Amid reports that the US has quietly approved an additional deployment of some 13,000 troops to Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday said more US troops are welcome in his country.
'This is a historic juncture when the US is in great need of an alliance with India to strengthen its hands in the fierce struggle with China in the Asian theatre,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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.
The Champs Elysees and the vast circle around the Arc de Triomphe were packed with an estimated 200,000 fans
The Taliban helmed attack on the Afghan parliament on Monday, ended with all six gunmen killed, the interior ministry said.
Trump said his visit to Saudi Arabia will include a gathering of leaders from 'across the Muslim world' to unite against extremism.
At least seven people were killed and over 90 injured in a suicide car bomb blast outside the NATO headquarters in Kabul on Saturday. The presidential palace and several embassies are also located in the area. The blast comes just five days before presidential elections and against a backdrop of increased violence by the Taliban. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, saying people would not be deterred from voting.
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has delayed his visit to India by a few hours.
What would serve New Delhi best is a relatively peaceful election that places in office a legitimate government committed to bringing stability and development to conflict ridden Afghanistan.
'While many Chinese policy makers dismiss the political, economic and technological component of US-India relations, they express caution on the defence-related ties which also happens to be a major driver in US-India relations,' explains China expert Srikanth Kondapalli.
"You can never win the war in Afghanistan," said 'Colonel Imam', who ran a training programme for the Afghan resistance to the Soviet Union's occupation from 1979 to 1989, and then helped to form the Taliban. "I have worked with these people since the 1970s and I tell you they will never be defeated. Anyone who has come here has got stuck. The more you kill, the more they will expand," Imam told The Sunday Times.
During a meeting with visiting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Gilani expressed Pakistan's "keen desire to defuse the situation in South Asia in the wake of the Mumbai attacks". "Pakistan will complete its inquiry into the dossier of information provided by India as soon as possible and will share its results with India and other countries in due course", he said.
Just as the US warships were heading towards the Georgian coasts in the Black Sea in the wake of four-day Caucasus war last month, Russia announced it would send a naval task force of the Northern Fleet on a tour of duty in the Atlantic Ocean and participate in joint naval drills with the Venezuelan navy in November. "Two Russian bombers have arrived in Venezuela for training exercises," Russian Defence Ministry said.
Claiming that 'thousands of our well-armed militants are ready to fight alongside the army if any war is imposed on Pakistan', chief of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, told The News daily by phone from an undisclosed location. Hundreds of would-be bombers had been 'given suicide jackets and explosive-laden vehicles for protection of the border in case of any aggression by the Indian forces', he said.
As a "further demonstration" of solidarity with the Indian government in the wake of Mumbai terror attacks, President George Bush has asked the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to travel to India this Wednesday.
Pakistan may relocate around 100,000 military personnel from its restive border area with Afghanistan if there is an escalation in tension with India,which has hinted at the involvement of Pakistani elements in the Mumbai carnage, a media report said today.
The US president's four-day tour will feature talks with British PM Theresa May, tea with the Queen, and mass protests including a giant Trump baby blimp being flown over Westminster.
The Pakistani Frontier Corps has been heavily infiltrated and influenced by Taliban militants, according to classified US documents appeared in a daily in London on Sunday.
The Trump administration has been very clear that the acquisition of advanced Russian technology sends the wrong message to Russia at a time when it continues its aggressions, the official said.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday hours after President George Bush spoke at the same forum, he predicted the defeat of American and NATO alliance in Afghanistan and advised the next rulers of the United States to keep "their interference" in their own borders. The people of Afghanistan, he said, are victims of efforts by NATO member states to "dominate the regions surrounding India, China and South Asia."
Amid strains in ties with India over the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani voiced his opposition to war and vowed not to allow his country's soil to be used for terrorism.
Pakistani Taliban has warned that boys and girls of its suicide squad will launch "massive" strikes across the country, including the commercial hub of Karachi, if military operation in Swat and other tribal areas are not halted immediately.
International cooperation to cut off their funding, expanded intelligence sharing, and cyber warfare to disrupt and disable their propaganda and recruiting is his plan to stop the terror group.
'Not only in Kashmir, but in the rest of the country.'
Obama and Putin discussed the necessity of countering the Islamic State and the situation in Ukraine, the White House said.
US President Barack Obama has expressed deepest condolences over air strike on a hospital in Afghanistan's Kunduz city that killed 19 people and asked the Pentagon to keep him apprised of the investigation into it.
Introduced by Republican Congressman Ted Poe and Democratic lawmaker Rick Nolan, the legislation calls for revoking MNNA status of Pakistan, which was granted to it in 2004 by the then president, George Bush, in an effort to get the country to help the US fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
In a major crackdown to eliminate the terrorists' sanctuaries, Afghanistan has carried out three air strikes within a week in Kunar province, bordering Pakistan, inflicting heavy casualties on Lashkar-e-Tayiba terror group.
India spent USD 63.9 billion on its military in 2017, an increase of 5.5 per cent compared with 2016 and of 45 per cent since 2008.
A major allied offensive is reportedly being planned on the Musa Qala area of Afghanistan, to counter the resurgent Taliban.
'Despite almost $30 billion of funding since 2001, all the US reaps today is unmitigated hostility of a Pakistan emboldened to flaunt its China card.' 'How can the US give credence to any offers from Pakistan, which has trotted out the standard alibi of non-State actors time and again, including dreaded terror outfits being out of State control, Pakistan itself being a victim and so forth?'
'US forces have killed Mullah Dadullah Akhund, a member of the 12-member shura of the Neo Taliban.'
The top commander of United States and allied forces in Afghanistan was on an unannounced visit to India recently to hold talks with senior Indian leadership on the country's role in the war-torn Afghanistan vis--vis Pakistan and China.
Russia on Wednesday carried out intense rocket strikes targeting the Islamic State in Syria from warships in the Caspian Sea, 1500 km away.
Indians at large harbour a notion that their country is cherrypicking out of the American basket of goodies, but the policymakers in Delhi and the political leadership are well aware that it can only be a pipe dream since a military alliance with a superpower is a profound irrevocable commitment, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India to go ahead with S-400 missile deal with Russia, but declines project to develop a fifth-generation fighter aircraft.
Politicians, bureaucrats hold different opinions about the delaying of the 2+2 summit.
Trump's views run contrary to the Obama administration, which had imposed economic sanctions against Russia.
Modi and Ghani walked through the renovated heritage corridor before reaching Harmandir Sahib, popularly known as Golden Temple, where large number of people, waiting for hours, welcomed them.
'There seem to be no reason why Assad should have launched such an attack when he was gaining acceptability,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
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