'Trump's new discovery is that Pakistan and its army are virtually god's gift to mankind.' 'They are required to facilitate a relatively orderly American exit from Afghanistan,' points out Ambassador G Parthasarathy, who served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan.
Trump said that the US will defeat its enemies with the full force of American might.
Nobel Peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai said she is "heartbroken" by "the senseless and cold blooded" killing of scores of children by Taliban militants at an army-run school in Pakistan.
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who was attacked last year by the Taliban for advocating the education of girls, has been selected for the prestigious Global Leadership Award this year. Malala, 15, will receive the award for her role as a global activist in advocating the education and empowerment of girls worldwide, a media announcement said.
India said perhaps the Permanent Representative of Pakistan is "not aware that Osama bin Laden was hiding in their own country in plain sight, and it is the US forces which got him inside Pakistan. Nor have they heard their Prime Minister refer to Osama bin Laden as a martyr."
The bilateral and Quad summits, in which Prime Minister Modi played a significant role, has sent the right message to China, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India has the ability in all respects to be a great power and address our security challenges in the best national interests, says Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes just two days after a second round of a four-country meeting in Kabul aimed at reviving talks with the Taliban
Announcing Bolton's sacking on twitter, Trump said he will name a new national security advisor next week.
Addressing the party's national executive, Nadda also reached out to Sikhs, who are in majority in poll-bound Punjab, by listing a number of measures the Modi government has taken for the community, including expediting action against 1984 riots accused, facilitating foreign grants to gurudwaras and keeping langars outside the review of the Goods and Services Tax.
'If India does venture across the LoC, it will evoke a strong response.'
The Islamic State is preparing to attack India to provoke an Armageddon-like confrontation with the United States, according to an internal recruitment document of the feared group which also seeks to unite the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban into a single army of terror.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has met Malala Yousufzai in a United Kingdom hospital, describing the 15-year-old rights activist shot by the Taliban as a 'remarkable girl'.
'Biden's promise of returning to 'normalcy' after Trump appears to mean that the same old politicians, who are responsible for the 'endless wars' in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, are being brought out of the woodwork after four years,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
In a veiled reference to Pakistan, India said perpetrators of violence in Afghanistan must not be allowed safe havens in its neighbourhood, as it slammed the United Nations Security Council's sanctions regime for not designating the leader of Taliban as terrorist, calling such an approach a "mystery."
'China is likely to help Pakistan in keeping the fire burning in J&K to bleed India for its own interests.' A fascinating excerpt from Lieutenant General K Himalay Singh's Making of a General: A Himalayan Echo.
'We're paying them nothing because that's what they've done to help us. Nothing'
The United States has said it wants Pakistan to implement UN curbs against three key financers who raised money for the Taliban and Haqqani network, a day after slapping sanctions on the leaders of these outfits.
The army chief said that India needs to broaden its understanding of national security and must examine non-traditional threats like pandemics "de-novo" as they have the potential to inflict severe damage on the country. "We need to act and prepare ourselves accordingly."
The US also termed the release of Mumbai-terror attack accused Hafiz Saeed as "a step backward" in that direction.
The US has been in discussions with Pakistan but there has been not a 'sufficient amount of action' from it against terrorists.
Pakistani security agencies on Thursday arrested two suspects involved in the car bomb blast outside the house of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack mastermind and chief of the banned Jamat-ud-Dawah (JuD) Hafiz Saeed, an official said.
Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud has written a letter to the sister of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani convicted for attempted murder by an American court, promising to carry out a 'memorable attack against the United States".The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan chief "threatened a memorable response against the United States" in the letter he wrote to Fouzia Siddiqui nearly two months ago, Dawn News channel reported.
With no agenda announced for the meeting, the leaders from Jammu and Kashmir said they have come with an open mind.
Introduced by Republican Congressman Ted Poe and Democratic lawmaker Rick Nolan, the legislation calls for revoking MNNA status of Pakistan, which was granted to it in 2004 by the then president, George Bush, in an effort to get the country to help the US fight Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Pakistan's most wanted terrorist Baitullah Mehsud's death may actually embolden the Pakistanis as it marks a weakening of those Taliban factions that oppose Islamabad, a leading United States private intelligence agency has said. "With more confidence in its influence over the remaining Taliban elements, Pakistan could be even less willing to sell out its Taliban assets in Afghanistan," the Stratfor said.
The president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai on Thursday renewed his call to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar to give up violence.
"We have not made any decisions with regard to releases," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told media persons when asked about news reports regarding release of Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo as part of the reconciliation process.
A rebel commander who was recently removed from the post of deputy chief of the Pakistani Taliban has said that the Pakistan government suspended negotiations with local militants because of pressure from the United States.
India and the US also made a strong push for the intra-Afghan peace process to end violence in Afghanistan and ensure that it does not become home to terrorism, and vowed to deepen cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and on COVID-19 response and economic recovery.
'Under Doval, foreign powers traditionally suspicious of India were wooed.' 'Enemies were embraced.'
Following the death of top Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan members, a comparatively weakened Pakistani Taliban are ready to hold peace talks with a government that is increasingly seen at odds with the United States. Amir Mir reports from Islamabad.
'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.
A year ago, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan commander Hakimullah Mehsud was reported to have been killed in a US drone strike. But the most-wanted fugitive emerged unscathed. On January 12, reports emerged of his killing in a US Predator drone strike. But is it true? Amir Mir reports from Islamabad.
The Taliban and the Al Qaeda seem to have quietly expanded their recruiting base from South and Central Asia to European nations like Germany, United Kingdom and France and even to the United States, with many of the new recruits traveling to Pakistan and Afghanistan for terror training. The Washington Post, in a major article on Monday, said the new target countries are now struggling to stop their nationals from being recruited by the Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
After his killing, the Taliban Shura (the supreme council of the Taliban) has convened meetings to elect the new TTP chief. There are three candidates in the running -- Hakimullah Mehsud, Azmatullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman Mehsud.
Like autumn leaves, we are left with a huge, miserable-looking heap of broken dreams. Whoever thought a day would come when we couldn't even agree with the Americans as to who were the Taliban we both have been fighting against all these years?
India strongly condemned the terror attack, saying targeting of a religious place in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak reflects the "diabolical mindset" of the perpetrators and their backers.
The United States still intends to withdraw some 33,000 troops from Afghanistan by next year, US President Barack Obama told US Congress.
The two leaders also took positive note of the growing bilateral cooperation in defence, counter-terrorism and energy, besides the co-ordination on regional and global issues, the officials said.
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