One of the early Tamil-language experts in the US foreign service, Kux served in senior positions in the South Asian bureau at the US State Department, including as country director. (Photo: lafayette.edu) 4 min read Apr 28, 2026 05:07 PM IST First published on: Apr 28, 2026 at 05:07 PM IST Estranged Democracies and Disenchanted Allies sum up, in a very pithy manner, the distinctive texture of the troubled and turbulent relationship that the US developed with India and Pakistan respectively during the Cold War decades. These phrases are the titles of two highly acclaimed books by Dennis Kux (born 1931), a former US ambassador and diplomatic historian who passed away in France in late March. Born in London, Kux, who was of Austrian origin, joined the US Foreign Service in 1955 and retired in 1989 after serving as ambassador to the Ivory Coast. He was posted to Pakistan first in 1957 and again in 1969 and had a ringside view of the Nixon-Kissinger era and the bloody birth of Bangladesh.…