The United States on Thursday said its partnership with India is the 'real key' to global order and the invitation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the first state visit to Washington during Obama administration reflects the very high priority accorded to the country.
United States President Barack Obama celebrated Diwali in the East Room of the White House on October 14 by lighting a 'diya' accompanied by Vedic chants by a Hindu priest.
Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who last week stood side-by-side with Qureshi and declared there are no conditions attached to the aid and that the bill in no way impinges on Pakistan's sovereignty, reiterated these assertions and also out a lengthy fact sheet which he said, separates "myth from fact on the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009."
The Barack Obama administration's top diplomat for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, has admitted that the United States is getting battered by the Taliban in the information war in the Federally Administered Tribal Area and the Northwest Frontier Province in Pakistan. He warned that the 'success' in the US-led assault on these militant groups would ring hollow if there is no propaganda victory against these extremists."We are losing that war," he said.
Report recommends government open up to cooperation with private sector.
The government-owned Indian Oil Corporation is tying up with US-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory for a pilot project to produce second generation biofuel. This biofuel -- essentailly bio-ethanol -- would be produced from cellulosic biomass or degradable agricultural waste or wood.
"We will intensify our engagement with Association of South East Asian Nations, China, and India to press the Burmese leadership to reform and to participate responsibly in the international community," Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Public Affairs, Kurt Campbell said.
A Bharatiya Janata Party-led government will not implement the nuclear deal with the United States if the Obama administration withdraws tax incentives to companies outsourcing works, a senior party functionary said on Wednesday.
"Universal adherence to the NPT itself -- including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea -- remains a fundamental objective of the US," Rose Gottemoeller, Assistant Secretary of State said in her opening remarks at the Third Session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 NPT Review Conference being held at the UN headquarters in New York.
"Tragically," he bemoaned, "neither President Zardari nor former Prime Minister Sharif appear to recognise the scope and seriousness of the crisis that their country is in or of the necessity of setting their personal or party political fortunes aside in order to meet the danger."
Noting that the Al Qaeda and the Taliban have now large presence in Pakistan, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Sunday said that in the last nine months Islamabad has increased its commitment in the fight against terrorism, but the Obama administration is not "satisfied."
The trilateral summit of US, Pakistan and Afghanistan this week would help in establishing a working equation between the three Presidents for better coordination and united fight against terrorism emanating from the two Asian countries.
US President Barack Obama is looking forward to the state visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington in November.
The Obama administration has said that it is in constant touch with the Pakistani government in regard to disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist A Q Khan, who, it said, remained a nuclear non-proliferation concern.
The Special US Envoy on Climate Change, Todd Stern, in a letter informed the UN Framework Conventional of Climate Change Secretariat about the Obama administration's decision in this regard, which is part of the voluntary commitment made by economies including India and China during the Copenhagen Climate Change summit.
Noting that the Barack Obama administration is keeping a close watch on the Hamid Karzai government, the White House on Wednesday said that the Afghanistan president should not expect a blank cheque in his second term. "I think you heard the President speak clearly at West Point (at New York in December 2009) and since then about the need to take governance seriously; that there was not an open-ended blank cheque for waste and abuse going forward in Afghan," said an official.
Is the Obama Administration concerned that the tiny Maldives could become a future base for the al Qaeda and/or other terrorist groups to conspire and launch their attacks against Washington and its South Asian allies?
The US President Barack Obama has identified cyber security as a national priority that underpins global security and economic prosperity and also contributes to free expression.
Observing that the economic weight of emerging powers like China, India and Brazil gives them clout in financial and political sphere, a top United States official has said that the Obama Administration has decided to develop 'a positive-sum trajectory' with these key global players.
The Obama Administration has notified the US Congress about the potential violation of a key arms export act by Pakistan for illegally modifying the Harpoon anti-ship missile, a weapon that could target India.
Responding to "serious" American concerns about illegal modifications made by Pakistan to the US-made harpoon anti-ship missiles that could target India, Islamabad has agreed for "mutual inspections" of the weapon system.
The independent task force set up last year included Richard Holbrooke, the Special US Representatives for Pakistan and Afghanistan, and General James Jones, National Security Advisor. But both of them stepped down from the task force before the first draft was written, and as such they are not associated with the report, it says.
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 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.
As US President Barack Obama took ownership of a new comprehensive strategy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan to counter the Al Qaeda and a resurgent Taliban, senior Administration officials acknowledged that India would be a key stakeholder in these efforts too, although New Delhi will not be invited to put boots on the ground in this renewed fight against terrorism because of its regional problems with Pakistan.
Announcing the grants in Chicago, US Vice President Joe Biden said the $1.2 billion would be funded by the $787 billion economic stimulus plan. Of the total money, $598 million would be used to establish 70 health information technology regional extension centers, which would help hospitals select and implement electronic health record systems.
He argued that "as India emerges as one of world's leading economic and political power, the central question is how United States and India can work together to address the regional and global challenges that no country alone can solve."
India has pressed the new Barack Obama Administration to lift the 'unnecessary' restrictions on international trade with New Delhi on dual use items and technology. Addressing a meeting at the prestigious Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think-tank, prime minister's special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran also hoped that America would scrap the so-called entity list, which prohibits sale of US technology to a number of Indian companies.
The issue was raised by the visiting CII's CEO Mission led by Bharati enterprise chairman Sunil Bharati Mittal, who among others met Lawrence Summers, Director of the National Economic Council, at the White House on Wednesday. During the meeting, the delegation comprising top Indian CEOs brought to the notice the concerns about the recent developments in the US with regard to H-1B work visa programme and certain provisions in the stimulus bill.
The White House crashing episode is reminiscent of an India wedding
Those behind the 9/11 terror strikes are still in the Af-Pak region and planning more attacks against the United States, country's top officials said on Monday.
Ro Khanna, 32, has been appointed by President Barack Obama as the new deputy assistant secretary of commerce for domestic operations of the United States and Foreign Commercial Service, International Trade Administration at the US Department of Commerce.He is the first Indian American to be named for a senior position in the Department of Commerce in the Obama administration, whose portfolio will have a direct impact on US-India trade and commercial ties.
Menon said the current global economic crisis figured prominently during his meetings with officials of the Obama administration and congressional leaders in his trip to Washington.
Among key Congressional leaders, the Foreign Secretary met included Jim McDermott, co-chair of the India caucus at the Congress; Howard L Berman, Chairman of House Committee on Foreign Affairs; and Senator Richard Lugar, Ranking Member of the powerful Senate Committee on International Relations
The Barack Obama administration is facing a dilemma with respect to Pakistan as unlike Afghanistan, it cannot send its troops there to fight Al Qaeda and Taliban and needs to find other means, top United States Special Envoy for the region Richard Holbrooke has said. "The dilemma is that the leadership of both the Al Qaeda and the Taliban are in a neighbouring country (of Afghanistan) where our troops cannot fight. And therefore we have to find other means," he said.
The situation in Sri Lanka, where thousands of Tamil civilians are trapped in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's strongholds, permeated the 45-minute discussion on Monday between United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon. This was the first high-level interaction between India and the Obama administration in Washington.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said on Wednesday that Washington would do "everything it could" to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, even as Obama Administration aims at political engagement with Tehran.
Stressing that a stable Pakistan is essential for a stable Afghanistan, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Wednesday, applauded the Obama administration's effort at re-balancing the US-Pak relationship.
United States Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, has profusely apologised and expeditiously gone on damage control mode after stating that 'a rising India' is a grave threat to the US. The Senator from Texas states that the F-22's are "important to our national security because we're not just fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We're fighting --we have graver threats and greater threats than that: From a rising India, with increased exercise of military power'.
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