US lawmakers have questioned the Barack Obama administration's move to give billions in dollars in aid to Pakistan and said Islamabad continues to build on its nuclear stockpile and support the Taliban.
A week after the covert United States raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden, President Asif Ali Zardari sought to reach out to the Obama administration to ask it to stop army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani from staging a coup, a Pakistan-American businessman has said.
Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter to the Congress on Wednesday that the administration had determined that the Defence of Marriage Act, which was passed by Congress in 1996, discriminated against gays and therefore could no longer be accepted as reasonable, the Guardian reports.
Following the death of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, criticism of Pakistan Army Chief inside the country has grown. His close ties with the Barack Obama administration has not gone down with the army. But will Pakistan's most powerful man be overthrown? B Raman analyses
For bringing permanent Indo-Pak peace, the Obama administration must push Pakistan to hand over Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists responsible for the Mumbai attacks and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim to India, a former top White House official has said.
Al Qaeda's new leader Ayman al-Zawahiri does not match his predecessor Osama bin Laden in his charisma nor does he have the slain leader's credentials, a top official of the Obama administration said on Thursday.
A report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has reinforced the Obama administration's campaign to lobby the Indian government to award the $11 billion contract for 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft to US manufacturers.
Indo-US trade and economic relationship is a two-way process and not heavily tilted towards any one.
Days after the toppling of the regime, the Egyptian military led government has asked the US and European Union to freeze the assets of top henchmen of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, but has remained mum on the bounty of the deposed president.
India on Sunday said it was good that the Obama administration recognised the links between the Inter-Services Intelligence and Haqqani network of Taliban, amid a raging United States-Pakistan row over the spy agency's support to the dreaded terror outfit.
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."
Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr are among the heroes of United States President Barack Obama, a senior Obama administration official has said. "Barack Obama, first African-American president and a student of those principles, identifies Gandhi's autobiography and Taylor Branch's terrific three-part biography of King, as works that helped shape him," Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said.
Indian model of growth has unleashed the true potential of its billion plus people, says US official
Parita Shah, one of United States Commerce Secretary Gary Locke's closest advisers, is among the several second-generation Indian Americans serving in the Obama administration.
After intense pressure from the United States, Pakistan has reportedly agreed to launch a full-scale offensive against the Taliban and other extremist organisations in their stronghold North Waziristan, but has also clarified to the Obama administration that the timing of the military offensive would be decided by it.
Defence Minister A K Antony arrived in Washington on Monday to hold a wide-range of bilateral talks with top Barack Obama administration officials, which would include strengthening military-to-military ties, regional security and purchase of United States defence equipments. Security issues -- both regional and global --- are likely to come up prominently during Antony's talks with top officials including his US counterpart Robert Gates, spread over the next two days.
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.
Experts in Washington, DC warn about the potential hazards of a State Department official's recent assertion on a greater Chinese role in South Asia.
The first high-level meeting between the two countries after the November visit of US President Barack Obama to India, Menon's Washington trip is considered as a preparatory one for the next round of India-US Strategic Dialogue to be held in New Delhi in April.
As the Obama administration pulled out all the stops to welcome Chinese President Hu Jintao, literally rolling out the red carpet and United States Vice President Joe Biden for the first time going on to the tarmac to receive a foreign leader, a top foreign policy analyst hoped that the American President will push China to facilitate a rapprochement between India and Pakistan.
The Chinese President Hu Jintao was accorded a red carpet welcome by the United States after he arrived on a four-day state visit, even as lawmakers introduced a legislation against yuan manipulation.
Ahead of the Chicago trial of the Mumbai attacks on May 16, the United States has said it was committed to bring the perpetrators of the 2008 terror strikes to justice.
The US will also try to persuade Beijing to make it easier for foreigners to make portfolio investments in China.
The top Obama Administration official said the US will negotiate agreements that commit its trading partners to protecting American intellectual property, such as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The United States is looking into various options whether to make public the "gruesome" photos of Osama bin Laden's corpse as these pictures might inflame enemies' passions if released to prove the Al Qaeda chief's death. "It's fair to say that it's a gruesome photograph," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said when asked why the Obama administration was reluctant to release the pictures of the last moments of bin Laden.
With China increasing its military power and influence in the strategically crucial Indian Ocean, a noted American expert has urged the Obama administration to partner India to balance and counter Beijing's increasing influence in the region.
Noting that Pakistan is a complicated country, which faces huge economic, energy and water shortage, a top Obama administration official has said that the country needs the United States' support.
Dr Rajiv Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development and the highest ranking Indian American in the Barack Obama administration, while speaking on the devastating floods in Pakistan, said, "The scale and scope of this natural disaster is astronomical."
With Pakistan seeking more international aid following the devastating floods, the Obama Administration and key Congressional leaders are now considering allocating more money under the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill that allocated US $ 7.5 billion to Islamabad.
Appreciating its 'responsible' behaviour, the United States has said it will not push India to sign the Non Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty 'for quite some time,' but sought New Delhi's cooperation to strengthen the global non-proliferation regime.
The United States wants India and Pakistan to reduce tensions between them, the White House has said, insisting that the Barack Obama administration would continue to encourage the two countries to improve their ties. "The tensions between the two countries are something that the President discusses with each country when he has visited leaders in India or called leaders in Pakistan. And he will continue to address that and take steps to ease any of that tension," said US.
New Delhi will have to fashion a pro-active foreign policy response that relies less on Washington in crafting an appropriate response to the changing dynamic in Af-Pak, says Harsh V Pant.
The report contains a significant Hindu American perspective, including the community's seva efforts across the country.
The United States has an excellent military to military relationship with India, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
Mourning the death of Richard Holbrooke, the United States special envoy to Af-Pak region, President Barack Obama on Tuesday described him as one of the true giants of American foreign policy who has made the country stronger, safer and more respected.
In a volte-face, the Barack Obama administration on Tuesday said that the alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and his four co-conspirators would now be tried in a military country instead of a civilian court.
Sharma met US trade representative Ron Kirk, agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack and deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for International Economic Affairs Michael Froman and other senior Obama Administration officials.
Dismissing Afghanistan's demand to strike at terror sanctuaries across the border, US has said that it has no plans to send combat troops to Pakistan.
The letter, signed by 130 lawmakers, was sent by Timothy Ryan and Mike Michaud.
Slamming China for its 'poor' human rights record, the Barack Obama administration has accused it of harassing activists and lawyers, repressing Tibetans and censoring e-mails.In China, the government's human rights record 'remains poor and is worsening' in some areas, including increased cultural and religious repression of ethnic minorities, claimed Assistant Secretary for Democracy (Human Rights and Labour) Michael Posner.Posner specifically highlighted two cases.
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