It was imperative if the war against extremism and terrorism that threatens to tear apart both countries and could have dire consequences to the region is to be combated, Afghanistan's Ambassador to the United States Said Jawad said, adding that while Afghanistan does not question Pak civilian government's commitment to combat terrorism, the military still seemed to be obsessed with India instead of the existential threat that threatens the very fabric of Pak and Afghanistan.
The new Indian American Republican Council chairman Dino Teppara and its long-time board member and strategist Suhail Khan -- a former senior Bush Administration official -- contacted by India Abroad / rediff.com for a reaction to the garrulous conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, who insulted Indian workers who undertake outsourced jobs by American companies as 'slumdogs,' issued a carefully worded, restrained and cautious statement.
Two Sikh-American military recruits, both medical professionals already in the US Army, who have been denied the right to report for active duty in July unless they remove their turbans and cut their unshorn hair and beards, have called on the Pentagon to allow them to serve their country without having to compromise their religious principles.
'We already have Indian Islamic extremist groups working in India, and secondly, if Pakistan slides even further, India will be sharing a border with the Taliban,' says Ahmed Rashid, perhaps the world's foremost expert on the Taliban.
Two nonproliferation hawks, who vehemently opposed the US-India civilian nuclear deal, will soon man the White House and State Department and lead the charge to push President Obama's non-proliferation agenda to seek a worldwide ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and a strengthening of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that is bound to bring pressure to bear on India that has been loath to sign the CTBT and has maintained the NPT is discriminatory.
The appointment of veteran diplomat Peter Burleigh as charge d'affaires at the American embassy in New Delhi was a Department decision and not on the recommendation of Richard Holbrooke, Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, as had been rumored because of their earlier longtime working relationship, senior Administration sources have told rediff.com.
President Barack Obama has appointed the first Hindu community activist and one of the first Hindu women priests in New Jersey, Anju Bhargava, to the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Senior administration officials acknowledged that US wants India to be a key stakeholder in the development efforts in this beleaguered country, where winning the hearts and minds of the populace will be imperative in the war against the al Qaeda, Taliban and other extremists elements.India's experience and expertise on helping the US in its developments efforts would be invaluable, because "there is a clear recognition that Indian aid to Afghanistan has been effective."
The Maryland House of Delegates has passed major legislation authored by Majority Leader Kumar Barve--the longest-serving Indian American legislator--to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
The decision by the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Leon Panetta who chose India for his first overseas trip--unprecedented in the annals of the spy agency's history-- was deliberate and intended to sustain the momentum and institutionalize the unprecedented intelligence cooperation between Washington and New Delhi that began in the aftermath of the horrific 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, say intelligence officials.
Foreign Service Officer Robert Orris Blake, Jr, who is currently the United States' Ambassador to Sri Lanka, before which he served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in New Delhi from 2003 to 2006, is the top contender for the post of the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, currently held by diplomat Richard Boucher.
The Obama administration continues to be gravely concerned over the plight of Tamil civilians caught up in the crossfire between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan security forces but has no plans to launch a massive military evacuation by the US Pacific Command till there is a halt in the hostilities in the conflict zone, senior administration officials revealed.
India will most likely sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty--a top non-proliferation priority of the Obama Administration--if the world moves "categorically towards nuclear disarmament in a credible time-frame," India's point man for nuclear issues has indicated.
Former Indian Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran will headline a major conference this week on the expectations and consequences of the US-India Nuclear Agreement, hosted by The Brookings Institution,
There is growing concern in the American business and industry circles that despite their feverish lobbying to see the US-India civilian nuclear deal through, they may lose out to the French and the Russians -- who have already been provided sites by India -- while Americans firms wait for India to sign on to the International Convention on Civil Nuclear Liability, which these companies say is vital for them to protect their investments.
Even as the proposed H-1B visa curbs and possible elimination of this programme by the United States Congress is on the cards, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said in Washington on Wednesday that there's absolutely nothing India can do about it because it's a sovereign prerogative of the US.
Ron Somers, president of the US-India Business Council, has said that the top priority on his organisation's wish list for the Obama Administration is that "we are intent on seeing a bilateral investment treaty executed between our countries."
Sanjay Gupta asks that he be taken out of consideration for the post of surgeon general
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who is widely perceived as the Republican candidate for presidency in 2012, on Tuesday slammed the economic policies outlined by United States President Barack Obama in his first speech to a joint session of the US Congress.The Louisiana governor added that even though his party opposed the economic policies of the Democrats, the Republicans would work with President Obama to help the country overcome the staggering economic crisis.
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