The Obama administration has declared that the Indian American community has always been and will continue to be indispensable to the United States-India Strategic Dialogue. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake, who will be by Secretary Hillary Clinton's side as she co-chairs the talks with External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, explained how integral the Indian American community has been to this dialogue.
Amid increasing tension between the United States and China over the arms sale to Taiwan and US president Barack Obama's upcoming meeting with the Dalai Lama, the US appeared to be adopting a conciliatory approach saying that it has many areas of common interest with the communist country.
Observing that the economic weight of emerging powers like China, India and Brazil gives them clout in financial and political sphere, a top United States official has said that the Obama Administration has decided to develop 'a positive-sum trajectory' with these key global players.
For the fourth successive year, Guru Nanak's birth anniversary was celebrated at the White House. Scores of Sikhs from across the country attended the event and were welcomed by key Obama administration officials from the offices of public engagement and the Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships respectively.
The White House made its position clear on the contentious H-1B provisions of Senate version of the immigration bill in a fact sheet prepared for the Asian American and Pacific Islander Community, which includes the influential Indian American community.
Dr Rajiv Shah, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development and the highest ranking Indian American in the Barack Obama administration, while speaking on the devastating floods in Pakistan, said, "The scale and scope of this natural disaster is astronomical."
'You'll see during the course of this visit, we'll have some important deliverables to announce in the area of energy and climate change,' US Assistant Secretary of State Robert O Blake on the prime minister's journey to Washington, DC next week.
The Obama administration is stepping up pressure on Pakistan to expand and reorient its fight against Taliban and Al Qaeda and wants its army to pursue the militants into north Waziristan.
The incoming Obama administration on Tuesday declared that the Mumbai terror attacks threw up new challenges for American diplomacy. US Secretary of State designate Hillary Clinton listed the 26/11 strikes as among the six major new challenges for American leadership though diplomacy that has emerged since the November presidential elections.
A US-based businessman has claimed that he has "crystal clear" evidence to back his claim that he acted as an intermediary between President Asif Ali Zardari and the US administration to avert a military coup in wake of the unilateral US raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The incoming Barack Obama administration is likely to appoint veteran troubleshooter Richard C Holbrooke as a special envoy to Pakistan and India amid tensions in the sub-continent following the Mumbai terrorist strikes.
Noted American experts and analysts argue that Foreign Terrorist Organisation designation of the Haqqani Network is meaningless unless Pakistan's intelligence agency is reined it. Aziz Haniffa reports
The Obama administration's point man for South Asia, Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake has assured that there will be deliverables from the first US-India Strategic Dialogue that will be held in Washington, DC, on June 2-3.
Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter to the Congress on Wednesday that the administration had determined that the Defence of Marriage Act, which was passed by Congress in 1996, discriminated against gays and therefore could no longer be accepted as reasonable, the Guardian reports.
Is the Obama Administration concerned that the tiny Maldives could become a future base for the al Qaeda and/or other terrorist groups to conspire and launch their attacks against Washington and its South Asian allies?
Days after the toppling of the regime, the Egyptian military led government has asked the US and European Union to freeze the assets of top henchmen of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, but has remained mum on the bounty of the deposed president.
Ambassador Islam A'Isi' Siddiqui -- who recently resigned from his position as chief agricultural negotiator in the office of the United States trade representative -- has joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies as senior adviser on Global Food Security.
The Obama Administration has appointed Indian-American to a key IT position, making him head of an agency that facilitates the sharing and access of terrorism-related information within various wings of the US Government.
Outgoing Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta on Monday alleged that Pakistan's attempt to modify the Harpoon missile posed a danger to India's interests. As per media reports, the Barack Obama administration has lodged a protest with the Pakistan government for illegally modifying United States-made missiles to expand its ability to hit land-based targets. Mehta said that US authorities are constantly being told that their aid to Pakistan is not used for self-defence.
The Pakistani administration is considering creating a new post to ensure that army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani will continue to play a crucial role in the military establishment in Pakistan.
The United States on Friday said that there is "a path forward" for India to become a full member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group by the end of the year, hours after the group's plenary meeting ended in Seoul with no decision on India's membership in face of strong China-led opposition.
Stressing that a stable Pakistan is essential for a stable Afghanistan, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Wednesday, applauded the Obama administration's effort at re-balancing the US-Pak relationship.
Ahead of the 10th anniversary of the twin tower attacks, the US Travel Association also urged the Transportation and Security Administration to reduce the security screening wait time at major airports to less than 10 minutes.
Implementing the commitment of United States President Barack Obama to deepen Indo-US strategic ties, the White House has carved out a separate India Desk at its National Security Council.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Wednesday congratulated United States President Barack Obama on his re-election, saying he looks forward to working with him on global challenges including Syria and climate change.
A US military court sentenced American soldier Bradley Manning to 35 years of imprisonment for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to whistleblower website WikiLeaks, causing huge embarrassment to the Obama Administration.
United States President Barack Obama is sending a team of officials led by Richard Holbrooke, his special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, to visit refugee camps housing lakhs of people who have been displaced by the military offensive in Swat and adjoining areas of the North Western Frontier Province. Holbrooke is expected to have a first hand assessment of the situation and then recommend how best the US can accelerate relief measures.
The attack in Libya on September 11 this year by a heavily armed group took the US administration by surprise and claimed the lives of four Americans, including the US Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens.
Unless one is naive beyond redemption, it was clear from the beginning that the Obama Administration and its FBI were trying frantically to prevent the truth regarding Headley from coming out, writed B Raman.
An emotional Hillary Clinton took personal responsibility for the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed her Ambassador to Libya, as she answered questions from lawmakers during her much-awaited Congressional testimony over the September 11 incident.
Accusing Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse of abdicating his responsibility to save civilians in the restive north, Tamil Americans have asked United States President Barack Obama to send his forces to the strife-torn nation to save the lives of innocent people. "This is pure and simple genocide. We are asking the Obama administration to intervene to save the Tamils of Sri Lanka by sending its army there," they said.
Intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden worked at the United States Embassy in India and took a course in "ethical hacking" in Delhi, about three years before he leaked the NSA's surveillance programmes that embarrassed the Obama administration.
Obama Administration's top diplomat for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, who has already visited New Delhi twice to brief Indian leaders of President Obama's AfPak strategy, on Tuesday said that due to elections India had not gotten fully engaged in the regional approach that is an integral part of the US strategy.
Learning lessons from the Mumbai terror strikes, the Obama administration has taken several steps in intelligence gathering and security infrastructure to thwart any similar attack on a major US city, according to a top official.
Strongly condemning a series of terror attacks this week targeting Pakistani Shia Muslims, a US Congress-established body on religious freedom today asked the Obama Administration to impress upon Islamabad to ensure protection of minorities in the country.
Al Qaeda's new leader Ayman al-Zawahiri does not match his predecessor Osama bin Laden in his charisma nor does he have the slain leader's credentials, a top official of the Obama administration said on Thursday.
"This administration will work toward a world without nuclear weapons and we will continue to maintain a safe, secure, and effective deterrent as we proceed toward that goal," Ellen Tauscher, Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security, said.
Senior diplomatic observers and administration sources have told rediff.com that in the weeks following the formation of the new Indian government, the Obama administration will press for India to resurrect the composite dialogue with Pakistan that lie comatose after the Mumbai terror attacks.
The Indo-Pak border situation has "improved" but suspicions continue to run deeper between the two countries, according to influential US Senator John Kerry, who is a key foreign policy aide to President Barack Obama.
The Indian American community has welcomed the re-election of United States President Barack Obama, who in his first term appointed a record number of community members to top administration posts.
