US Senators Joseph R Biden, Jr (Delaware Democrat), who is chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Richard Lugar (Indiana Republican), the committee's ranking member, unveiled landmark legislation Tuesday designed "to promote an enhanced strategic partnership with the people of Pakistan."
The United States has announced to reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 each by January 15 next year, which drew sharp reaction from influential lawmakers across the aisle.
Pakistan is bigger than Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, and North Korea combined. There's 156 million people. They have 24 to 55 nuclear weapons. They have not only the bomb, the thermonuclear device, they have the missile that can couple with the bomb, and it can fly all the way to the Mediterranean.
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 CAA does not change basic structure of Constitution, MEA spokesperson said at a media briefing.
America's nuclear fuel supply assurances to India are a "political commitment" and the government cannot "legally compel" US firms to sell a "given product" to New Delhi, top officials told a Congressional panel as the administration worked hard to push the Indo-US deal through the Congress before September 26.
Speaking to media persons after the hearing where senior Bush Administration officials testified on the agreement, Dodd, asked the first question by rediff.com as to the bottom line vis-a-vis the possible approval of the deal by Congress by September 26, said, "The evidence in the past has been that there is a strong desire to reach agreement, and a clear understanding of the value and importance of this."
Two prominent US Senators on Monday said Pakistan's beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf should look for a "graceful exit" instead of being forced out of power in the wake of parliamentary election results in which opposition parties scored stunning victories.
"Does it make sense to spend hundreds of millions on P-3 naval surveillance aircraft specifically designed to hunt submarines? So far as I know, al-Qaeda has not yet developed a submarine navy," the Delaware Democrat added. "The White House claims that weapons systems like these are indeed counter-terrorism tools, but such a claim is an insult to common sense," said Senator Joseph Biden.
Burns was responding to the opening remarks by Senator John F Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, who said it was imperative that the United States "...must consider Pakistan's relationship with India, especially when it comes to Kashmir."
"I have tried to be a friend to India. But, as long as there is breath in me, I will never support the lifting of the Glenn amendment sanctions on India unless they abandon all nuclear ambitions."
The United States will help India and Pakistan "find a new way forward" only if they stop "pointing fingers at each other," a visiting top Senator said on Monday, even as Islamabad asserted that a "calm eastern border" is essential to focus on its war against terror in Afghanistan.
Over the last few weeks, bipartisan support for India against China has been increasing.
Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in the United States, the powerful US Senate Foreign Relations Committee under a revised schedule on Tuesday, formally put the US-India civilian nuclear agreement on its agenda and approved it by a margin of 19-2.
In a sign of the growing political prominence of Hindus in America, the Trump and Biden campaigns are wooing this religious minority community like never before. Hinduism is the fourth largest faith in the US, representing approximately one per cent of the US population in 2016.
As the United States Senate prepared for a crucial hearing on the Indo-US nuclear deal, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in the midst of another round of hectic lobbying with key lawmakers to secure Congress' approval of the pact before its session ends on September 26. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee' hearing later on Tuesday is seen as a positive sign in getting the endorsement of the Senate for the nuke deal.
The Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in a bitter standoff at multiple locations in eastern Ladakh for over eight weeks since May 5.
"I think that a totally loony idea is to put US forces into the frontier areas of Pakistan," former under secretary of state for political affairs Thomas Pickering said.
There are a lot of things that go on up there that are difficult to find out. On the other hand, we do have a pretty good idea what's going on up there, whose up there and what they're doing, Boucher said.
Senator Joseph R Biden, Jr, the chairman of the powerful US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who will be the key player in moving the US-India civilian nuclear agreement forward in Congress if India succeeds in getting in back on the Congressional court expeditiously, says it may be possible to get the deal consummated this year, but that it's going to be in terms of a best-case scenario a photo-finish.
Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in US, Joseph Biden, has said Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is "indirectly complicit" in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in view of the kind of protection that was needed for her was never provided.
'There is simply too much bringing us together,' says nuclear proliferation expert Leonard Spector.
Puneet Talwar, one of the most respected Middle East policy specialists in administration and Congressional circles, has been nominated by United States President Barack Obama to a senior State Department position.
"This means we need the Pakistani political system -- or as many parts of it as possible -- to buy into the goal of eliminating extremist influence in Pakistan."
Neither Biden nor his successors can any longer ignore the threat China has come to pose to the US in both economic and military fields, observes Virendra Kapoor.
"We pay for a majority or the biggest portion of their money. They actually criticised and disagreed with my travel ban at the time I did it. They were wrong. They've been wrong about a lot of things. They had a lot of information early and they didn't want to -- they're very -- they seem to be very China centric," the US president charged during his news conference.
Joseph Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said there were still "incredible restrictions" on the press and little time left for other parties to campaign for the polls.
Senator Lugar's statement on N-deal bill
The ballistic missile launch was the first by Iran since Trump became President.
The United States vowed to build "strong partnerships" with India and other democratic nations to meet global challenges, like terrorism and nuclear proliferation, according to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.\n\n
Paving the way for India and the United States to work together in enhancing global energy security, the Senate on Tuesday unanimously cleared a Bill seeking the diversification of sources of energy and stimulating development of alternative fuels.
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