The Pentagon has notified the United States Congress on the possibility of the sale of six more C-130J super Hercules transport planes to India worth $1.2 billion that will equip the country with a credible special operations airlift capability to deter aggression in the region.
US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to make announcements in this regard on Thursday unveiling the annual budget of the Pentagon and the new defence strategy for the US to meet the needs of the time within the financial constraints.
India had deployed nuclear-capable missiles on its western border and refused to budge under United States pressure to hold any talks with Pakistan after the 2001 attack on its Parliament by terrorists from across the border, says former top American diplomat Condoleezza Rice.
Dismissing the remarks by the Pakistani military on the November 26 deadly NATO cross border strike, the United States on Monday said it stands by its own investigation that it was not an unprovoked firing by the US-led forces.
Bradley Manning, a United States serviceman suspected of passing classified information to the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks, is being transferred to a new prison, the Pentagon announced on Wednesday.
"Pakistan would allow back US military trainers, including Special Forces teams, and a resumption of close cooperation with the CIA in targeting militants who use the Pakistani side of the border as a safe haven and breeding ground for extremism," Fox News reported.
'Biden's promise of returning to 'normalcy' after Trump appears to mean that the same old politicians, who are responsible for the 'endless wars' in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, are being brought out of the woodwork after four years,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
United States President Barack Obama on Thursday said that the US has delivered justice to Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and put his terror group on the path of defeat.
Applauding India's key role in Afghanistan, the United States has said that New Delhi has been helpful in providing training to the security forces of the war-torn country to help improve the situation there.
'Pakistan has worsted India in the Afghan proxy war and the defeat becomes a template of regional politics,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
United States State Department spokesman P J Crowley resigned on Sunday, days after criticising the Pentagon's treatment of the man accused of leaking secret cables to Wikileaks as "ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid". "Given the impact of my remarks, for which I take full responsibility, I have submitted my resignation as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and Spokesman for the Department of State," Crowley said in his resignation statement.
Pakistan's border region remains the most dangerous place in the world and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas remains the epicentre of the world's worst of global jihad, a top Pentagon official has said.
The United States has asked China to "immediately" return its unmanned naval probe in international waters in the South China Sea which it alleged has been "unlawfully" seized by them.
"Our expectations are straight forward: Taliban and Haqqani leadership and attack planners should no longer be able to find safe haven or conduct operations from Pakistani soil," Pentagon Press Secretary Army Col Rob Manning told reporters during an off-camera news conference.
"Whatever happened over the weekend on the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan is a tragedy. We express regret for it and as well as condolences for the loss of life. In no way shape of form should this be construed as an intentional attack on Pakistan by the United States. That is simply incorrect," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little told media persons.
An Israeli military strike can at the most delay Iranian nuclear programme by a couple of years, a top Pentagon official has said, noting that such a move would not be "prudent".
India's defence establishment is taking the new Chinese threat seriously, as also that posed by Pakistan's nuclear-tipped MRBMs -- like the Ghauri-2 and the Shaheen-2 -- which can strike targets 2300 kilometres away.
The United States is lagging behind India, China and Brazil in rate of growth in research and development (R&D) indicators, a Pentagon report has said. The global investment in R&D rose to nearly USD 1.1 trillion in 2007 in the three major regions where R&D is funded, the report said.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has formally nominated James Mattis, a retired 4-star Marine Corps general who has long voiced concerns about the threat posed by Iran, as the Defence Secretary to replace Ashton Carter.
The US is in desperate need to conjure up an ideology-driven relationship with India, to enable it to boost its arms exports to the Indian market, says M K Bhadrakumar.
United States President Barack Obama paid his last respect to the soldiers killed in Afghanistan when the helicopter that were carrying them exploded mid-air after being reportedly hit by a rocket propelled grenade.
The offer of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to India is an example that US holds India's military modernisation in high regard, a top Pentagon official has said.
United States Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, who places much importance to America's relationship with India, is looking forward to his maiden visit to India in his capacity as head of the Pentagon, a senior US official has said.
There is seething anger among the senior administration officials -- at State, Commerce and the Pentagon -- and representatives of business and industry that New Delhi's decision was wholly political and much of the finger-pointing was at Defence Minister A K Antony and the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
The current impasse in ties between India and Pakistan is unlikely to end soon given the fragile government in Islamabad, which is overshadowed by powerful military which heavily influences policies on Kashmir and Afghanistan, a top Pentagon official has said.
"India's historic leadership of the non-alignment movement and desire to maintain strategic autonomy somewhat constrain cooperation at a level USPACOM (US Pacific Command) desires," the US Pacific Command Commander Admiral Robert Willard said in his testimony before House Armed Services Committee.
Pakistan and its leaders consider India as an existential threat to them not terrorism or Afghanistan, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said, noting that Islamabad needs to do more in the war against terrorism.
While the announcement of the deal came on Friday, at a time of increased tension with Iran, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement that the deal was inked on December 25 when the US and UAE signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA) for a Foreign Military Sales-configured Terminal High Altitude Area Defence System, valued at approximately $3.48 billion.
Despite increased political and economic relationship between India and China, tensions remains along their border with rising instances of border violation and aggressive border patrolling by Chinese soldiers, the Pentagon has informed the United States Congress.
Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, under pressure from his colleagues to "reduce" ties with the United States following the unilateral American raid that killed Osama bin Laden, is said to be "fighting to survive".
Nearly 200 fighters at an Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent terror training camp in the Af-Pak border region were killed in a recent attack by the US and Afghan commandos.
The alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be tried in a military commission at the Guantanamo Bay terrorist detention center along with four suspected co-conspirators, the Pentagon said.
Even months after India decided to forego the United States bid for the fighter aircraft deal worth $11 billion, the Pentagon apparently is still smarting over this rejection, arguing that it was an enormous disappointment and that New Delhi by its action had lost out on some of the state-of-the art technology.
'The US and India continue to use their deepening relationship to build new partnerships within and beyond the Indo-Pacific.'
The strongest quake to strike eastern America in more than a century rattled offices in the United States' capital. Authorities evacuated buildings as far as New York and shut down two nuclear power plants.
A major earthquake measuring about 6.0 rattled offices on Tuesday in the US capital Washington and led to panicked evacuations at the Indian embassy and in as far away as New York.
As the clamour in the United States Congress to cut off aid to Pakistan -- or at the very least suspend the massive American economic and military largesse to Islamabad --continued to grow to a crescendo, the top civilian and military leadership at the Pentagon warned against such punitive action, saying it would be counterproductive and inimical to US's security interests.
The US seeks to expand its military co-operation with India on a range of issues including non-proliferation and counter-terrorism, to expand the scope and participation of multilateral exercises in Asia, a Pentagon report said.
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 project nicknamed Falcon HTV-2 being developed by the Pentagon and the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency has the capability to reach anywhere in the world in less than 60 minutes.
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