John Edward said if the US had actionable intelligence about imminent terrorist activity and Pakistan refused to act, the US will.
US Senate on Wednesday passed the $700 billion financial bailout package by a wide margin of 74-25 votes.
We are not worried about what happened today. We are worried what will happen tomorrow, says a senior BofA official recounting the blackest day in US markets history.
The $700 billion, however, will not be given to the Treasury in one go to bail out the troubled financial institutions and the distribution of money will come about in three stages, the first of which will be in the magnitude of $250 billion followed by a tranche of $100 billion and finally of $350 billion.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Camp, said, "We are not saying that the F-16s have only a counter-terrorism use. They are obviously a part of Pakistan's national defence and they always have been, and what we have said very confidently is that the sale of these F-16s is not going to upset the regional balance."
Terming Pakistan as "the most dangerous country in the world", the US' Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has slammed Bush administration for having a "Musharraf policy" instead of a policy for Pakistan.
AQ Khan's network has done incalculable and potentially catastrophic damage to international security, a panel has said.
In a major policy reversal the US Commerce Department has officially announced that the US Census Bureau would report married same-sex couples in the 2010 census.
"President Musharraf has been a good ally and everyone knows that we disagreed with his decision in terms of the state of emergency that he declared. But he was just to his word, he took off his uniform. It is now a democratic government in Pakistan," she said. "I want to keep our focus on what we must do with the democratic government of Pakistan," she said while answering a question on the political crisis in Pakistan.
United States President George W Bush has sent the nomination of Santanu K Baruah, an Indian-origin former management consultant whom he picked as an Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development, to the Senate for approval.
The Bush administration said the Pakistani authorities themselves have to deal with the situation arising out of the standoff between the military and the radicals led by Lal Masjid clerics.
Refusing to comment on an emissary being sent to Pakistan to confront concerns about the Inter Services Intelligence working with militants, the Bush administration on Thursday said the United States was working with Islamabad in its fight against terror."I have no comment on that story," White House press secretary Dana Perino said, adding that she was not in a position to comment on how Pakistan was faring on the war on terror."We will continue to work with them," she said.
In a two-page notification to Congress, the State Department said that upgrading the avionics, electronics and radar systems of Pakistan's older F-16s would 'increase the survivability of the aircraft in a hostile environment' and make the 'F-16s a more valuable counter-terrorism asset that operates safely during day and night operations'.
Pro-deal lawmakers like Congressman Gary Ackerman continue to express their angst over the close India-Iran ties. The lawmakers have warned that this could be a spoiler to the envisaged strategic partnership between Washington and New Delhi.
Rice, 50, will become the first female black secretary of state if she accepts the offer.
The Indian American community and US business that had lobbied feverishly for the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, are euphoric over the recent developments where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to go ahead with the accord come what may and even in the wake of the Left coalition partners withdrawing their support and leaving the country in a state of political uncertainty.
Burns said, "We'll continue to watch India's relations with Iran, and we'll obviously respond very respectfully to any concerns by members of our own Congress as we should do."
With Pakistan's ruling coalition gunning for President Pervez Musharraf, the United States has said that he made a "number of mistakes" during his eight-year reign including imposing a state of emergency last year.
Describing India as an emerging global power and an ally, United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says Washington has a vital stake in New Delhi's rise.
The Post report noted that US officials are saying that 'India has made unrealistic demands, such as retaining the right to test nuclear weapons.'
Contradicting Bharatiya Janata Party's views on the nuclear deal with the United States, former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra has said India should go ahead with the agreement, failing which the country will have a 'severe loss of face' and suffer a setback to its atomic programme. Mishra said the deal should be concluded during the tenure of Bush administration as change of government in the US would make things difficult.
At a hearing on Afghanistan at the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Bill Nelson asked, "Does the US have to have the approval of the Pakistani government in hot pursuit across the border?"
India would like to see a consensus that builds on essentially the ideas that the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi put forward of a nuclear weapon free world --moving towards it in pre-determined, verifiable time frame.
'US queries should be forwarded to the Pakistan government, which would investigate and respond.'
Insisting that it is not going to interfere in Pakistan's internal affairs, the Bush administration has said it is for that country to decide how to organise its government following the recent polls, develop its policies and manage the political process.
If the sales go through, they said in e-mails sent to the Senators, the sophisticated weapons might find their way into the hands of Taliban, Iraqi insurgents, Iranians and North Koreans.
"We will support nothing with India in the NSG that is in contradiction to the Hyde Act. It will have to be completely consistent with the obligations of the Hyde Act," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the House Foreign Affairs Panel.
The Bush administration visualises a "qualitative change" in US-India relations in the wake of the civilian nuclear agreement between the two countries.
''In terms of the investigation itself by Scotland Yard, we view this as a credible investigation by independent, outside experts,'' State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. ''We don't have any reason why we would question the validity of their assessment,'' he added.
"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.
The Bush administration has underlined the need for free and fair elections in Pakistan, but recognises that it is not possible to have a "perfect" election.
Boucher said the Bush administration was satisfied with investigations carried out by Pakistani authorities along with the Scotland Yard.
