The US drone strike that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri has raised questions over Pakistan's possible role in the raid amid reports suggesting that the country's airspace could have been used for carrying out the precision strike on the Al Qaeda chief's safe house in Kabul.
A grieving Pakistan's policy shift towards the Taliban has comes at a great cost, says Shahzad Raza.
Senior police officer Aizaz Ghoraya confirmed that security and intelligence officials recovered Shahbaz from the Kuchlak area on the outskirts of Quetta city.
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.
It was like I have gone 22 years back. Over 20 years have passed, but the images (of today) are the same," Devi Sharan, the captain of hijacked IC814 said.
'Omar Khorsani has called repeatedly for the most barbaric of attacks. He is very adept on social media. He is, in other words, eerily similar to the ISIS leader Baghdadi.' 'The crux of the army's 'strategic asset' policy -- its policy of regarding militants as those that can help Pakistan pursue its regional interests -- is that Pakistan needs help in weakening India or in keeping its presence minimal in the region.' Michael Kugelman reveals what the world can expect next from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the terrorists responsible for the Peshawar school massacre.
"We've been told every time that... (the phone call) will happen, it's technical reasons or whatever. But frankly, people don't believe it," he said. "If a phone call is a concession, if a security relationship is a concession, Pakistan has options," he added, refusing to elaborate.
The United States has slapped sanctions on three Pakistan-based "terrorist facilitators" for helping the Taliban and other militant groups in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, including one man linked to a failed car bomb attack in New York in 2010.
An examination of some user profiles linked to these banned outfits indicates open support of sectarian and extremist ideology. A few of these profiles have also publicly 'liked' pages and groups related to weapons use and training.
Former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf was on Tuesday indicted by an anti-terrorism court in the 2007 assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto.
United Arab Emirates is the favourite to host the ODI tournament in March.
These are obviously not 'organic' desertions but brought about under intense military pressure, post the 9/5 arrests. It seemed as if the party was being dismantled the same way it was brought into power!, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W, India's external intelligence agency.
Two soldiers were killed and as many injured when their vehicle was targeted with a remote-controlled bomb by suspected Taliban militants in Pakistan's restive northwestern tribal region on Sunday. The soldiers were attacked in a mountainous area when they were heading to a check post after fetching drinking water. Initial reports had said the vehicle had hit a landmine. No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The timing of these transfers, while being projected as routine, is significant in both strategic and political terms, asserts Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
'Perhaps the biggest indication was its striking decision in November to delink LeT from its aid certification process.' 'The administration decided that the US, in order to send military aid to Pakistan, would not need to certify that Pakistan is cracking down on LeT.' 'Perhaps the administration was trying to offer a carrot -- in effect, we're backing off on LeT, but in return we expect you (Pakistan) to go after the Haqqanis.' 'Either way, the optics were dreadful for the US given that Hafiz Saeed was released from house arrest a few days after the US move.' 'The US reacted angrily, but eventually it moved on, and refocused on its core concern: The Afghan-focused terror groups.'
'The Taliban are their own worst enemy. They are a public relations disaster,' says Nicholas Schmidle, who spent two years reporting from Pakistan.
Unlike Israeli company NSO, whose sale of Pegasus cyber tech grabbed worldwide attention, and other manufacturers of offensive-cyber products, Cellebrite operates in a grey area between security exports and civilian ones.
'Washington appears to be playing the long game, and making the argument to India that over the longer term, Russia -- sanctioned, cash-strapped, isolated by the West -- will no longer be a viable defence partner for India'
The flawed Indian policy toward Afghanistan is missing the woods for the trees. The Modi government doesn't have a 'big picture', observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who played a stellar role in beginning India's systemic dealings in Afghanistan in 1994.
A ceremony to launch Pakistani teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai's book was scrapped after the government of the restive Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province said it could not provide security for the event.
The current Indo-Pak crisis over Kashmir is a godsend for the US. With tensions running high, Pakistan is in no position to militarily help the Taliban. Once this realisation dawns on the Taliban, they are likely to be more amenable to a compromise on American terms, says Colonel Anil Athale (retired).
Senior Pakistani TV journalist Hamid Mir, who faced threats from Taliban and other terror groups, was on Saturday shot at in Karachi by 4 unidentified motorcycle-borne gunmen near a bridge on way to his office.
Tharoor's remarks came after several BJP leaders accused the Congress of 'Pakistan parasti (worship)' and Union minister Jyoritiraditya Scindia asked if this was part of the 'Haath Se Haath Jodo Abhiyan' with enemies.
Pakistan, the report said, has played an active, and by many accounts, a negative role in Afghan affairs for decades.
The newly-appointed Inter-Services Intelligence chief Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum has instructed Pakistani authorities not to release his images or video footage to the media, according to a media report on Wednesday.
'They are both very individualistic and have similar personalities.'
The requirement was laid out in the Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan for 2010 that would cover a period of six months, the UN said in a statement.
Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane on Saturday did not rule out the possibility of Afghan-origin foreign terrorists attempting to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir once the situation stabilises in Afghanistan as he cited similar instances when the Taliban were in power in Kabul over two decades ago.
The star-studded series to take place under tight security will be closely monitored by other cricket boards and if all goes well Pakistan expects to host Sri Lanka and West Indies this year, Pakistan cricket board chairman Najam Sethi said.
Learning perhaps from the Kargil debacle, Musharraf tried hard to evolve as a statesman in his dealings with India, recalls Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, went ballistic at a forum in Washington DC, slamming Congressional critics, the media and leading analysts who have predicted that Pakistan is on the verge of becoming a failed state and bound to implode, and those who have accused the ISI of colluding with al Qaeda and the Taliban while Islamabad rakes in the massive largesse of American economic and security assistance.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who was on a visit to the US last month, said that America's relationship with Pakistan has "not served" either of the two countries and raised questions on the Biden administration's approval of a USD 450-million sustenance package for the F-16 fleet.
The terrible beauty of Doval's initiative is that it is all about a new journey rather than about a set compass pointing toward a pre-determined destination, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
US-Pakistan relations are poised to touch a qualitatively new level under the Biden administration, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Biden's remarks could be seen as a setback to the Shehbaz Sharif government's bid to improve ties with the US.
Yousafzai's marriage to Malik has come as a surprise especially after her recent remarks questioning the institution of marriage for which she faced severe backlash from political and religious leaders in Pakistan.
Chief Minster Punjab Shahbaz Sharif is continuously denying the influence of militants in his province but it is fact that Punjab is home to a mix of sectarian and other form of militants.
Over 300 people were also injured in the attack and many of them were in a critical condition.
Blinken asserts that America will continue to stand up for religious freedom around the world.
The day that Russia invaded Ukraine was the day Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan met Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin.
