In a pessimistic assessment of the Afghan war, a top US military official said on Wednesday that after years of neglect, America is basically "starting over" its battle against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, whose alliance is now stronger than ever.
Hamid Karzai's first priority after getting re-elected as Afghanistan's president is to open peace talks with Pakistan in an attempt to end the Taliban insurgency raging across their shared border, one of his top aides has said.
A top United States military official on Friday said that the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban leadership are trying to gain access to nuclear weapons.
Army chief General Deepak Kapoor on Thursday met his United States counterpart and other top ranking military officers and discussed various issues including joint training and exercises between the two countries. General Kapoor, who is on a five day visit to the US, met Joint Chiefs of Staff committee Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen, US army chief General George W Casey Junior and Central Command Chief General David H Petraeus in Washington.
Indian Army chief General Deepak Kapoor has arrived in Washington on a week-long visit to the United States, during which he is expected to hold discussions with top US military leadership on a wide range of bilateral issues, besides the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. General Kapoor is scheduled to meet Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, his counterpart in the US Army General George W Casey and Defence Secretary Robert Gates.
In an interview to CBS Face the Nation, Chairman of America's Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said Pakistan Army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is focused on both -- the threat from India and that from internal insurgency.
The Taliban against whom US-led forces are fighting in Afghanistan grew "more effective" in the last three years because they had "safe haven" in the tribal areas of Pakistan to "rest" and "train" before returning to fight, US' top military commander has said.
Saying that the challenges the United States faces in Pakistan are far greater to that in Afghanistan, Senator John F Kerry, the chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, warned that if Pakistan, "a nuclear-armed nation of 170 million people" becomes a failed state, it would pose 'an unimaginable peril to itself, its neighbors and the world.'
A top US military commander on Wednesday admitted that its forces in Afghanistan have been "under-resourced", and underlined the "urgency" for a change in its strategy to fight insurgency in the troubled country.
Acknowledging that trust deficit existed between the United States and Pakistan, America's top military general on Monday said it would take a long time for both countries to bridge that gap.
America's top military official, on a second visit to Islamabad since the Mumbai terror attacks, has persuaded the country to do more to address India's concerns on terrorists operating from its soil in order to defuse tensions between the two nations.
"As the ISI tries to rein in those militant proxies that have slipped from Islamabad's grasp, it will likely try to regain their support by redirecting their attention away from Pakistan and toward India, an enemy on which both Islamabad and the militants can agree. As a result, it is likely India will come under attack again," Stratfor warned.
Those who plotted the deadly attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, are still alive and planning to carry out more terror strikes, a top United States military general has said.
The United States has ruled out a military coup in Pakistan in the wake of the political chaos saying Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani is a staunch supporter of democracy and doesn't want to take over like his predecessor Pervez Musharraf did in 1999.
In a damning indictment, a top United States General has said the Inter Services Intelligence is fomenting 'chaotic activity' in Kashmir and Afghanistan and asked the Pakistani spy agency to change its 'strategic thrust'. The US is having 'discussions' with the Pakistani leadership on this issue, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. Elaborating, he said the ISI has been supporting militant groups in Kashmir and FATA in Afghanistan.
While officials of the two allies offered few details on Wednesday about what was decided or even discussed at the meeting -- including any new strategies, tactics, weapons or troop deployment -- the star-studded list of participants and an extreme secrecy surrounding the talks, New York Times said the talks underscored how gravely the two nations regarded the growing militant threat.
Adm Michael Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said despite the scale of threat, progress would be slow since Pakistan has been lagging behind in its strategy to eliminate safe havens for terrorists in the lawless Federally Administered Tribal Areas
The US defence department chose to sidestep queries on whether it had the authority to carry out unilateral action against Taliban or al Qaeda leadership on Pakistani soil but pressed Islamabad to "move rapidly" against the militants in its restive tribal areas.
Describing the increasing Indo-US military cooperation as "positive", a top Pentagon official said the growing defence links reflects the continuing and emerging relationship between the two nations.
Describing India as a strong partner, a top United States military officer has said that Washington has not asked New Delhi to do 'more' in war-ravaged Afghanistan. At a press conference, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen said that US Defence Secretary Robert Gates had not conveyed to India to 'do more' during his recent visit.Gates had visited India in February and met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
Describing the steps taken by Pakistan in the aftermath of the Mumbai terror attacks as great, a top Pentagon official has held that many more such steps would be taken by Islamabad.The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen has said that there is a strong desire for justice on the part of the people of India and he is 'grateful for the restraint shown by the country'.
US-Pakistan relations are poised to touch a qualitatively new level under the Biden administration, notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Charleston police identified the gunman as Dylann Roof of Lexington, South Carolina. They arrested him from neighbouring North Carolina.
The storm has wrecked havoc, killing at least 60 people and costing up to $180 billion (Rs 11,542 crore).
'The hardliners in Delhi are in for a big disappointment,' predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The service includes a doll, a double bed, some condoms and lube.
'Bono, every time you clap your hands, a woman somewhere in the land of Ahimsa, is being abused.' 'Physically, emotionally or financially; at home, in the street or at work...' 'Maybe just for a little bit, you could tweak your humanitarian mode and turn womanitarian while in the land of Gandhi,' asks Priya Mirchandani on the eve of U2's Indian debut.
The brothers, who began their ad journey a decade apart from each other, Piyush in 1979 and Prasoon in 1989, will be the eighth recipient of the award.
'We are writing to respectfully ask you to abandon the Adani Group's proposal in Queensland's Galilee Basin...Pollution from burning coal was the single biggest driver of global warming, threatening life in Australia, India and all over the world'
90 prominent Australians warn Indian energy giant Adani that its controversial coal mine project in Queensland could damage bilateral ties and even affect sporting links.
The latest ad, done by O&M again, Vodafone's ad agency, shows two engineers tinkering away in a dimly-lit highway tunnel.
Voicing his frustration over the double game played by the Inter-Services Intelligence in the war against terror after 9/11, a former central intelligence agency chief has said that "duplicitous" is a gentler way to describe the notorious Pakistani spy agency, which has close links with terror groups.
'India's real concern is that cash-strapped Pakistan is keeping its military hardware well oiled on American money,' says Rajeev Sharma.
Former Inter-Services Intelligence chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha has admitted that the deadly Haqqani network was created by it and America's Central Intelligence Agency and claimed that the insurgent group's chief Jalaluddin Haqqani had "in fact been invited to the White House by President (Ronald) Reagan".
Let us see the problem for what it actually is: Illegal Immigration plain and simple, confined to the northeast with a definite communal slant that poses a national security risk and one that needs to be dealt with firmly and promptly by stringent identification (and deportation), says Vivek Gumaste.
Pakistan National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz brings to New Delhi a newfound Pakistani confidence, stemming from its leverage in Afghanistan, says Ajai Shukla
'Pakistanis are very clever in manipulating us,' former Bush administration official tells US lawmakers.
Some members of the Obama administration have worried that Pakistan's heightened anxieties about India might lead Islamabad to take reckless measures, so they have wanted New Delhi to pursue more diplomatic engagement with Islamabad.
Pakistan, which has propped up the new Taliban leadership, would be keen to use its influence over the group to neutralise India's presence in the region.
'If there's one administration that would be likely to put the squeeze on Pakistan, it's the Trump administration.' 'This is an administration that views terrorists as a black and white issue (kill them all, no questions asked), and will have little patience for Pakistan's selective policy toward terrorism.'
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