Inderfurth, currently professor of international relations at George Washington University and, according to insiders, either the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs in the next administration or the next United States ambassador to India, says too much is being read into Obama's recent remarks on Kashmir.
United States President Barack Obama claimed credit for the policies employed by his administration to tackle the global economic crisis during a visit to an auto plant rescued from bankruptcy with federal aid on Tuesday, where he warned the world not to bet against America.
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 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.
Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake was asked pointedly by rediff.com to respond to a growing perception that Pakistan was hedging on punishing the terrorists behind the Mumbai terror attack and the US was backing off from applying too much pressure on Islamabad because of its strategic interests. Blake said, "First of all, let me say these are really a very complicated set of issues that are for India and Pakistan to resolve."
United States President Barack Obama has developed a "fantastic working relationship" with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a senior administration official has said, asserting that the US recognises "importance" of India as a key regional and global power.
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.
Given the current geo-political situation in South Asia, a top Barack Obama administration official on Thursday confirmed that Pakistan will figure in talks when United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets Indian leaders, during her upcoming visit to India. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake appreciated the recent meetings between the leaders of India and Pakistan and identified it as a positive development.
The protectionist measures in the West and attacks on Indian students in Australia is likely to negatively affect the Indians' overseas job dreams and the aspirants may prefer domestic offers, experts believe.
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.
United States President Barack Obama celebrated Diwali at the White House complex by lighting the traditional diya and hosting a reception for eminent Indian Americans and officials in his administration.
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.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has met top US officials to discuss the Barack Obama Administration's review of the Afghan policy.
Seeking a resolution of the Kashmir issue for lasting peace, Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said Pakistani people were disappointed that the United States Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke's mandate did not include India and hoped that the Obama administration would review the matter.
Strongly recommending the case of continued peace talks between India and Pakistan, the Barack Obama administration has said that a stable Indo-Pak relationship would benefit the world and the United States in particular and reiterated that Islamabad should address New Delhi's concern with regard to the 26/11 attacks."It is important for Pakistan and India to have a stable relationship," State Department spokesman P J Crowley said.
US President Barack Obama has said that he has "reset" the button of relationship with its Cold War adversary Russia, ties with which had dipped a new low during the previous Bush Administration.
'Pakistan,' says former US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs R Nicholas Burns, 'has an obligation to work with India and to give India the type of support needed to ensure that these types of attacks will not occur again. Therefore you cannot hide behind the definition of non-state actors. Every government has a responsibility to control the situation on its own territory. India needs the kind of reassurances from Islamabad that has not yet been forthcoming.'
Unites States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has spoken to President Asif Ali Zardari to share with him the vision of President Barack Obama's administration and its policies towards the region and Pakistan.During a brief telephone conversation with Zardari on Thursday night, Clinton discussed the situation in the region and Pakistan-US relations.Zardari congratulated Clinton on assuming the post. He also welcomed Obama's desire to seek 'a new way forward' with Muslims.
Osama bin Laden's former cook, Ibrahim al Qosi, has pleaded guilty at a trial in Guantanamo Bay to conspiracy and providing support for terrorism, representing the first conviction of the Barack Obama administration at the controversial war crimes court. According to the BBC, the 50-year-old man from Sudan has admitted that he had worked as bin Laden's bodyguard in Afghanistan and helped him avoid capture by US forces. Qosi was detained in Afghanistan in 2001.
Experts have said that the deal appears to be violating international guidelines forbidding nuclear exports to countries that have not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or do not have international safeguards on reactors.
Vikram Pandit-led Citigroup has came under fire from the US President Barack Obama and his administration for purchasing a $50 million jet plane.
It is not all hosannahs for India in the report, however. Terming it as a 'complicated rise', the report says over the next 15-20 years Indian leaders will strive for a multi-polar international system, with New Delhi as one of the poles, and serving as a political and cultural bridge between a rising China and the US
Senior American administration and diplomatic sources who sat in on the 50-minute mini-bilateral summit between President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, spoke animatedly how the "atmospherics were excellent," and what "a delight it was to watch the substantive interactions between these two extremely cerebral individuals".
Official White House photographer Pete Souza has used his incredible access to document Obama's journey, capturing both the tense moments and the lighter ones to provide a behind-the-scenes look at his presidency.
The extent to which the Barack Obama administration will go to humour Pakistan is highlighted by the fact that its envoy to United Kingdom drove four hours to Manchester to ensure that a zealous American airline security does not body-scan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi ahead of his arrival in Washington.When Qureshi's commercial flight to the US stopped in Manchester this week, American Ambassador in London Louis B Susman drove four hours to be there.
"I submitted my letter of resignation last night, which felt pretty good," Clapper told members of the House Intelligence Committee during a Congressional hearing on Thursday.
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
The President said that most of the lay offs have taken place in the state and local government sectors as they have witnessed huge drop in their tax revenues.
The Barack Obama administration has said the meeting of foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, held in New Delhi on Thursday, is a 'courageous' step by the leaders of the two neighbouring countries. "We certainly commend the leadership of political courage and making sure that the meeting takes place. Now, the challenge is to build on this going forward," said Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P J Crowley.
"We will find out who did this (and) why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice," a grim but determined-looking Obama said in his White House statement to the press hours after the Boston blasts
"He (Biden) is very much part of this period when Indo-American relations underwent a radical transformation, which I reasonably date back to (Bill) Clinton's visit," Jaishankar said.
United Stated Defence Secretary Robert Gates will visit India next week during which the situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan and regional security issues will dominate the agenda of his talks with the Indian leadership. The January 19-21 tour of Gates will be the first high-level visit from the Barack Obama administration after the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Washington in November last year.
President Barack Obama on Saturday warned that his administration will "never tolerate" attack on US citizens and assured his fellow countrymen that those who attack Americans will find no escape from justice.
Former United States vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has won the dubious honour of telling the biggest political 'Lie of the Year'. A panel of experts chose her claim -- that the Barack Obama administration was planning to introduce 'death panels' -- as the most misleading statement of 2009, the 'PolitiFact.com' reported. The claim set political debate afire when it was made in August.
Obama repeated what he has been saying since last August in an interview on CNN stressing that in order to effectively deal with Al Qaeda, the US has to have a stronger relationship with the new government in Pakistan unlike the way the Bush administration had placed all the eggs in the basket of President Pervez Musharraf.
Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington, the United States has said preparations are underway to ensure 'a good, substantive schedule' for the Indian leader, the first state guest of the Barack Obama administration. President Barack Obama has invited Dr Singh for his first State Dinner at the White House on November 24. Officials at both the State Department and the White House have held a series of meetings to give final touches to the visit.
United States Senator from Massachusetts John Kerry has said that the Barack Obama administration would not send its troops to combat militants on Pakistani soil. Kerry also emphasised that it is a fight that the Pakistanis have to engage in and fight out, asserting that Islamabad can overcome militant challenges through a homegrown approach."We're not going to send troops by any significant numbers of any kind to Pakistan," he said.
The Barack Obama administration has launched a concerted and aggressive campaign on behalf of United States's fighter aircraft manufacturers to push for the 'mother of all deals'-- the $11 billion medium multi-role combat aircraft deal for 126 fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force. The deal could give the ailing US economy a major boost in terms of both exports and thousands of jobs.
"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.
The United States still intends to withdraw some 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by next year, US President Barack Obama told US Congress.
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