Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said Islamabad wants to have "excellent relations with the United States" and said both countries along with Kabul need to be "on the same page" in efforts aimed at boosting national reconciliation and stability in war-torn Afghanistan.
"This is a moment of opportunity. I hope both parties will make the most of it," former Secretary of State Madeleine K Albright when asked in an interview with PTI about the India-Pakistan relations after the formation of new government in Islamabad.
The United States continues to negotiate with Pakistan on re-opening of the crucial NATO supply routes to Afghanistan that were closed by Islamabad after a cross-border NATO air strike killed 24 of its soldiers last year, the State Department said on Wednesday.
The growing influence of the Central Intelligence Agency and Pentagon in shaping relations with Pakistan was a key reason behind United States Ambassador Cameron Munter's decision to quit his post, the media in Islamabad claimed on Wednesday.
Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, blamed for the Mumbai terror attacks, has demanded that the Pakistan government should announce a date for parting ways with the United States and abandoning its war on terrorism.
The United States has moved hundreds of new troops to the Afghan area bordering Pakistan's insurgent-infested North Waziristan tribal region along with heavy artillery, helicopter gunships and sealed movement on the border, local media reports in Islamabad said.
The United States is not taking at face value Pakistan's actions against terrorists outfits.
The United States is likely to turn up the heat on Pakistan following the alleged involvement of the Haqqani network in the Kabul attacks, says Tahir Ali.
The killing of 5 Indian soldiers in a Pakistani ambush on the Line of Control has once again fanned the simmering tensions between the neighbouring countries.
Pakistan has complained to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon that the geographical coordinates notified by India of the Sir Creek estuary are "inconsistent" with international law and "impinge" upon Islamabad's territorial limits in the disputed area.
The United States embassy's plans to expand and construct an eight-storey building in Islamabad has been challenged in Pakistan's supreme court on Thursday by a lawyer who said the move would allow Americans to use the new structure for "spying" on the country's top leaders.
The United States on Friday asked Pakistan to ensure that Islamabad's former envoy to Washington, Husain Haqqani, gets fair treatment in the ongoing judicial process that is investigating the 'memogate' scandal and said it is watching and monitoring the situation closely.
United States has accused Pakistan's military-run ISI of providing financial, technical and physical support to extremist organisations and have give "concrete evidence" of the same to Islamabad, which has been facing American heat for a while.
The United States, on Tuesday, denied reports that it has plans to seize Pakistan's nuclear weapons, saying it has confidence on the ability of Islamabad to provide adequate security for their atomic arsenal.
The Pentagon on Tuesday said it had shared with Pakistan in recent years the indications of Islamabad's "complicity" with extremist groups, renewing top United States commander Admiral Mike Mullen's allegations that Inter-Services Intelligence was conniving with the Haqqani network in Afghanistan.
Following months of tensions in United States-Pakistan relations, a top State Department official has said Washington wants to normalise the ties and get into a full counter-terrorism relationship again with Islamabad.
Chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey has cancelled his trip to Islamabad, where he was to hold a private meeting with Pakistani counterpart General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, due to continued wave of anti-US protests.
In a scathing critique of 'the incoherence of the US government' and the 'dysfunctional organisation', Stephen P Cohen, considered the doyen of South Asia experts in Washington, said the continuing missteps were a no-brainer.
India has conveyed to Pakistan its "strong concern" on the grant of bail to key 26/11 Mumbai attack handler Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, saying the release will make a mockery of Pakistan's commitment to fight terror groups without hesitation and without making distinctions.
Amid a deterioration in United States-Pakistan ties, China has assured Pakistan's political and militaryleadership of its support in maintaining sovereignty and internal stability and promised to help its 'trusted ally' play a bigger role in global and regional affairs.
The new chiefs of the Inter Services Intelligence and Pakistan Air Force on Monday assumed office, a day ahead of a crucial parliamentary session that will determine the contours of future relations with the United States. Lieutenant General Zahir-ul-Islam went to the ISI headquarters at Aabpara Islamabad to take charge as the new director general of the powerful spy agency.
The US has removed all its equipment from Shamsi airbase in Balochistan province, Geo News channel quoted its sources as saying.
Trump spoke by telephone with Khan to discuss "the need to reduce tensions and moderate rhetoric with India over the situation in Jammu and Kashmir," the White House said in a readout of the call.
The US should make it clear to Pakistan that Indian support for Afghanistan's stability poses no threat to its interests
The United States has an important relationship with Pakistan which it endeavours to work on every day, the White House has said, a day after Islamabad summoned its top diplomat to protest against the drone strike that apparently killed the second top ranking Al Qaeda leader.
The December 26 drone strike on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan has complicated United States attempts to ease the crisis in relations with Islamabad and stabilise the region before foreign combat troops leave Afghanistan.
The United States has warned Pakistani leaders of dangerous consequences if there is another terror attack on India that originates from Pakistan, a former top adviser to President Barack Obama has said, asking Islamabad to give up the policy of supporting extremist elements.
With the United States Senate voting to triple the non-military aid to Pakistan at $1.5 billion, India on Friday once again expressed concern over such funds being diverted by Islamabad to support hostile operations against it. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who is in New York to participate in the opening session of the United Nation General Assembly, said New Delhi was concerned as former Pakistan President Parvez Musharraf had himself disclosed startling facts.
United States President Barack Obama on Thursday reiterated that the US will remain a steadfast partner for Pakistan as Islamabad moves towards peace and prosperity.The President told the Friends of Democratic Pakistan in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, that he would like to congratulate President Asif Ali Zardari and the member states and organisations constituting the body, for the important work that has been done over the last 12 months.
Following appeals from the United States and Afghanistan, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday said the country cannot attend the crucial Bonn meet on the future of Afghanistan if Islamabad did not receive assurances from the world community about its security and sovereignty.
"Unless Pakistan demonstrates a willingness to actively squeeze Taliban insurgents on its soil and use its leverage to bring them to compromise with the US and Afghan authorities, the US should consider alternative policy options to stem terrorism in the region," Lisa Curtis of the Heritage Foundation, said.
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