China's assistance to build new nuclear plants in Pakistan are "inconsistent" with its commitments to Nuclear Suppliers Group, a top United States official has said.
The growing Indian-American community will play a major role in strengthening ties between India and the US, with the diaspora making significant contributions in fields such as technology, services and economy, a senior US State Department official has said.
The growing Indian-American community will play a major role in strengthening ties between India and the United States, with the diaspora making significant contributions in fields such as technology, services and economy, a senior US State Department official has said.
The US on Saturday said it wanted a "smooth and successful transition" to democratic civilian government in Pakistan.
Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Nisha Biswal will travel to Bangalore and New Delhi from March 4 to 6
The Indian elections in no way precluded the United States from working jointly with India to try to alleviate the lot of the affected Tamil civilians caught up in the crossfire between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lankan troops, the outgoing point man on South Asia for the Obama Administration has said.
United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O Blake, the Obama administration's point man for the subcontinent, still can't get over the Bharatiya Janata Party's opposition to the US-India civilian nuclear deal, despite the fact that it initiated and championed this accord during the time it was in power.
The United States Administration believes that the involvement of India and neighbouring countries in the security component of the US-led war on terror in Afghanistan will complicate the situation, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert O Blake has said.
A top US official said Pakistan has to "exercise effective control over all its territory" so that it is not used by terrorists.
The Bush administration apparently has no problem with the new Pakistani government's peace deal with militant groups in that country's North West Frontier Province, including Waziristan that have been sympathetic and allied with the Taliban and Al Qaeda. It has even given the tentative agreement its cautious blessings.
India is one of the key countries that will shape the 21st century, believes Robert D Blake, assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs in the Barack Obama administration.Keynoting a conference titled 'Natural allies? US-Indian Relations in the Obama Era', organised by the Washington-based think tank American Enterprise Institute on Monday, Blake stressed that India's importance to the United States has not diminished.
Boucher, who is the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, was asked by rediff.com not to dodge the question but to clearly articulate which one was binding on Indiathe Hyde Act or the 123 agreement. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had recently assured the Congress that for the nuclear deal to be consummated, it has to be consistent with the Hyde Act.
Atul Keshap would be 'a superb fit for Sri Lanka as he knows the ins and outs of the politics there and all the political players, including the new disposition in Colombo intimately,' US diplomatic sources in Washington, DC told Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com
US Senator John F Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommitttee on Near East and South and Central Asian Affairs -- that has jurisdiction over policy pertaining to India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan -- has called for the resolution of the Kashmir imbroglio, saying that the simmering problem is the rootcause of mistrust between Islamabad and New Delhi, that apparently causes Pakistan's paranoia over even New Delhi's relations with Kabul.
"Some of the fears are exaggerated," and added, "some of the training turns out to be sort of cadet level. Some exchanges don't lead to a lot. I think we just need to have a realistic sense of what this is," Boucher added.
"The question of India-Pakistan relations is one that... they have actually made great strides forward in the last couple of years. And obviously, the tensions created by the Mumbai incident made that more difficult right now,"Richard Boucher, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, said.
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher, has said those involved in the Mumbai terror attacks have links in Pakistan. "I would say it's clear that they had links in Pakistan, that the attackers had links that lead to Pakistani soil" Boucher said in Islamabad on Monday, according to transcripts released by State Department in Washington on Tuesday.
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher announced the assistance after holding talks with Musharraf.
There are a lot of things that go on up there that are difficult to find out. On the other hand, we do have a pretty good idea what's going on up there, whose up there and what they're doing, Boucher said.
Statements of Assistant Secretary of State For South and Central Asian Affairs Richard A Boucher, Congressmen Tom Lantos and Gary Ackerman on F-16 sale to Pak.
The US has emphasised that Pakistan has still "lot to do" in combating the menace of terrorism and the immediate focus should be on groups responsible for the ghastly Mumbai terror attacks.
"I think the steps that we've seen Pakistan take are good steps. They're promising steps. We hope they get followed up," Assistant secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher said in Beijing last week, according to a transcript released today by the State Department.
'Washington knows that it ultimately has to depend on the Pakistani army.'
While the main building of the National Archives will remain intact, its annexe will be demolished and a new building will be constructed, officials said.
Thirty-two young leaders from India and Pakistan who have just completed a three-week conflict resolution programme in Maine under the auspices of The Seeds of Peace programme, were felicitated at the State Department by Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher, who hailed them as the leaders of tomorrow and the catalysts of peace in a region beset by conflict for far too long.
Rice's concerns were over the bills in their current form. India believed this was a case of 'moving the goal-posts.'
Applauding India as a "responsible steward" of atomic power, the US has said it looked forward to "trying to complete" the civilian nuclear deal this year so as to bring New Delhi to the "mainstream".
Describing India as a "rising world power", US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher on Friday emphasised the need to fight the global menace of terrorism "jointly".
In the face of the Left opposition, the Bush administration has refused to set a timeline for moving the Indo-US nuclear deal forward, saying it will start work towards operationalising the agreement when New Delhi is ready.
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.
'Trump's aggressive stance towards China and preference for military posturing could shift the Quad's balance towards overt militarisation.'
Pakistan's 'freedom struggle' has begun again with the ouster of his government due to a 'foreign conspiracy', former prime minister Imran Khan said on Sunday in his first comments since his unceremonious removal hours earlier.
Just hours after the White House confirmed that United States President Barack Obama would be travelling to India in January, the State Department on Friday announced that it will send a top diplomat to India next week to lay the ground work for the historic presidential visit.
Blinken is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi late on July 27. He is scheduled to attend a full slate of engagements on July 28. During his stay in the country, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
She said India was asked to waive diplomatic and consular immunity and cooperate in the investigation but refused.
Atul Keshap, a senior Indian American career diplomat and one of the rising stars in the United States foreign service, has been picked by Nisha Desai Biswal, the newly appointed assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, to be her deputy.
