All things taken into consideration, the Taliban statement on Kashmir portends trouble ahead. The Taliban is notorious for doublespeak and when it says there is no link between the Kashmir issue and the Afghan settlement, the opposite must be taken into account as well, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
He is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Vajpayee and his deputy Advani later in the day.
This will be probably for the first time since the 9/11 attacks that the representative of a duly elected Afghan government and the Taliban would be meeting face-to-face for peace talks.
An intense 25-hour gun-battle between security forces and terrorists outside the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif came to end on Monday night with the killing of all the attackers who attempted to storm the Mission building.
Olson was responding to questions from the lawmakers who expressed concern over Pakistan being "selective" in taking actions against terrorist groups.
'Look at what we are doing to the goats, the cows, the women, the children...'
'The most important aspect of Bajrangi Bhaijaan is the use of humour to touch some sensitive and potentially explosive political-religious and cultural subjects.'
The market, however, reacted negatively to SpiceJet's announcement and the company's stock dropped by 0.87 per cent as analysts became wary of diversion into a new business during a high fuel price environment.
'Today if you look at the way India is growing many people are saying the sleeping elephant has finally woken up, is dancing!' 'I have travelled extensively, in about 60 countries. In all these the moment you say India, the first thing they mention is either an actor's name. Or they start humming a song.' 'I wanted to be in Bollywood. It is the most powerful medium we have in this country. That's soft power.' Listening in on Shobhaa De, Kabir Khan, Vikas Swarop and Saffron Art CEO Hugo Weihe speak on India's Soft Power, Hard Influence.
All the four gunmen, who had stormed the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Herat province early on Friday, have been gunned down, Indo-Tibetan Border Police chief Subhas Goswami said.
The participants exchanged views on ways and means to bring peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.
P B Chandra reports from Kabul on the Afghan presidential election, that has entered a run-off stage for the first time. The battle now is between the two frontrunners Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, with Abdullah holding the edge.
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United States Secretary of State John Kerry's much-awaited visit to Pakistan has been postponed once again after his original travel plan was leaked to the media, official sources said on Monday.
Sitharaman told the chief minister that she would seek a detailed report in connection with the incident.
'We have not been able to use the potential of our location in the region and the world and our strength as a nation and an economy to establish an EU-like structure in South Asia,' points out Aakar Patel.
'In Pakistan there has been no problem about the installation of the statues of these men, unlike the Jinnah portrait or other controversies that seem to be present in India these days quite regularly,' says Aakar Patel.
'We are telling them we have isolated them and their religion as not only unwanted,' says Aakar Patel.
'Who is a superstar? What is a superstar?' 'It's all bullsh*t, there's nothing to it.' 'If you start taking all the sh*t seriously, it's going to go to your head and you will go cuckoo there.'
Kabir Khan tells Patcy N/ Rediff.com what Bajrangi Bhaijaan is all about.
'If India does venture across the LoC, it will evoke a strong response.'
Indian Christian priest Father Alexis Prem Kumar who returned to India eight months after his abduction in Afghanistan, gave the credit of his return to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that it was because of him that he was here.
Rediff.com reproduces the translation of the remarks made by President Ashraf Ghani at a press conference.
"Our role (in the Afghan peace process) will remain that of a facilitator and not a leader... allowing the Taliban to open an office in Pakistan will be contrary to our principled position," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was quoted as saying by an unnamed aide.
As Afghanistan gradually realises that there can be no long-term stability in the country as long as Pakistan is involved, the time has come for India to register its solidarity when it would be most appreciated, says former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
The United States has said that the threat from terrorist groups, in particular the Haqqani network, continues to emanate from inside Pakistan, dismissing top Pakistani diplomat's claim that the dreaded group responsible for audacious attacks in Afghanistan has been wiped out.
A White House official said the US is prepared to take actions on its own to safeguard its personnel in Afghanistan.
'Forget about sending in troops or raining down missiles, but don't rule out occasional covert operations that target specific terrorist leaders.'
"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.
Sushma in her address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers meeting said that terrorism is an enemy of basic human rights.
Saif Ali Khan shares his dilemmas as an eager-to-experiment star actor and his kids' probable foray in Bollywood.
The Al-Qaeda and its patrons seems to have outsourced, for the time being, the achieving of that larger, civilisationally retrograde goal of establishing an Islamic Caliphate in the Middle-East, to the ISIS. The symptoms are all similar; the difference lies only in the expressions, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
"We want to work closely (with) Pakistan to create a more stable and secure Pakistan as well," he said.
'Perhaps the biggest indication was its striking decision in November to delink LeT from its aid certification process.' 'The administration decided that the US, in order to send military aid to Pakistan, would not need to certify that Pakistan is cracking down on LeT.' 'Perhaps the administration was trying to offer a carrot -- in effect, we're backing off on LeT, but in return we expect you (Pakistan) to go after the Haqqanis.' 'Either way, the optics were dreadful for the US given that Hafiz Saeed was released from house arrest a few days after the US move.' 'The US reacted angrily, but eventually it moved on, and refocused on its core concern: The Afghan-focused terror groups.'
The prime minister said there was a need to demonstrate strong and collective will to defeat terror networks that cause bloodshed and spread fear.
'The Modi government knows that much cannot be expected of Pakistan till the Kulbhushan Jadhav issue is resolved,' says Rajeev Sharma.
'It is important to note that American officials were trying their best to use the Taliban for their oil games till December 1997 when Mullah Ghous was invited to America. State Department officials did not show any interest in capturing or killing Osama bin Laden even at that time.'
'Soft power is the power really to win friends and influence people with the strength of your ideas.' 'India's greatest soft power is being India itself. A nation of varied beliefs, states, creeds, castes, languages and yet embodying that spirit of unity in diversity.'
'What should worry India and which needs to be expressed is Russia's simultaneous proximity to both China and Pakistan from a strategic angle. That hasn't happened ever before,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Seeking to enhance strategic cooperation and help Afghanistan deal with key challenges of security and stability, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj arrived on Wednesday on a crucial visit as the trouble-torn country approaches the first democratic transition of power after fall of the Taliban in 2001.
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Pakistan on Friday said a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly would be an "useful opportunity" to build trust and consolidate ties.
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