Tehreek-e-Taliban has claimed responsibility for the brazen attack on the Pakistan Army's Headquarters in Rawalpindi on Saturday, which left four of its militants and eight soldiers dead.
The journalist was covering clashes between Afghan troops and the Taliban in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar city.
Blinken said the US will continue to act against those who threaten the country, its people and its allies.
The Pakistani Taliban have mastered the science of manufacturing explosive devices using more toxic chemicals to inflict lethal injuries on their victims, according to a media report.
'I am worried that Pakistan will still feel compelled to take substantive military action beyond this apparent drone activity.' 'If so, the crisis could persist for a while more and dangerous days are still ahead.'
'...and the country should be impoverished completely.' 'Once this is done, the political class would take over and then play a part in real democracy where the army is under the control of the government, not vice-versa.'
The Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for the 'attack' in Binghamton, New York, where a gunman went on a shooting spree at the American Civic Centre on Friday, killing 13 people before turning the gun on himself.Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud told Reuters from an undisclosed location, "I accept responsibility. They are my men who attacked New York." The 'attack' was in response to US drone strikes in Pakistan.
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff Gen Syed Asim Munir visited Balochistan on Saturday amid clashes in the restive province in which 18 security personnel and 23 terrorists have been killed in the last 24 hours. The army chief was given a comprehensive brief on the prevailing security situation in the province and offered prayers at the funeral of the slain soldiers. He also visited the injured soldiers in the Combined Military Hospital Quetta. The military said the terrorists were killed in different areas of troubled Balochistan in the last 24 hours. Terror attacks have increased since the banned militant Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group broke a fragile ceasefire agreement with the government.
The Biden administration expects the Modi government to continue to remain as its loyal camp follower even as Washington continues to act in self-interests, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'If they aim to remain aligned with the public sentiment, as any democratic government should, then they must respond. Why else would the prime minister have cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia? And why would he have instructed the home minister himself to travel to Srinagar to assess the situation firsthand? This suggests that something is indeed being planned. I am quite certain of that, although the exact form it will take remains to be seen.'
While talking to mediapersons in Mahbubabad, Sharmila said, "He (KCR) is a dictator, he is a tyrant, there is no Indian Constitution in Telangana, there is only KCR's Constitution. Telangana is the Afghanistan of India and KCR is its Taliban."
On January 30, a suicide bombing at a mosque in the Peshawar Police Lines area claimed the lives of at least 101 people
The Taliban said the attacker had posed as a peace messenger, the BBC reports.
The key Biden administration included the CIA's deputy director David Cohen and the State Department's special representative for Afghanistan, Tom West.
The Tehreek-i-Taliban which claimed responsibility of the brazen attack on the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, is made up of Chechens, Arabs, Afghan Taliban, Uzbeks and Central Asians, has become a fearful force to deal with. Vicky Nanjappa tells you why
Earlier, the Taliban took control over Jawzjan province's capital Sheberghan and Nimroz province's capital Zaranj.
The US has held IS-K, the regional affiliate of the Islamic State terror outfit, responsible for Thursday's Kabul airport attack in which 13 American soldiers were killed and 18 others injured.
'It is a testing time for our foreign policy which may involve a certain element of taking risks, assessing costs, and expecting failures,' asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
A group of clerics today asked the government not to hold peace with the banned Pakistani Taliban after it condoned the recent bomb attack on a church in Peshawar that killed over 80 people.
'If Pakistan's army wants to escalate violence in Kashmir, they have an unlimited supply of jihadis they can train and send. That's not an issue for them.'
The Taliban on Saturday claimed responsibility for a series of suicide attacks in Pakistan, including the bombing of Pearl Continental hotel in Peshawar. "We claimed responsibility for these attacks," said a telephone caller who introduced himself as Saeed Hafiz, a deputy of Hakeemullah Mehsud based in Orakzai tribal region.
As many as 10 Taliban fighters, dressed in Afghan army uniforms and driving military vehicles, talked their way onto the base and opened fire on soldiers.
The visit comes two days after Pakistan officials shared with the Chinese embassy the preliminary findings of their investigation into the attack.
'It is high time that the 'war on terror' is removed from our diplomatic toolbox.' 'Certainly, our parliamentarians have no role in it,' asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'We are too important to want to be paired with Pakistan but too intensely connected to it to successfully detach ourselves,' asserts Aakar Patel.
The army said that three terrorists were "neutralised while entering the base while the remaining three terrorists have been cornered/isolated due to timely and effective response by the troops".
Asim Munir and his brand of short-sighted army officers give no inkling of paying heed, changing course or learning lessons from the past, observes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
A hotel near Kabul was attacked by Taliban insurgents on Thursday night killing 17 people, mostly civilians. The attackers took hostages and staged a battle with security forces for around 12 hours. Four security guards and an Afghan police officer were killed in the attack.
'Every decision India makes along the LoC, it must also consider implications along the LAC.'
Hundreds of Taliban fighters on Friday carried out fresh attacks in a remote area in northwest Pakistan bordering Afghanistan though security forces claimed to have regained control of the region after fierce fighting that killed nearly 80 people, including 28 troops.
A former Pakistan Air Force member-turned Taliban commander has invoked Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus and Lord Buddha in a letter to teen activist Malala Yousufzai, asking her to return home and "use" her pen for Islam.
Around 14 policemen are among 25 injured. The condition of four policemen is stated to be critical.
The attack targeted a Frontier Corps (FC) checkpost on the Mastung road in Quetta, the provincial capital, Deputy Inspector General of Quetta police Azhar Akram said.
A Pakistani Taliban commander and two foreign fighters were among nine militants killed in a United States drone attack in the lawless North Waziristan tribal region, officials said on Monday.
Afghanistan's political district was rocked by violence on Thursday when Taliban terrorists blew up a British embassy vehicle and later gunfire broke out at an army base.
The meeting was attended by a group of Taliban leaders where JeM sought their support in 'India-Centric' operations. All states have been alerted to conduct security drills and keep anti-terror units on high alert.
Two commandos of the special forces were also killed in the rescue operation that was launched after negotiations between the government and the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants to end the hostage crisis failed.
'It's waging an offensive with no seeming precedent.' 'The fact that it's now entering cities, as opposed to remaining massed around their perimeters, is a game changer.'
The Taliban had promised an 'inclusive' government that represents Afghanistan's complex ethnic makeup, but there is no Hazara member in the cabinet.
The Council adopted the resolution proposed by France, the United Kingdom and the United States with 13 Council members voting in favour and Russia and China abstaining.
