"Selling military hardware to Pakistan -- with a generous subsidy from American taxpayers -- is no way to convince them to become responsible players in the international community and assist in the fight against terrorism," Rand Paul said.
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.
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.
Modi's hardline policy towards Pakistan and J&K has created numerous leverages and bargaining positions that New Delhi can bring to the bargaining table and translate into concessions, argues Ajai Shukla.
Amid concerns by certain quarters in Pakistan over the 'strings' attached to the United States aid, Washington on Friday asserted that no condition has been imposed on Pakistan for the $ 680 Defense Authorisation Bill and charged that an attempt is on to 'willfully distort' the facts.
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.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna has categorically denied that he ever suggested that the Afghanistan government should opt for a political settlement with the Taliban to end the ongoing violence in the country.Earlier, the Indian Mission in New York also issued a denial on the subject. "There is no change in India's policy towards Afghanistan. The minister has been misquoted in his interview with the Wall Street Journal."
The Taliban has denied as 'baseless rumours' reports that its top leaders had met United Nation's representatives to discuss bringing peace to Afghanistan and vowed to persist in its war 'against the invaders'. The denial came in response to news reports that Kai Eide, the outgoing UN envoy, held a meeting in Dubai in February with members of the Taliban leadership. The United Nations has not confirmed that such a meeting took place.
The meeting was facilitated by Pakistan's spy agency -- the ISI
Having major stakes in peace and development of Afghanistan, India is expected to press the world not to think about exit from there at a multilateral conference on the war-ravaged nation to be held in London on Thursday.
Suspicious of deepening ties between India and the United States, Pakistan is reluctant to plunge into war with Afghan militants and even high-profile visits of US officials have failed to win over a military and civilian establishment in Islamabad, a media report said.
P B Chandra reports from Kabul on the Afghan presidential election, that has entered a run-off stage for the first time. The battle now is between the two frontrunners Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, with Abdullah holding the edge.
The appointment of veteran diplomat Peter Burleigh as charge d'affaires at the American embassy in New Delhi was a Department decision and not on the recommendation of Richard Holbrooke, Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, as had been rumored because of their earlier longtime working relationship, senior Administration sources have told rediff.com.
The Pakistan government is reported to have raised the issue of its agrarian lands drying up due to India's water conspiracy with visiting United States Special Representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke.
Karzai has steadfastly opposed direct talks between the US and the Taliban, wanting Afghan ownership of the "reconciliation process", as the reintegration of the Taliban into the mainstream is referred to.
On the eve of US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke's visit to the South Asia, The Guardian newspaper has said Pakistan is the greatest foreign policy challenge for the Barack Obama administration.
Terming United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's forthcoming visit to Pakistan as a 'people-to-people trip', Obama administration's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke has said that Clinton's trip to the troubled nation would be one the most important foreign visits of the top American diplomat.
The Obama administration is "disturbed" by the release of Jamaat-ud-Daawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, who was placed under house arrest nearly six months ago in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, US Special Representative Richard Holbrooke said on Wednesday.
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.'
Wider scrutiny of the mushrooming Twenty20 and T10 leagues around the world will be the key issue on the discussion table when the International Cricket Council (ICC) begins a series of meetings, from Tuesday.
'The Mansoor Taliban is really an extension of the Haqqani Network which in turn is an instrument of the ISI. With Ashraf Ghani ready to dance to Pakistani tunes and with the Haqqani Network becoming part of the Afghan government, Pakistan is all set to see the fruition of its strategic policy,' says Sushant Sareen.
Top English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur has joined hands with Nagpur-based Krida Vikas Sanstha Nagpur, to take the Indian Slum Team for the Homeless World Cup football tournament in Milan that is scheduled from September 6 to 14.
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.
The United States and its allies are offering cash and jobs to Taliban fighters as part of a stepped up negotiation with representatives of Mullah Omar and other insurgents to persuade them to lay down their arms, a news report said on Thursday.
United States Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke on Wednesday said that Pakistani leaders brought up the issue of India's alleged involvement in Balochistan, but did not give any credible evidence to support their claim.
India, Pakistan and the United States were facing the shared challenge of combating terrorism, a top American official said on Wednesday as he pressed Islamabad to 'move forward' from the 'complicated history' with New Delhi to take on the 'common enemy.'
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has met top US officials to discuss the Barack Obama Administration's review of the Afghan policy.
Expressing concern over the release of A Q Khan from house arrest, the United States told Pakistan that the disgraced nuclear scientist continues to be a "serious threat" to proliferation of nuclear weapons technology. US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, who is currently on a visit to Islamabad, certainly raised the issue pertaining to A Q Khan, State Department spokesperson Robert Wood said on Wednesday.
India captain and batting mainstay Virat Kohli was named skipper of the International Cricket Council's Test and ODI teams of the year, following a remarkable run in 2018.
'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.
The 24-year-old, born in Barbados and who represented West Indies at Under-19 level, was not in England's provisional squad and only made his ODI debut little over a fortnight ago.
The motion takes note of the UNHCR statement last month, which described the CAA as 'fundamentally discriminatory in nature', and also of other United Nations as well as the EU guidelines on human rights as it calls on the Indian government to 'repeal the discriminatory amendments'.
India and the United States are destined to be partners at the world stage due to their shared common values and outlooks on a wide range of issues, the Pentagon has said as US Deputy Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter concluded his highly successful trip to New Delhi.
The Chinese envoy said that the India-China bilateral ties can't take the strain of another Doklam episode
Sushma in her address at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Foreign Ministers meeting said that terrorism is an enemy of basic human rights.
Why omit the Tiananmen massacre from the history of China's Communist party, asks Claude Arpi.
Holbrooke is currently in Afghanistan after completing a two-day visit to Pakistan. He is said to have told the Pakistani leadership during his visit that there was a need to keep India informed about developments taking place in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
'Washington's silence about India's Article 370 move tells us all we need to know: It doesn't want to rock the boat of a relationship that has navigated some choppy waters but remains a highly important one.'
Sri Lanka need to win their final two games, and hope for favourable outcomes in England and Pakistan's next fixtures.
The Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has acknowledged that the Taliban, with whom his government reached a truce deal in the restive Swat valley days ago, are "murderous thugs and militants" who "pose a danger to Pakistan, the United States and India".
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