'The negotiation was a result of -- based on the judgment that we weren't winning the war and therefore time was not on our side and better to make a deal sooner than later'
The key Biden administration included the CIA's deputy director David Cohen and the State Department's special representative for Afghanistan, Tom West.
A US special envoy met senior Taliban representatives in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and discussed the issue of Afghan central bank reserves.
The US Geological Survey said the quake struck about 44 km (27 miles) from the city of Khost in southeastern Afghanistan and was at a depth of 51 km.
Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Amir Khan Muttaqi, on Wednesday arrived in Islamabad, his first visit to the country, as part of efforts by the two sides to reset their ties in the wake of the Taliban's takeover of Kabul.
The United States conducted an airstrike on Wednesday against the Taliban in Nahr-e Saraj of Helmand district of Afghanistan, the US military spokesperson said on Wednesday. This was a "defensive strike" to disrupt the attacks by Taliban, the Pajhowk Afghan News reported citing the spokesperson.
India has fleshed out its approach toward the peace talks with the Taliban taking into account the inputs from John Kerry's visit as well as the consultations in Delhi the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins, says M K Bhadrakumar.
New Delhi will host the second tri-lateral dialogue with United States and Afghanistan next week, which among other things will focus on co-operation between the three countries post-2014 when the US forces are scheduled to hand over control for security operations to Afghan forces.
Vikram J Singh, who was the senior defense adviser to Richard Holbrooke, the erstwhile United States special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been appointed to a key Pentagon post -- deputy assistant secretary of defense for south and Southeast Asia.
Continuation of drone strikes and US's reluctance to tender an apology over the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers proved to be stumbling blocks in the talks between United States and Pakistan, reports Tahir Ali
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari sought "greater transparency" in relations with the United States and called for an end to American drone strikes, saying they fuelled militancy in his country.
The United States at this point of time is not in a position to certify that there is no link between the Pakistan's spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence and the dreaded Haqqani network, a senior top American official has said.
United States special envoy Marc Grossman on Thursday met Pakistan's top civil and military leadership as part of efforts to salvage bilateral relations following the covert American operation in Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden.
Pakistan will not cooperate with the US in Afghanistan unless and until the latter accepts its central role in the search for a settlement and accommodates its 'legitimate interests'. This is the crux of the matter, says MK Bhadrakumar.
Pakistan on Thursday said it was yet to decide on attending a NATO Summit next month that will focus on Afghanistan though it was developing a "work plan" on resetting ties with the United States on the basis of guidelines approved by its Parliament.
Marc Grossman, former United States under secretary of state for political affairs, is expected to replace the late Richard Holbrooke as Barack Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. The post has been vacant since Richard Holbrooke, 68, who was the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan for two years, died suddenly last December.An announcement in this regard is expected to be made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Pakistan strongly believes that dialogue is the "only way forward" to resolve bilateral disputes with India and embark upon peace and prosperity in the region, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday, a day after parleys with his Indian counterpart S M Krishna resulted in no major breakthrough.
The planned withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan will not lead to the collapse of the war-torn nation, a senior United States official has said.
Richard Holbrooke, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, who died on Monday at age 69, throughout his tenure in the Obama administration, scrupulously eschewed using the 'K' word despite constantly being baited by South Asian journalists and even US lawmakers after it was first rumoured that he would be President Obama's trouble-shooter for the subcontinent.
'He has about as much chance of coming back to power as (former Soviet) President (Mikhail) Gorbachev,' The News quoted Richard Holbrooke, US administration's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, as saying to a gathering of American diplomats and security experts.
With the rapid expansion of India-US ties, which are expected to deepen in the coming years, it is time to upgrade the India desk at the South and Central Asia Bureau of the State Department to a full fledged India Office, an official report has said.
Pakistan said it would approach the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with India with an "open mind" in the interest of normalising bilateral relations though "the vibes emanating from the other side have not been encouraging".
US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke has said that the aid being given to Pakistan in the aftermath of the flash floods is inadequate.
Senior United States administration sources have dismissed speculation raised in some media reports that Richard Holbrooke, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, had cancelled his visit to India this time around because he avoided getting caught up in the controversy over the opposition attacks on the India-Pakistan joint statement announced in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt
The United States' mounting pressure on Pakistan -- to go after the Afghan Taliban inside Balochistan -- could affect the cohesion of the Pakistan army and lead to the destabilisation of the government, according to US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke.Earlier, Holbrooke said, "We will not be able to succeed in Afghanistan unless our Pakistan policy is equally successful".
Richard Holbrooke, the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, on Tuesday scrupulously eschewed commenting on what the US can do to urge India to ease its tensions with Pakistan to help alleviate the Pakistani military's 'obsession' with India and hence be a catalyst in promoting President Barack Obama's Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy.
On the eve of US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke's visit to the South Asia, The Guardian newspaper has said Pakistan is the greatest foreign policy challenge for the Barack Obama administration.
Terming United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's forthcoming visit to Pakistan as a 'people-to-people trip', Obama administration's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke has said that Clinton's trip to the troubled nation would be one the most important foreign visits of the top American diplomat.
United States Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke on Wednesday said that Pakistani leaders brought up the issue of India's alleged involvement in Balochistan, but did not give any credible evidence to support their claim.
India, Pakistan and the United States were facing the shared challenge of combating terrorism, a top American official said on Wednesday as he pressed Islamabad to 'move forward' from the 'complicated history' with New Delhi to take on the 'common enemy.'
The US spent $1.5 million a day since 2001 fighting the opium war in Afghanistan. After hundreds of airstrikes failed to curtail the Taliban's $200-million-a-year opium trade, the US military quietly ended the campaign when the Trump administration officials engaged in direct peace talks with the Taliban, notes Atanu Biswas.
he United States did what we went to do in Afghanistan, to get to terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 and deliver justice to Osama bin Laden, and to degrade the terrorist threat to keep Afghanistan from becoming a base, from which attacks could be continued against the United States.
Beijing's growing assertiveness as kingmaker in Kabul has suffered a setback with Washington quietly moving in, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Americans, after 18 years of war in Afghanistan, have got tired and they want to withdraw for their domestic reasons'
Pak-US ties are sliding down the hill due to difference over handling of peace issue in Afghanistan and US' growing defence tie with India.
The officials said the freed Taliban leaders include Sheikh Abdur Rahim and Mawlawi Abdur Rashid, who had served as the insurgent group's governors of Kunar and Nimroz provinces respectively during the Taliban administration before it was deposed by the US-led forces in 2001.
The statement comes Days after Trump sought Imran Khan's help in the Afghan peace process.
Khan had said in January 2018 that meeting Trump would be a 'bitter pill' to swallow.
Pakistan's powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif has asked the United States to target the hideouts of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan terrorists and their chief Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan.
'It's unclear whether she is the target of the investigation, or what agents were searching for. The officials said it is an ongoing investigation and no charges have been filed,' reports CNN.com, while the Post adds that "the exact nature of the investigation involving Raphel remains unclear. She has not been charged.'
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