South Asia and US Interests: Peripheral, But Impossible to Ignore* (*1 Billion+ People Can Quickly Get Your Attention)

South Asia, the land mass consists of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka has been a crossroads of civilization and history for centuries. The cradle of two or more world's religions, the home of one billion people, hundreds of languages and dialects (800 in India alone) and ethnic complexities that dwarf anything Europe can boast, the region remains problematic for the United States South Asia has rarely been seen as vital to American interests, though crises in the area have brought. It to the forefront of Washington's attention periodically. Nonetheless, South Asians see many Americans as viewing the region, and especially India, as "a land of cobras, Maharajahs, monkeys and famines" (Ganguly, 23), and the key…