With Hamid Karzai stonewalling every US effort to conclude a bilateral security agreement, the Obama Administration is pinning its hopes on India to persuade the Afghan President to sign the deal and end the current political imbroglio on the issue.
The foreign ministers from Pakistan and Afghanistan are arriving in Washinton D.C next week for consultations, as part of United States' efforts to contact high-level leaders from the region to frame its new Afghan policy.
After his wide-ranging talks with Modi on the second and final day of his India visit, Johnson said the new defence and security partnership will enable India to strengthen its domestic defence industry as well as help the two countries protect vital shared interests in the Indo-Pacific.
Akhil Gogoi, member of the legislative assembly from Sivasagar in Assam, is likely to be released from jail on Thursday as a special NIA court cleared him and his three associates of all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for their alleged role in the violent anti-Citizenship Amendment Act stir in Assam in December 2019.
Chinese media on Wednesday criticised the western media for attempting to drive a "wedge" between India and China.
A group of Indian-Americans gathered at Times Square on Sunday, carrying placards and raising slogans in support of the Narendra Modi government and CAA.
'Much as the Palestinian issue remains the core obstacle to peace in the Middle East, the question of Kashmir must be addressed in some meaningful way to bring stability to this region,' he said. He hoped the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan will work towards a 'just and reasonable' solution to the issue.
"we're talking about Kashmir and the relation to what's going on with Pakistan and India. And if we can help, we certainly will be helping," the President said.
"As the ISI tries to rein in those militant proxies that have slipped from Islamabad's grasp, it will likely try to regain their support by redirecting their attention away from Pakistan and toward India, an enemy on which both Islamabad and the militants can agree. As a result, it is likely India will come under attack again," Stratfor warned.
United States' relationship with Pakistan is very tense but the two countries are working to resolve the issues, the Pentagon said on Monday, days after the "failed" talks held by the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Marc Grossman in Islamabad.
Now, as before, India's vote at the UN was dictated by paramount national interests. Though the Indian vote was 'neutral', its explanation was explicit in its criticism of the Russian actions. India took back with the left hand what it had given with the right, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The much anticipated peace talks between the Taliban and the United States might not happen as well, a US official said, as the Special US envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan left Qatar without any talks with the Afghan insurgent group.
Former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri on Monday claimed that India had considered carrying out surgical air strikes at the headquarters of terror outfits JuD and LeT near Lahore.
The massive US civilian aid flowing into Pakistan would be squandered or stolen, a powerful American Senator has said, arguing that rampant corruption in that country would make effective aid distribution a challenge.
Given Congressional objections, we have told the Pakistanis that they should put forward national funds for that purpose," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said.
Modi's comments on extreme rhetoric by some regional leaders was an obvious reference to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been making provocative comments against Modi government and Indian action in the last few days.
Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke on Tuesday said that the Obama administration would soon announce a range of actions for Pakistan in the field of water, energy and security.
The three most powerful elements of Pakistani politics, President Asif Ali Zardari, opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and the Army are "coming together" to fight the "common enemy" of terrorism, the top United States envoy to the Pak-Afghan region has said.
Influential American Senators have said they would oppose Obama administration's proposal to triple civilian aid to Pakistan and substantially increase assistance to its army without clear cut benchmarks and accountability provisions in it.
Ahead of the key strategic dialogue with Pakistan, the Obama administration on Wednesday shot down Islamabad's plea to help it resume peace talks with India and mediate on key disputes with New Delhi on issues including Kashmir.
'One of R&AW's greatest achievements is in projecting itself as benign.' 'This work -- done in tandem with the Diaspora and the MEA -- sells a story of India as mostly the victim.'
The independent task force set up last year included Richard Holbrooke, the Special US Representatives for Pakistan and Afghanistan, and General James Jones, National Security Advisor. But both of them stepped down from the task force before the first draft was written, and as such they are not associated with the report, it says.
Special United States Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, who was once speculated to be US President Obama's trouble-shooter to Kashmir, is so sensitive to creating an uproar in New Delhi if he speaks about Kashmir, that he doesn't even want to say the 'K word.'
"We are troubled and confused in the sense about what happened in Swat, because it is not an encouraging trend," Richard Holbrooke, the Special US Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan told the PBS news channel in an interview.
Al Qaeda 'had been preparing to spread its ideology to India', says Bruce Hoffman, Director Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University.
Olson was responding to questions from the lawmakers who expressed concern over Pakistan being "selective" in taking actions against terrorist groups.
''There is the perennial worry in the Indian mind regarding the US 'hyphenating' India and Pakistan. Frankly, this is a completely nonsensical hypothesis. The US has always 'hyphenated' India and Pakistan and it couldn't have been otherwise,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The sanctions have a singular purpose, denying the world's largest state sponsor of terrorists the capacity to do things like they did this past couple weeks, attempted assassination campaign in the heart of Europe, said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The days of a thousand cuts are over. These mini wars will remain under the threshold of undeniable war, but will escalate closer to that threshold when their big brother pushes in. Chinese aggression has changed the matrix, the strategies, and surely the objectives too, warns David Devadas.
'Frankly, India has no role to play.' 'This is a showdown between the US and NATO on one hand and Russia on the other.' 'That said, the outcome of this titanic struggle in Central Europe will remould the world order and affect India profoundly,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
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.
Security will be a consideration, as would protocol, but given Modi's penchant for the unconventional, it should not come as a surprise if he indeed decides to attend the ceremony in Kabul, says Ramesh Ramachandran.
The United States on Monday assured India that its concerns over Taliban insurgents gaining legitimacy without severing their terror links will neither be "overlooked or undermined" during the talks with the Islamic fundamentalist group.
Robin Raphel, a former US diplomat now under a counter intelligence investigation, has spent much of her professional life dealing with Pakistan and defending it against criticism as she doled out billions in aid to the "frenemy".
Describing India's concerns as legitimate, a top United States official has said that there is no immediate danger of foreign fighters from Afghanistan moving towards the Indian border after 2014, when American troops leave the country.
'Refusing to implement the CAA-NRC, as some states have done via resolutions in state assemblies, is a violation of the Constitution; an attempt to alter the fundamental structure of our democracy and a recipe for anarchy,' argues Vivek Gumaste.
Sharif approved an inquiry committee's recommendation to remove his special assistant on foreign affairs Fatemi from his post.
'Both India and Pakistan are now, for the first time in history, very closely allied and connected with the US -- economically and politically.'
'There will be much for President Trump and Prime Minister Modi to discuss including growing Chinese military cooperation with Pakistan, which heralds a new attempt by China and Pakistan to neutralise India's influence in its Indian Ocean neighbourhood,' notes Ambassador G Parthasarathy.
They have also urged the Obama administration to review its decision in this regard.
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