Addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, America's Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke identified the Lashkar as the group, which planned and executed the 26/11 attacks.
Even in his final moments, United States troubleshooter Richard Holbrooke was "worried" about Pakistan and Afghanistan, reflecting his "relentless" pursuit of the policy that he crafted to help the region tackle terrorism.
America's top commander in Afghanistan, Gen Stanley A McChrystal, and his advisors have reportedly ridiculed United States Vice President Joe Biden, President Barack Obama's Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard C Holbrooke and the US Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry.
He has been named as special envoy of the diplomatic quartet pushing for peace in Middle East.
James F Dobbins, a veteran United States diplomat, has been named as the new special American envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, at a time when both countries are going through "a pivotal moment". Announcing his appointment, US Secretary of State John Kerry said, "He has a deep and longstanding relationships in the region and I couldn't be more grateful that Jim has agreed to take on this assignment."
United States President Barack Obama's Special Envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke said that while Washington supports renewed contacts between Pakistan and India and wants the process to continue, Pakistani leaders should not burden the nascent process with insistence on 'core issues,' specifically Kashmir.
'The government is adopting double standards by allowing foreign envoys to visit Jammu and Kashmir, but not Indian politicians'
Pakistan's efforts to secure an apology from the United States for a cross-border NATO air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last year has run into rough weather, with the issue emerging as the biggest hurdle in resetting ties between the two sides.
Senior Indian Foreign Service officials Sharat Sabharwal and Meera Shankar will be the next envoys to Pakistan and the United States respectively. Sabharwal, Special Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, will succeed High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal, who reaches superannuation on February 28. Shankar, India's Ambassador to Germany, will succeed Ronen Sen in Washington.
United States President Barack Obama is sending a team of officials led by Richard Holbrooke, his special envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, to visit refugee camps housing lakhs of people who have been displaced by the military offensive in Swat and adjoining areas of the North Western Frontier Province. Holbrooke is expected to have a first hand assessment of the situation and then recommend how best the US can accelerate relief measures.
United States President Barack Obama joined world leaders in paying rich tributes to late Special Envoy for Af-Pak region Richard Holbrooke, calling him a leading light who served the country until his final moments. "It is no coincidence that his life story so closely paralleled the major events of his times," Obama said, eulogising Holbrooke, who died on December 13, at a memorial ceremony, also attended by visiting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday.
United States President Barack Obama would meet his Pakistani counterpart Asif Ali Zardari at the White House in WashinGton, DC on Friday and hold talks on issues of bilateral importance including combating terrorism.
Addressing New Delhi's concerns about peace talks with Taliban, the United States told India that it will not let the rebels enter a power sharing agreement in Afghanistan, according to leaked US cables by Wikileaks.
Pakistan has once again requested the United States to provide it with drone technology, so that it can carry out operations against the Taliban and other extremist groups in the lawless tribal region along the Afghan border.
Special United States envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman has resigned after leading the American diplomatic campaign in the volatile region for two years as President Barack Obama's pointsman to the region. Grossman would be replaced by Deputy Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan David D Pearce in an acting capacity. His resignation would come into effect on December 14.
The United States has once again rejected the notion regarding it playing a role of an 'intermediary' between India and Pakistan to help both nuclear powered countries to resolve long pending issues between them.
United States President Barack Obama's Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, who is currently on a three-day visit to Pakistan, is expected to make a short visit to New Delhi on Friday.
'I have worked long & hard with Robert. He will do a great job!' he said.
The United States on Thursday said that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba was as dangerous as Taliban and Al-Qaeda with which it was working in close coordination and that Pakistan has been asked to deny it a foothold in that country.
President Asif Ali Zardari has assured the United States that the Pakistan government will not allow anybody to challenge its writ or run a parallel administration in any part of the country. Zardari gave the assurance to US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke during a telephonic conversation, the Daily Times reported on Friday.
Times have changed, situations have changed, but the basic nature of superpower geo-politics remains the same and so also India's diplomacy -- call it non-alignment, strategic autonomy or neutrality; it all depends on the time scale, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Amid differences with America on the issue of drone attacks against high-value terrorist targets on it soil, Pakistan on Tuesday said it would not give any "blank cheques" to the United States and not accept foreign troops in its territory in the ongoing war to root out the Al-Qaeda and Taliban.
The two deliberated on how to go about in implementing the agreement, with the US Ambassador emphasising the need for taking the next steps as early as possible as delay could endanger the agreement
The last meeting of the 2+2 was held in New Delhi and the next meeting is to be hosted by the US in Washington, DC.
Talking about opposition by the Left parties to the growing ties with Washington, the Prime Minister's envoy said, "Whatever be the reservations that have been expressed about our relations with the US, no other friendly country, member of the NSG has the necessary standing to lead the process of opening up the existing multilateral regime to accommodate India".
In the first high-level contact between India and the new United States government, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan is expected to meet Richard Holbrooke, special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Munich during his three-day visit that began on Friday.
With India and China becoming more powerful and tilting the balance to the East, it is necessary for the West to seek partnership with them instead of struggling "for hegemony" in the "new world", former British premier Tony Blair has said. "In the next two decades China and India will undergo industrialisation four times the size of the United States and at five times the speed," Blair, now a special envoy to the Middle East, told the Yale alumni.
Earlier, a delegation of 23 EU MPs was taken on a two-day visit to assess the situation in the union territory by International Institute for Nonaligned Studies, a Delhi-based think tank.
"Pakistan Air Force continuously monitored the complete flight path of the flying object from its point of origin in Sirsa in India till its point of impact near Mian Channu and initiated requisite tactical actions in accordance with standard operating procedures," Pakistan Army spokesman Major General Babar Iftikhar said.
Russia has informed the United Nations Security Council that Russian buses are ready at crossing points to go to the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Sumy to evacuate Indian students and other foreign nationals who are stranded there, amidst the raging conflict in the East European country.
This is the first visit by diplomats to the newly carved out UT.
The Indian side expressed readiness to provide extensive humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, Mujahid was quoted as saying by Afghanistan's Tolo News.
"We reject the unwarranted and gratuitous comments made by Pakistan on the judgement of the Supreme Court of India on a civil matter that is completely internal to India," Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
On Monday, July 10, US President Joe Biden held meetings with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and King Charles III, in an overnight stopover in London.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry will arrive in New Delhi on July 30 on a three-day visit during which he will hold talks with Indian leaders on a range of key bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest besides co-chairing the fifth India-US Strategic Dialogue.
A US special envoy met senior Taliban representatives in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and discussed the issue of Afghan central bank reserves.
A top official of the Barack Obama administration on Saturday said that Indian Muslims are not terrorists, though many of them are increasingly tired of being defined as such. "I talk about the bloggers that I meet in India who are tired of Muslims being defined as terrorists," Farah Pandith, the United States Special Representative to the Muslim Community, said. "They're getting out there and talking about what's happening in India," she said.
Putin said Russian air strikes allowed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's military to turn the tide of war and helped create conditions for peace talks.
On the night of July 5, the Tigers launched their first kamikaze operation. Miller took the wheels of the explosive-packed truck, smiled at everyone as he turned the ignition key and drove it slowly towards the Sri Lankan military camp. A few moments later all of Jaffna heard a thunderous explosion that brought the complex crashing down in clouds of dust. Miller had given birth to a deadly tactic that Prabhakaran would employ time and again with devastating consequences to Sri Lanka -- and India. A fascinating excerpt from M R Narayan Swamy's must read new book, The Rout Of Prabhakaran.
In the meeting, Ngodup Dongchung, an official in the Tibetan government-in-exile and representative of the Dalai Lama, thanked Blinken for the continued support by the US to the Tibetan movement.
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