Pakistan is refusing to participate in the United States-led probe into North Atlantic Treaty Organisation bombing that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead along the Afghanistan border last week, the Pentagon has said.
Two terrorists, including a top Lashkar-e-Tayiba (LeT) commander trained in Afghanistan, were killed in a gunfight with security forces on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said.
India, China and Russia on Thursday held a trilateral meeting on Afghanistan's security situation against the backdrop of the US' plans to withdraw its troops from the war-ravaged country, raising fears of re-emergence of Taliban and al-Qaeda linked elements.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said India will continue to assist Afghanistan.
The elections in the country should be held within the stipulated time of 90 days after the dissolution of the National Assembly.
Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal wanted to fight North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces in Afghanistan as an 18-year-old when the US launched its campaign against Taliban following the 9/11 attacks, investigators have said.
In an apparent reference to Sonia Gandhi, Modi said some INDIA bloc leaders left the Lok Sabha and moved to the Rajya Sabha as they have no courage to contest elections.
New Delhi must indicate to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that it has a long-term strategy for his country. It should point out that Pakistan's present Afgan policy will destabilise Afghanistan and help Islamic State, says Gautam Sen.
Hinting at Pakistan, India on Monday said terrorism emanating from outside Afghan borders posed potent threat to Afghanistan and warned that the war-torn country could "slip back" by interference in its internal affairs.
Ahead of the crucial talks between President Barack Obama and his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani, the United States has indicated flexibility in its troop drawdown schedule from war-torn Afghanistan to help it fight the Taliban and other insurgent groups.
With increased security threat on Indian assets in Afghanistan, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police will dispatch a fresh contingent of its troops to the war-torn country next week to augment the security of key Indian assets."A batch of officers and personnel will leave for Kabul in the next ten days to augment our strength," Director General of ITBP Vikram Srivastava told PTI.
The United States and Pakistan are engaged in a billing dispute, with Washington rejecting over 40 per cent of the claims submitted by Islamabad as expenses to fight Al Qaeda and other terrorists along the Afghanistan border, according to a report.
The decision to deploy air defence weapons was made as the country re-evaluates its strategy for safeguarding its western borders from air raids, the Pakistan Army's Director General of Military Operations, Maj Gen Ashfaq Nadeem Ahmed, told the federal cabinet and the Senate's Standing Committee on Defence during briefings on Thursday.
'Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahiri could be hiding in the tribal areas of Pakistan,' said the US deputy secretary of state.
Pakistan's restive Balochistan province has come to a standstill and has been facing unrest with several political and nationalist parties launching an indefinite blockade of all national highways from Wednesday against alleged rigging of the election results.
An Indian national, who was kidnapped by militants in Afghanistan nearly a month ago, was freed on Sunday following an operation by the security forces in that country. Muhammad Naeem, 40, who was kidnapped along with a Nepalese citizen on April 21, was in good condition. The men, contracted to supply logistics to Afghan police training camps, were kidnapped by unknown militants, while they were traveling in western Adraskan district bordering Iran.
The agency had received Rs 946.51 crore to manage its affairs in the Budget Estimates for 2023-24, which was later increased to Rs 968.86 crore in the Revised Estimates.
Asserting a war was not an option between India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka on Wednesday said cross-border terrorism was a core issue on the table for SAARC and the members of eight-nation grouping have to discuss it and its impact before moving forward.
'I am not minimising either the seriousness or the complex nature of the current situation.' 'Naturally, we have to do what it takes to secure our borders.' 'We are talking to the Chinese, both through military channels and diplomatic ones.'
'In fact, they work in tandem.' 'When it comes to finding a solution, this must be predicated on honouring all agreements and understandings.' 'And not attempting to alter the status quo unilaterally.'
Some five months before the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attack, India had warned the United States about increasing "white faces" in terrorist camps along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the attempt by jihadi groups to acquire fissile material to "fabricate a crude bomb beyond a dirty bomb".
Pat Cummins may be undecided about his future as Australia's One-Day International captain after the World Cup but few of his compatriots will be urging him to stand down after his efforts in India.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is probably somewhere in the area of Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has said.
Modi brought up the emotive issue of the gurdwara in Kartarpur Sahib, a place sacred to Sikhs as Guru Nanak Dev spent the last years of his life there, and blamed the Congress for country's partition, saying they did it for sake of power.
India offers $1 billion towards Afghanistan's development during Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's visit.
Reports said helicopters attacked a residential compound in Saidgi area near the Pakistan-Afghan border.
A suicide bomber killed at least 45 people at a volleyball tournament in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has conveyed to her German counterpart Guido Westerwelle Pakistan's decision not to participate in the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan to protest against a cross-border North Atlantic Treaty Organisation air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Khar informed Westerwelle of the Pakistan government's decision during a phone conversation on Friday night. She conveyed her appreciation for Germany's commitment to peace and stability in Afghan
The reaction came a day after Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that India is providing funds for Taliban fighters located along the Afghanistan border for creating chaos in Pakistan.
Pakistan-India bilateral relations remained frozen for the fourth year over the vexed Kashmir issue but analysts hope the strained ties could be repaired if Nawaz Sharif becomes the prime minister for a record fourth time in the general elections in February in the absence of his main challenger Imran Khan who is in jail in multiple cases.
Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is enjoying the experience of working with former India seamer Manoj Prabhakar.
American military commanders operating with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation led mission in Afghanistan have informed US President Barack Obama's special envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, that they do not have enough troops to do their job, and are being pushed past their limit by Taliban rebels who operate across borders.
'Obama's decision to end the US military involvement in the Afghan civil war needs to be welcomed as a positive development for regional security and stability. India, too, has a great opportunity opening up here if it plays its cards in sync with the spirit of the times rather than continuing to view the Afghan problem in zero-sum terms,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Pakistan's marquee October 15 clash against arch-rivals India in Ahmedabad might be huge from perspective of fans on both sides of the border but it is certainly not the "be all and end all" from cricketing point of view.
Giving in to its long standing demand, the United States has agreed to share drone technology and provide at least a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles to Pakistan.During his visit to Pakistan, United States Defence Secretary Robert Gates said that Washington is planning to provide some unarmed spy drones to Islamabad to encourage it to fight against militants on the Afghanistan border and do more in the region.
After India, Afghanistan was among three other countries which pulled out of the SAARC summit to be hosted by Pakistan.
Pakistan has moved 100,000 troops from its borders with India to bolster its campaign against the Taliban and other militants on its restive border with Afghanistan, the Pentagon said. The mass shifting of troops is an acknowledgement of the fact that terrorism and internal insurgency were posing more threat to Pakistan now, the Pentagon said in a report to the United States Congress.The Pentagon did not specify the regions from where the troops had been pulled out.
BCCI president Roger Binny and vice-president Rajeev Shukla have accepted the invitation of the Pakistan Cricket Board and will be in Lahore from September 4-7 during which they will watch a couple of Asia Cup games.
Pakistan will deploy air defence weapons on the border with Afghanistan to pre-empt fresh attacks by NATO forces in the wake of a "pre-planned" air strike that killed 24 soldiers, a top military official has said.
