she was the US intelligence community’s senior expert and manager on South Asia. Since 2002, Ms. Nayak has consulted for government and private sector clients on issues ranging from terrorism and insurgency to nuclear proliferation, political stability, foreign relations, and business climate, with special emphasis on South Asia. Ms. Nayak’s recent publications include US Security Policy on South Asia Since 9/11—Challenges and Implications for the Future (Asia-Pacific Center, 2005). She is working on a book on foreign policy learning by senior US officials.
Michael Krepon is the co-founder of the Henry L. Stimson Center, where he served as President and CEO from 1989-2000. He is the author of Cooperative Threat Reduction, Missile Defense, and the Nuclear Future (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) and the contributing editor of Nuclear Risk Reduction in South Asia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), and Escalation Control and the Nuclear Option in South Asia (The Henry L. Stimson Center, 2004).
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