The terrible beauty of Doval's initiative is that it is all about a new journey rather than about a set compass pointing toward a pre-determined destination, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Over two months after the killing of its leader Osama bin Laden, United States' counter-terrorism officials believe that terror outfit Al Qaeda is on the brink of collapse. "US counter-terrorism officials are increasingly convinced that the killing of Osama bin Laden and the toll of seven years of CIA drone strikes have pushed Al-Qaeda to the brink of collapse," The Washington Post reported.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has condemned the release of Central Intelligence Agency contractor Raymond Davis under a "blood money" deal with relatives of two men he killed and threatened to target all those who aided the US in securing his acquittal in court.
To be able to bid farewell to Daniel Craig is an emotion all fans of the Bond franchise must experience, feels Aseem Chhabra.
Riedel, who was also the erstwhile director for South Asia in the National Security Council during the Clinton Administration and most recently an adviser on foreign policy to the Obama campaign, said it's difficult to believe the Pakistani government's assertions that its intelligence service has no links to LeT. If there's anything that is a 64 million dollar question today," it is finding out the "extent of its ties to the Pakistani intelligence service."
Bruce Riedel, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who is being talked about as likely to be tapped for a senior position in an Obama Administration that deals with South Asia, said while the LeT's continuing relationship with the Pakistani intelligence services, the ISI, is much debated and the Pakistani authorities deny any such relationship, "The fact is that the organisation has been tolerated in Pakistan despite the 2002 ban."
Afridi had ran a fake vaccination drive in Abbottabad city to help CIA agents track the former Al Qaeda chief, who was later killed by US Navy Seals in a controversial raid on May 2, 2011.
Trump ordered that they be reviewed in the next 180 days.
R&AW Special Secretary (retd) Amar Bhushan's upcoming book won't be just a 'semi-fictional' story but will throw welcome light on a sad chapter in the history of Indian intelligence, notes B Raman.
United States rises to number two just behind Saudi Arabia.
Ever since President Obama unveiled his timetable for an American pull-out, the Taliban and the Al Qaeda have gone from strength to strength -- they are winning the psychological war.
The Taliban is highly pragmatic and would regard it wasteful to resume military offensive to capture Panjshir. The Taliban's preference, historically, has been to keep the military option as the last resort, explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
As the US announced deepening of its involvement in Afghanistan by despatching 30,000 more troops, President Barack Obama has quietly authorised an expansion of war against terrorism in Pakistan under which CIA would widen its campaign of strikes against militants by unmanned drones.
Get your low down on what's happening in the world of Hollywood, right here!
Despite dependence on the ISI for years of sustenance, Taliban leaders may harbour resentment over the ISI's excessive control, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked by US Congressmen if the US had explore the possibility of northwest India for counter terrorism capabilities in Afghanistan. Blinken's remarks on India assume great importance, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today said the ISI has given its "feedback" to India on "some information" about the Mumbai attacks that New Delhi had shared with US intelligence agency CIA.
In a security breach, ISIS militants have reportedly hacked tens of thousands of Twitter accounts.
A new exhibition at the 9/11 Memorial Museum explores the untold story of the greatest manhunt in United States history revealed through declassified artefacts and an immersive digital experience. The chilling exhibit, "Revealed: The Hunt for Bin Laden," centres on the decade-long search for and seizure of the Al Qaeda mastermind who was responsible for the deaths of 2,977 people on 9/11 -- and the thousands more lost through bloody wars and debilitating illness. The exhibit presents the hunt for bin Laden as a sort of who-done-it come alive with graphics, videos and the voices of the protagonists, from intelligence agents, former US President Barack Obama and members of the US Navy SEALs team that raided bin Laden's home and shot and killed him.
The US is not in a forgiving mood for being humiliated in such a manner by an insurgent force and made to look 'loser' internationally, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
My candidate for the best general of the last century hailed from a little, poor colonised Asian nation whose impact on world affairs rarely amounted to much, notes Shankar Acharya.
The billions India invested in dams, schools, etc in Afghanistan will be gone. The Hindu and Sikh population of Afghanistan has already shrunk from some 200,000 to about 500, points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
A confrontation with the Taliban in Kabul in this fading light of a twilight zone would have been sheer madness, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Germany's foreign intelligence agency helped the Central Investigation Agency track down Osama bin Laden in Pakistan, before the Al Qaeda leader was killed by United States special forces in May 2011, according to a media report today.
the approval of the covert action means the Bush administration, for the time being, has decided not to pursue a military option against Iran, says ABC.com
The Islamic State, the dreaded terrorist group that has gained control over a large part of Iraq and Syria, has up to 31,500 fighters - three times as many as previously feared, according to a latest Central Intelligence Agency estimate.
Tom Bossert's resignation came a day after John Bolton took over the role of National Security Adviser.
On December 10, Kissinger began to encourage the Chinese to take action against India: 'If the People's Republic were to consider the situation on the Indian subcontinent a threat to security, and if it took measures to protect its security, the US would oppose efforts of others to interfere with the People's Republic.' On the 50th anniversary of India's greatest military victory, Claude Arpi recalls how the US suggested that China intervene militarily on Pakistan's side.
Afghanistan will remain a frontline state for Washington for a foreseeable future in terms of the potential threats to US national security from terrorist groups, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who played a stellar role in beginning India's dealings in Afghanistan in 1994.
Top CIA officials met Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon on Monday and are understood to have discussed evidence of Pakistani involvement in the July 11 Mumbai blasts.
United States President Barack Obama has visited headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency to congratulate the top spy outfit for its role in killing of the Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
'Seen in the context of world turmoil in face of the pandemic and the Chinese 'miracle' of being the only country in the world to control it, this is not merely a 'Sputnik' moment, but a 'Sputnik Plus' moment,' argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Denouncing the Dalai Lama as a "splittist," China has accused him of collaborating with the CIA and Indian military to establish the "Indian Tibetan special border troops" to reclaim authority in his Himalayan homeland from Beijing.
The Biden administration should expect continuity in Iran's policies under Raisi. This may not necessarily mean that strengthening of ties with the West will be Raisi's top priority, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Aki Peritz, co-author of the excellent book Find, Fix, Finish: Inside the Counterterrorism Campaigns that Killed bin Laden and Devastated Al Qaeda, and former CIA counter-terrorism analyst, tells Vicky Nanjappa that the brutal ISIS is merely following a decade-old playbook.
Though India is one of the fastest growing economies, how big is the country's budget compared to other countries in the world?
The New York Times in a news story on Saturday said that American intelligence officials have concluded that a Russian military intelligence unit secretly offered bounties to Taliban-linked terrorists for killing coalition forces in Afghanistan -- including targeting American troops -- amid the peace talks to end the long-running war there, according to officials briefed on the matter.
At least four persons, including an alleged Al Qaeda militant, were killed on Saturday when a United States drone struck in the lawless North Waziristan region after a lull in the Central Investigation Agency's spy plane campaign in Pakistan.
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