It is learnt that Chinese Air Force planes had refuelled in Pakistan and Iran last month while on their way to Turkey to participate in a joint air exercise with the Turkish Air Force. On the way back, they refueled only in Iran. The air exercise preceded the recent visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao to Turkey.
The UK government has taken the unusual step of making a formal statement to warn of a Russian plot to install a pro-Kremlin leader in Ukraine amid growing tensions in the region.
Premier Li, replying to a question on China's refusal to criticise Russia's military action against Ukraine, said that utmost efforts should be made to support Russia and Ukraine in carrying forward ceasefire negotiations.
Three Pakistani soldiers were killed and another three injured when North Aatlantic Treaty Organisation helicopters shelled a Pakistani outpost in the restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan on Thursday, in the fourth cross-border attack into Pakistan in less than a week.
As Pakistan fumed over aerial attacks by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's forces inside its territory that killed nearly 50 militants, the Pentagon has asserted that armed forces have the right to self defence and the United States followed the appropriate protocol in the situation. "The armed forces have the right to self defence. They have been attacked and they respond and they notify the Pakistani government about it," said the Pentagon.
'You are an instrument at the hands of one man with one ambition -- to resurrect the Soviet Union... For ambitions of one man, we are paying a very high price.'
In what is seen as the first sign of China's exasperation over Russia's Ukraine war, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday raised 'questions and concerns' over the conflict in his meeting in Samarkand with Russian President Vladimir Putin who thanked Beijing for its 'balanced position' on the crisis.
Pakistan would want to take full advantage of the situation to direct Taliban trained terrorists into the Kashmir Valley, alert Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd) and Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Thousands of American, Afghan and British troops launched an attack on the watery Taliban fortress of Marja on Saturday morning.
Pakistani Taliban terrorists on Tuesday carried out two attacks on North Atlantic Treaty Organisation container trucks in the Khyber tribal region in country's northwest, killing one person and injuring another in the first strikes since supply routes to Afghanistan were reopened earlier this month.
An understanding between Pakistan and the United States on reopening the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation supply routes to Afghanistan after a seven-month blockade may soon be replaced by a new bilateral logistics pact.
China, which has territorial disputes with many countries in the strategic Indo-Pacific region, has been opposing the Quad alliance since its formation.
Pakistan has refused to budge from its position seeking a United States apology for a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation air strike that killed 24 of its soldiers last year, saying this is necessaryfor ending a six-month blockade of vital supply routes for foreign troops in Afghanistan.
'Which will not happen.' 'Foreign Minister S Jaishankar has expressly refuted Beijing's statement that normalcy was returning to Sino-Indian relations.'
Nearly six months after Pakistan shut North Atlantic Treaty Organisation supply lines to Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said she personally believes that the routes should be reopened. Khar made the remarks while speaking to reporters, who accompanied Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on an official visit to Britain, The Express Tribune said on Monday.
'We spent Rs 59,000 crore on acquiring 36 Rafales and we do not know if we will ever use them. The chances are that we never will,' argues Aakar Patel.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will brief parliamentary leaders of various political parties on August 26 on the developments in war-torn Afghanistan.
The US president is deeply grateful for the honour, courage and determination of the US' men and women who served in Afghanistan for almost two decades, as well as the sacrifices made not just by those troops, but also by their families, a senior Biden administration official told reporters during a conference call.
India cannot choose its geography and devise regional strategies to dovetail into the Western Indian Ocean hypothesis conceived in the Pentagon, argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Putin warned other countries that any attempt to interfere with the Russian action would lead to 'consequences'.
About 100 vehicles destined for the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan were set ablaze on Monday by heavily armed pro-Taliban militants in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, in the second such attack in as many days.
'If the Russian forces do capture Kyiv and set up some sort of provisional government, they might run into an insurgency, for which the geography is just right, it could prove costly for them.' 'In that event, the whole exercise could turn out to be counter-productive -- and costly in both foreign policy and domestic terms.'
The Indian Navy has decided that the twin-seat Rafale will not be disqualified on the basis of its inability to operate from an aircraft carrier.
Three persons were killed and two others injured when pro-Taliban militants attacked several North Atlantic Treaty Organisation container trucks in the restive Khyber tribal region of Pakistan on Monday, officials said.
A driver of a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation oil tanker was killed and his assistant injured when suspected militants attacked the vehicle in Balochistan province of southwest Pakistan on Friday, police said.
After wrapping up a summit with United States President Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said that the American and Russian ambassadors will return to their diplomatic posts and take up their functions, adding that when that would happen is a 'purely technical one'.
The Welsh cities of Newport and Cardiff have been invaded by 10,000 police personnel as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit takes over. Starting on Thursday, a terrorist's shopping list of targets will arrive in Wales with NATO leaders and some 60 other leaders of partner nations arriving in the small peaceful country.
In response to a question about whether US citizens should be concerned about a nuclear war breaking out, Biden said "no."
"The deal is being implemented. We witnessed attempts on the part of the US to undermine this cooperation and make India obey the American orders to follow the American vision of how this region should be developed," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
'The RSS ideology has been borrowed from fascism and is not borne out of Hinduism.' 'They want India to have one historical identity whereas India is a land full of divergence which goes in every direction.'
It is for the investigating agencies to probe all aspects of the assassination, including a possible Chinese hand, or if the killer was just a disgruntled element who acted on his own and wanted to earn some dark space in history like Nathuram Godse or Lee Harvey Oswald, notes Japan expert Rajaram Panda.
We can make a beginning by openly acknowledging the Russian help in 1971 victory when President Putin visits India on 6 December 2021. Showing gratitude to a friend is part of our DNA, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
He said that "the state of the border will determine the state of the relationship, that's natural".
'What would we feel if we found the world behaving the way it has?' 'Forced to fight our own prolonged battle; nobody from outside really demanding that the war end or actively working to make it end, and above all, a completely toothless United Nations reduced to pleading for a halt to the violence,' notes Shyam G Menon, exactly a month after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine.
As North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's forces prepare their exit strategy in Afghanistan in 2014, Russia on Sunday raised concerns about a "new wave of terrorism" that could emerge in the region and affect India. Thousands of terrorists and fundamentalists could seek refuge in Afghanistan and this could change the situation drastically for countries such as Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Central Asia, warned Russia.
'It would be a huge mistake to think that Gorbachev's reforms did not achieve anything.' 'We all live in the world, which is in many respects a result of Glasnost and Perestroika.'
If you are serious about countering the Chinese threat, then the best weapon is investing in real freedom, plurality, elections and democracy. Unfortunately, it isn't an approach all Indians currently seem to agree on, asserts Shyam G Menon.
The government's briefing is expected to focus on its evacuation mission from Afghanistan as well as its assessment of the situation in the war-torn country in the wake of the Taliban seizing control of almost all key Afghan towns and cities, including Kabul.
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