The United States was aware of Pakistan's "duplicitous role" in the war on terror long before its top military commander Mike Mullen branded the dreaded Haqqani network of Taliban a "veritable arm" of Inter Services Intelligence, a media report said on Tuesday.
Pakistan's border region remains the most dangerous place in the world and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas remains the epicentre of the world's worst of global jihad, a top Pentagon official has said.
Defence Secretary Mattis said he cannot certify that Islamabad has taken 'sufficient actions' against the dreaded Haqqani terror network.
Hardening its stance on terror safe havens in Pakistan, the United States has made it clear to Islamabad that time is over for hedging its bets on terror groups like Haqqani network, the Afghan Taliban or the LeT against India.
Elusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar, one of the world's most wanted terrorists, was treated in a Karachi hospital with the help of Pakistan's spy agency Inter Services Intelligence after he suffered a heart attack, a private intelligence agency has claimed.
The US said that it sees positive indicators in Pakistan, but...
India also called for crippling the illicit drug trade which provides financial sustenance to these terror outfits.
However, the US praises India for its significant counter-terrorism actions.
The two leaders reaffirmed that the United States and India 'will take concerted action against all terrorist groups, including groups proscribed by the UNSCR 1267 Sanctions Committee'.
The US will not be delivering military equipment or transfer security-related funds to Pakistan unless it is required by law.
The legislation, the National Defense Authorisation Act-2019, gets rid of the certification requirements for Pakistan's action against the Haqqani Network and it also gets rid of the authority to reimburse Pakistan for counter-terrorism.
"They support terror operations in India with terrorist organisations. They support the Haqqani network and the Taliban in conducting operations against the United States and NATO and Afghanistan. They've got blood all over their hands with the casualties," General (Retd) Jack Keane said.
For a wannabe terrorist like Faisal Shahzad, accused in the Times Square bombing plot, shopping for help in Pakistan is no problem as the country is like a supermarket with money and weapons freely available for potential jihadists, says Newsweek editor Fareed Zakaria.
Having steered clear of North Waziristan for years, Pakistan army is contemplating an offensive into the restive area fearing that it may have become a "witches brew of jihadi groups".
Shanthie Mariet D'Souza, an associate fellow with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, traces the future of India-Afghanistan relations. The October 8 attack on the Indian embassy in Afghanistan, a grim reminder of a similar attack on July 7, 2008, has yet again highlighted the challenges of India's involvement in Afghanistan.
The Devyani Khobragade row, India-Pakistan bickering over Afghanistan and a nightclub act by two diplomats were some of the issues discussed at one of the sessions at Jaipur Lit Fest, reports Sanchari Bhattacharya.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala wondered why Prime Minister Modi was 'silent' on his 'India First' policy as President Trump talked of 'America First'.
Khan had said in January 2018 that meeting Trump would be a 'bitter pill' to swallow.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, went ballistic at a forum in Washington DC, slamming Congressional critics, the media and leading analysts who have predicted that Pakistan is on the verge of becoming a failed state and bound to implode, and those who have accused the ISI of colluding with al Qaeda and the Taliban while Islamabad rakes in the massive largesse of American economic and security assistance.
The United States has begun to squeeze the funding and flow of money to terrorist organisations in the Af-Pak region including the Taliban, Al Qaeda, the Haqqani network and Laskhar-e-Tayiba, and keeping a tab on 'hawala' transactions, a top Obama administration official has said.
The official was quick to point out that China has been playing a more helpful role in terms of encouraging better relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan. "It is taking a more active role in this regard."
In a blunt message, the United States has asked Pakistan to intensify efforts to counter terrorist sanctuaries inside its borders and take concrete steps against the dreaded Haqqani network responsible for major attacks on American installations in Afghanistan.
The attack is claimed by the Taliban.
The Pakistan government has, however, put the JuD on the list of groups being closely watched by the officials.
"We have from time to time reminded all stakeholders about the red lines that was drawn by the world community and certainly by the participants should not be touched, should not be erased and should not be violated," External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid told media persons.
The question really is whether the US can be persuaded to embark on a path of calibrated and stronger sanctions on Pakistan.
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 ISI has given a stunning display of its capacity to do with impunity what it likes within Kabul. Incensed over the triumphalism of the hardliners in Kabul, the ISI has hit out; it is a typical ISI reflex action that Indians are familiar with,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Pakistanis are very clever in manipulating us,' former Bush administration official tells US lawmakers.
The US administration will take the final call in a meeting in coming weeks.
Currently placed on the FATF'S 'grey list', Pakistan has been scrambling in recent months to avoid being added to a list of countries deemed non-compliant with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regulations by the FATF.
'No one knows Pak and understands Pak better than China,' Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.
The US, the official said, is monitoring the situation carefully in Pakistan and expects some progress.
India strongly condemned the terror attack, saying targeting of a religious place in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak reflects the "diabolical mindset" of the perpetrators and their backers.
A top American diplomat has said asserting that the Trump Administration is moving quickly on its own strategy to fight against terror groups.
Hizbul Mujahideen leader Mast Gul, involved in the 1995 siege of Charar-e-Sharief shrine in Jammu and Kashmir, was behind a suicide attack on Shias in Peshawar that killed nine persons, a Pakistani Taliban commander has said.
'We are the first government that has started disarming militant groups. This is the first time it's happening. We've taken over their institutes, their seminaries. We have administrators there'
"I think it's clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups," General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
Slamming Pakistan for not taking action against the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, a United States report on counter-terrorism on Wednesday said India remained severely affected by and vulnerable to terrorism, including from Pakistan-based groups.
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats' remarks came days after a group of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists struck the Sunjuwan Military Camp in Jammu on Saturday, killing seven people including six soldiers.
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