With a narrow industrial base and dysfunctional politics, and a counter-productive national security agenda, Pakistan could well remain an 'international migraine', observes T N Ninan.
United Arab Emirates is the favourite to host the ODI tournament in March.
It's intriguing that the prime minister now wants his American partner to help protect the Hindu minority in Bangladesh. That's conceding to the Americans a pre-eminence India has always contested, resented and feared, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Qin, who recently succeeded Wang Yi, had a phone call at the request of Bilawal on January 9, a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement in Beijing said on Tuesday.
Top Taliban commander Nasiruddin Haqqani, a key fundraiser of his outfit, has been arrested by Pakistani security agencies apparently in response to United States demands for action against militant networks in the restive North Waziristan tribal region.
Pakistan-India bilateral relations remained frozen for the fourth year over the vexed Kashmir issue but analysts hope the strained ties could be repaired if Nawaz Sharif becomes the prime minister for a record fourth time in the general elections in February in the absence of his main challenger Imran Khan who is in jail in multiple cases.
Extensive firing continues in the area and heavy contingents of elite force have been deployed.
'The India-Pakistan relationship is in a deep freeze, though it could be a lot worse had there not been a new LoC ceasefire a year ago.' 'The India-Pakistan relationship will only start to thaw if the Pakistani military decides it's prepared to push for detente.'
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The invitation for the meeting to India was extended by Qatari special envoy for conflict resolution Mutlaq bin Majed Al-Qahtani during his visit to the national capital last week.
The National Security Strategy document should flag all major issues concerning security strategy and provide guidelines to concerned departments to work out suitable action plans. Since the global and regional geopolitical canvas is dynamic, the NSS document should be deliberated at length before formulation and should be reviewed periodically, recommends Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
Afghanistan doesn't have a women's team since the Taliban took over.
At least 17 Taliban militants were killed on Friday in a fresh assault by Pakistani security forces on a Taliban stronghold in the volatile Orakzai tribal region, official sources said.
Ehsanullah Ehsan said that he will release a detailed statement later in which he will mention the agreement he made with the Pakistani security authorities.
Raising concern over the nearly 1.25 crore feedback submissions received by the parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, Bharatiya Janata Party member Nishikant Dubey has called for a probe into their sources, including in the possible role of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and China.
Biden's remarks could be seen as a setback to the Shehbaz Sharif government's bid to improve ties with the US.
Soon after the gunshots were heard at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was golfing, the FBI said that it is "investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump".
A Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party MLA over the weekend hit out at Akhtar and said no film involving him will be allowed to be screened till he apologises for his remarks.
Police in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said on Monday that an initial probe has suggested that the banned terrorist group Islamic State is behind the suicide attack on a political convention of a hardline Islamist party that killed at least 46 people and injured over 100.
Atmar briefed Jaishankar about the situation in the war-torn country amid growing security concerns over the Taliban fighters rapidly seizing control of a large number of areas, forcing many countries to scale down their presence there.
Security was tightened around a government girls' school in Rawalpindi after a letter allegedly sent by the Pakistani Taliban warned that it would be blown up if it is not shut down, a media report said on Monday.
The billions India invested in dams, schools, etc in Afghanistan will be gone. The Hindu and Sikh population of Afghanistan has already shrunk from some 200,000 to about 500, points out Rajeev Srinivasan.
A 'barat' of over 100 Taliban militants, using decorated vehicles, carried out the surprise assault on sleepy guards at Pakistan's third largest jail in the restive northwest region to walk away with 250 prisoners, including top commanders of the outlawed outfit.
A spokesperson of the Karachi Police confirmed in a statement that the Karachi police chief's head office had come under attack.
The diplomatic crisis between Pakistan and Afghanistan deepened on Sunday after Kabul announced that it will withdraw its ambassador and other senior staff from Islamabad after the abduction and torture of the daughter of its envoy to Pakistan.
China does not have to give up what it took in 2020, it will never give up its claim to Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh and other areas, and it has all the time now to plan its next surprise, points out Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
The statement comes Days after Trump sought Imran Khan's help in the Afghan peace process.
New Zealand Cricket officials have commissioned international security consultant and expert Reg Dickason to visit Pakistan later this week to carry out a thorough security and COVID-19 assessment before advising them whether they should send their team to Pakistan.
Expressing concern over the situation in Afghanistan, a group of eminent persons, including former ministers K Natwar Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Mani Shankar Aiyar, on Wednesday urged the government to continue engaging with the Taliban and not allow any political party to use the developments in that country to communally polarise Indian society for electoral gains.
The election seem to have been conducted without any major security lapses. However, in the coming weeks, the military situation in Kandahar could tilt in the Taliban's favour, notes Aveek Sen.
Afghanistan will remain a frontline state for Washington for a foreseeable future in terms of the potential threats to US national security from terrorist groups, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who played a stellar role in beginning India's dealings in Afghanistan in 1994.
With commercial flights from Kabul airport yet to resume, media reports said the Afghanistan team had been looking to travel to Pakistan by road and fly to Colombo via Dubai.
External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India will continue to extend all support to the Afghanistan as a contiguous neighbour, in a clear reference that the Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir belongs to India.
Australian cricketers are on edge barely a month before their first tour of Pakistan in 24 years, amid an uptick in terror attacks in the Asian nation.
'We have been bold and innovative on recognition in the past and we do not need to rush,' advises Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
For Afghans in India, including medical tourists from the war-torn country as well as migrants and refugees staying here much longer, the safety of friends and families is the biggest concern - particularly for those linked to the now collapsed government or who have had work ties with the US.
With former prime minister Imran Khan in jail, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is tipped to emerge as the single largest party in the elections.
The visit comes two days after Pakistan officials shared with the Chinese embassy the preliminary findings of their investigation into the attack.
The Afghan Taliban is struggling to find a successor to slain chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour.
Two days after Pakistani Taliban appointed a new chief, a US drone today targeted one of the key commanders Waliur Rehman as it fired missiles on his stronghold in South Waziristan killing eight people, mostly militants and wounding another nine.
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