Did Obama Wait Too Long to Engage Narendra Modi?

Ellis Briggs, a diplomatic professional, wisely counseled that, in diplomacy, "one should always be in with the outs."
Did Obama Wait Too Long to Engage Narendra Modi?

The Cable: 16 May 2014

With a simple phone call on Friday afternoon, President Obama invited the next prime minister of India to the United States and effectively ended an almost decade-long visa ban on the controversial Indian politician Narendra Modi. The Indian leader, whose Bharatiya Janata Party just swept the polls in India's general election, had been prevented from traveling to the United States due to his involvement in deadly communal riots in 2002. But given the importance of the U.S.-India partnership, and Modi's tremendous popularity at home, some experts say Obama and the State Department waited too long to forge meaningful ties with Modi risking lasting damage to the strategically vital relationship between the two powers. http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2014/05/16/did_obama_wait_too_long_to_engage_narendra_modi?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foreignpolicy%2Fthecable+%28The+Cable%29