The Obama administration's point man for South Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake has assured that there will be deliverables from the first US-India Strategic Dialogue that will be held in Washington, DC, on June 2-3.
Perhaps to quash the persistent criticism that his administration is not as gung-ho about the US-India relationship as was his predecessor W Bush, President Obama will attend and deliver remarks at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's reception June 3 at the State Department, in honor of the Indian delegation at the US-India Strategic Dialogue.
United States President Barack Obama's first National Security Strategy, unveiled in Washington, DC, on Thursday has reaffirmed that the US is building a strategic partnership with India (the US-India strategic dialogue begins next week) and has included India with other '21st century influencers.'
United States President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser, Retired General Jim Jones, tried to sugar-coat his trip to Pakistan last week along with Central Intelligence Agency chief Leon Panetta, describing it as 'a meeting between friends'. But between the lines, he acknowledged that it was to warn Islamabad to crack down on terrorists plotting in Pakistan and using Pakistani Americans against targets in the US.
Peiris reiterated, "We don't want Amnesty International telling us what to do.What is the moral authority of Amnesty International?We do not think that they have any coercive moral authority to tell us what to do."
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Professor G L Peiris, who is on a visit to United States, emphasised on Tuesday that India should not be concerned over the island nation's deep-rooted ties with China.In an interaction that followed his address to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies -- a leading Washington, DC-based think tank -- Peiris also denied reports about Sri Lanka advising India on how to deal with its internal problems like separatist insurgencies.
The prime mission behind the new Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Professor Gamini Lakshman Peiris' meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is to repair the strained relations between the US and Sri Lanka, which took a beating last year when the Sri Lankan forces were crushing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The US had alleged that there were large scale human rights violations during the military offensive against the tigers.
Till recently, United States Congressman Charles B Rangel, 80, was undeniably one of the most influential lawmakers, thanks to his position as the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which formulates tax laws and other important pieces of legislation. But the dapper, flamboyant, 20-term Democratic US lawmaker from New York was forced to resign for allegedly violating ethics regulations and accepting free Caribbean vacations and golf outings.
US lawmakers Phil Gingrey, a Republican from Georgia, and Christoper Van Hollen, Jr, a Democrat from Maryland, showered lavish praise on the Indian American community as an invaluable bridge in deepening of the US-India ties at the Capitol Hill reception hosted by the National Federation of Indian American Associations on Tuesday.
On Monday, the White House witnessed a reception to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which was marked by the rhythms of bhangra music mixed by the effervescent DJ Rekha (Malhotra).In his welcoming remarks, President Obama said to loud applause and to peals of laughter, "I want to thank DJ Rekha who's been spinning a little East Room Bhangra for everybody -- mixing a hip-hop beat with the sounds of her heritage; making a uniquely American sound."
The elaborate and lavish White House state dinner hosted for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by United States President Barack Obama in November, and the caliber of guests invited, was in part to acknowledge the extraordinary impact of Indian Americans in the US in every field of endeavour, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has said.
Congressman Steny Hoyer, the majority leader of the US House of Representatives, defended against hypocrisy charges in US' foreign policies, and claimed to be India's friend and ally.
Diplomatic observers and South Asia experts in the US do not believe that two of India's major concerns that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh brought up with President Obama on Afghanistan, during his state visit in November and again recently on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit have been alleviated during the summit between Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Influential US lawmaker Congressman Ed Royce has called for the shutting down of the Deobandi schools (madrassas) in Pakistan, which he alleged "continue to churn out terrorists that attack" democratic nations, including India and the United States.
Dr Abdullah Abdullah, erstwhile foreign minister of Afghanistan and a candidate in the 2009 Presidential election, has lauded India's role in Afghanistan in terms of infrastructure development and institutional capacity building as significant and dismissed Pakistan's paranoia and deep suspicions about New Delhi's involvement in his country as totally misplaced.
Echoing India's concerns over Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's move toward reconciliation and reintegration of segments of the Taliban into the Afghan government -- which has been endorsed by the Obama administration -- Dr Abdullah Abdullah, erstwhile Afghan foreign minister and Karzai's nemesis, who was a candidate in the controversial 2009 presidential elections, said pursuing such a policy would be a futile exercise.
Srinagar-born Farah Pandith, President Barack Obama's special representative to Muslim communities worldwide, recently made her first trip to India after her high-level appointment. She had 'a great trip,' she told rediff.com, and 'was very humbled to be able to go back.'
The war-ravaged nation of Afghanistan has offered to try and help bring about a rapprochement between the United States and Iran, even as Washington continues its campaign to isolate Teheran over its alleged nuclear weapons programme in violation of its nonproliferation obligations.
Obama said, "I think there has been in the past, a view on the part of Pakistan that their primary rival, India, was their only concern. (But) I think, what you've seen over the last several months is a growing recognition that they have a cancer in their midst--that the extremist organizations that have been allowed to congregate and use as a base the frontier areas to then go into Afghanistan, that that now threatens Pakistan's sovereignty."
The designation of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation and lumping it with the likes of other Pakistan-based terrorist outfits such as the Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, 'is a no brainer,' and will likely happen before the month is out, senior Obama administration officials told rediff.com.
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