US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday joined Defence Secretary Leon Panetta in deploring the video in which US marines are seen urinating on the dead bodies of the Taliban fighters.
In a major goof-up, new US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta clubbed India and China, describing them as emerging "threats", but his office quickly retracted the remarks, saying Washington strongly values close ties with New Delhi.
United States Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta says that while the CIA has been scrupulously tracking the whereabouts of Pakistan's nuclear weapons arsenal, it has no intelligence about where they are dispersed.
The decision by the new Director of the Central Intelligence Agency Leon Panetta who chose India for his first overseas trip--unprecedented in the annals of the spy agency's history-- was deliberate and intended to sustain the momentum and institutionalize the unprecedented intelligence cooperation between Washington and New Delhi that began in the aftermath of the horrific 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, say intelligence officials.
Central Intelligence Agency chief Leon Panetta has said that the drone attacks against the Al Qaeda and the Taliban targets inside Pakistan would continue.
Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, the world's most wanted terrorists, are hiding "inside Pakistan", CIA chief Leon Panetta has said and claimed that aggressive US operations against Al Qaeda have disrupted its ability to plan sophisticated attacks.
Pakistani officials were kept deliberately out of loop by the United States in its operation to get Osama bin Laden as it feared they might "alert" the targets and "jeopardise" the mission, Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta said on Tuesday.
One could assess without fear of contradiction that the New Delhi visit of Panetta, who is still to find his feet as an intelligence chief, would have had a much larger political objective for Obama. Firstly, to reassure Indian leaders that Clinton's first visit to China does not mean the downgrading of the US relations with India.
Blair's assessment came at Tuesday's hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee when panel chairwoman Senator Dianne Feinstein asked him to weigh up the possibility of an attempted attack in the United States.
Egypt's military council was scheduled to meet on Thursday, without Hosni Mubarak, its leader, in a move that points to the fact that the Egyptian leader could step down.
Visiting United States Defence Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday, strongly backed America's drone campaign, which flies unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, from Afghanistan into Pakistan's tribal areas to launch missile attacks on terrorists who feature on a detailed hit list, says Ajai Shukla
"Secretary Hagel is strongly committed to the US strategic partnership with India and to fostering an even closer defence relationship with India that builds upon the work of Secretary [Leon] Panetta, Deputy Secretary [Ashton] Carter, and their Indian counterparts," Pentagon spokesperson George Little told Washington Free Beacon.
Republican Senators Monday expressed concern over the views of Chuck Hagel, nominated by US President Barack Obama as his next defence secretary, on several key issues, as the White House defended him saying that he is in "sync" with the president's policies.
US President Barack Obama and his Defence Secretary Leon Panetta have praised special forces for conducting a successful rescue operation in Afghanistan that left one American soldier and seven terrorists dead.
America's top commander in Afghanistan is being probed for his alleged "inappropriate communication" with a woman linked to former CIA director David Petraeus, who resigned abruptly last week over an extramarital affair.
'We have a common way of looking at the world, a common way of thinking, and a common set of values that predispose us to be partners. And our interests overlap greatly,' US Deputy Defence Secretary Dr Ashton B Carter tells Aziz Haniffa in an interview.
Inter-Services Intelligence chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha, during his meeting with Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta, has reportedly presented evidence regarding India's hand in fanning terrorism in Balochistan and Waziristan.
In a landmark decision, United States Defence Secretary Leon Panetta Monday announced to extend benefits being accorded to same sex partners serving within the American armed services.
A top Republican Senator has slammed the Obama administration's plan to end the Afghanistan combat mission in 2013, saying the "very unfortunate" move is more directed towards domestic politics rather than ground realities. "It is very unfortunate that the administration continues to provide reassurance to our enemies that the United States is more eager to leave Afghanistan than to succeed," Senator John McCain said.
Bolstering his hunch, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, who headed the Central Intelligence Agency at the time when US Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in Pakistan's Abbottabad town, said there were intelligence reports of Pakistani military helicopters passing over the compound where the Al Qaeda chief was hiding.
'Such barbaric acts reflect that there has been a Talibanisation of the Pakistan army. An army that gets used to barbarism cannot overnight change and behave in a humanitarian manner and abide by the code of conventional/unconventional operations,' says retired Lieutenant General D B Shekatkar.
Visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday assured the United States that with a strong security force, Afghanistan would not be threatened by terrorists from across its borders post-2014 when the America-led international force withdraws from the war-torn country.
Pakistan continues to tolerate and abet the insurgency in Afghanistan, particularly the Haqqani terror network, as it aims for a Pak-friendly government in Kabul with limited Indian influence, the United States said on Friday in a key report prepared for the American Congress.
Chinese leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping on Wednesday met visiting US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, in the first public meeting with a visiting foreign dignitary since his mysterious disappearance early this month that sparked rumours about his health.
China on Tuesday warned that it reserves the right to take "further actions" over its maritime dispute with Japan even as fresh anti-Japan protests erupted across the country forcing top Japanese firms to remain padlocked.
After intense pressure from the United States, Pakistan has reportedly agreed to launch a full-scale offensive against the Taliban and other extremist organisations in their stronghold North Waziristan, but has also clarified to the Obama administration that the timing of the military offensive would be decided by it.
Two top United States security officials are traveling to Pakistan on Tuesday to meet the country's civil and military leadership and press for more aggressive action against Al Qaeda-allied groups. Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta and the National Security Advisor General James Jones, who are embarking on a visit to Islamabad, will meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, Army Chief General Ashfaq Kiyani.
Three marines have received non-judicial punishment for their role in the incident in which United States soldiers were accused of urinating on dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan and recording the act.
The Taliban has chosen to interpret the lack of open Indian enthusiasm on the US idea of Indian military training role in Afghanistan as Indian rejection of the US feelers, says B Raman.
Pakistan has described as "disquieting" Central Intelligence Agency chief Leon Panetta's revelation that no intelligence about the United States raid that killed Osama bin Laden was shared with Islamabad for fear that the operation would be jeopardised.
Soon after Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta provided a classified briefing to the House leadership in the US Congress on the covert mission inside Pakistan that killed Al Qaeda head Osama bin Laden, he was peppered with a volley of questions. He was quizzed about Pakistani duplicity, particularly the Inter-Services Intelligence's perfidy about how it could have not known about bin Laden living right under their nose in Abbottabad.
In the strongest warning so far to Pakistan, the United States on Thursday said it is reaching the limits of its patience with Islamabad for allowing terrorist safe havens, specially the dreaded Haqqani network.
Chinese analysts say that United States' efforts to make India part of its alliance against China will not succeed, as they believe India pursued independent foreign policy focusing on its national interests.
Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta will become the new United States defence secretary, replacing Robert Gates, in a major shake-up of President Barack Obama's security team, according to a media report.The top US military commander in Afghanistan General David Petraeus is set to take over as the new CIA Director. The television network said Petraeus will be replaced as the US commander in Afghanistan by Lieutenant General John Allen.
Top Pentagon leaders have warned US lawmakers against including their "pet projects" in the annual defence budget, particularly at a time when it is struggling to save money in view of the tough economic environment.
Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency has categorically denied any links with the Taliban.The Daily Times quoted ISI Director General Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha as saying that the ISI is a professional agency and does not have links with any militant outfit, including the Taliban. Pasha's remarks came during a meeting with Central Intelligence Agency chief Leon Panetta, National Security Adviser Lieutenant General James Jones and other officials.
Pakistan has agreed in principle to launch a full-fledged military operation against Taliban militants in North Waziristan. But it will be a tough task for the country's army, as the terrain is believed to be the stronghold of numerous Arab, central Asian, Pashtun and Punjabi militants.The military operation may increase the flow of US aid to Pakistan, but the consequences might be unaffordable for the beleaguered country.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pointed out that Washington's current difficulties with Islamabad are nothing new and a repeat of earlier disagreements.
What needs to be understood is that not one, but three cancers afflict Pakistan
American intelligence agency Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday warned India and Brazil that they face 'emerging threats' from the Al Qaeda and Taliban, though the terrorist outfits are 'on the run' due to extreme pressure exerted on them in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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