Washington is now set to begin formal negotiation with Mullah Omar's Taliban in Doha
In a major breakthrough, the Taliban on Tuesday announced the opening of its office in Doha, which would hold peace talks with the Afghan government and separate direct parleys with US that could boost Afghan reconciliation process after 12 years of war.
It would be a huge achievement if the new administration manages a successful transition to some sense of domestic and international normalcy in these frantic times marked by the pandemic and rise of illiberal regimes across the world, observes Shreekant Sambrani.
United States intelligence leaker Edward Snowden has accused President Barack Obama of denying him his right to asylum, in a statement, a first since flying to Russia on June 23, published by Wikileaks.
Israel's hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday assured the United States that resuming peace talks with the Palestinians tops his agenda, amid prevalent scepticism about the Obama Administration's effort to bring both sides to the negotiating table.
China has secretly entered into an agreement with Pakistan to construct a third nuclear reactor at Chashma in Punjab province that the Obama administration says will violate Beijing's promises under an international anti-nuclear weapons accord, a media report said.
An emotional Hillary Clinton took personal responsibility for the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed her Ambassador to Libya, as she answered questions from lawmakers during her much-awaited Congressional testimony over the September 11 incident.
The development has now removed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef as next in line to the throne and replaced him with Mohammed bin Salman, who earlier held the position of the deputy crown prince.
The Obama administration has requested to the US Congress for a steep decline in its economic and security aid to Pakistan for the year 2014, a latest Congressional report has said.
United States President Barack Obama has called the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Morsi amidst escalating violence in Gaza.
Strongly condemning a series of terror attacks this week targeting Pakistani Shia Muslims, a US Congress-established body on religious freedom today asked the Obama Administration to impress upon Islamabad to ensure protection of minorities in the country.
Even almost two years after the world's most wanted terrorist was slain by American special forces, President Barack Obama's administration is refusing to release photos of Osama bin Laden's body, warning that this would risk "grave damage" to national security.
In perhaps what could be his swansong appearance as the Obama administration's point man for South Asia, Robert Blake has acknowledged that the impasse over the implementation of the US-India civilian nuclear deal poses many challenges to Washington and New Delhi.
The latest fan of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi seems to be the American Samoan delegate, Eni Faleomavaega, the ranking Democrat on the house foreign affairs subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, which has jurisdiction over matters pertaining to South Asia. Aziz Haniffa reports.
United States President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump will be visiting India -- Ahmedabad and Delhi -- on February 24 and 25 on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Let's assess earlier American presidential visits to India.
Rediff.com presents some candid photographs from inside the White House.
'... For the India-US relationship to continue its positive trajectory, it will require India to adapt to a different approach.' Nisha Desai Biswal -- who as the Obama administration's point person for South Asia was in the inner circle of all the Obama-Modi Summits -- tells Rediff.com's Monali Sarkar why she is hopeful that India and the US are on an irreversible forward course.
The move will have a major impact on Indian women as they are the major beneficiary of the Obama-era rule.
The Obama Administration has announced setting up of an institute for manufacturing innovations which will help prevent jobs going to India and China.
In a shift from its long-held policy, the Obama administration has admitted for the first time that four American nationals have been killed in the Central Intelligence Agency's drone strikes in Pakistan and Yemen since 2009. While the killing of American-born Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen was well known, the names of three others were disclosed by Attorney General Eric Holder in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.
Insisting that Edward Snowden is facing charges on espionage, the Obama administration on Friday asked Russia to return the fugitive leaker to the US and not to give him a "propaganda platform".
They are arguing that it is a major source of greenhouse gas emission.
Noted American experts and analysts argue that Foreign Terrorist Organisation designation of the Haqqani Network is meaningless unless Pakistan's intelligence agency is reined it. Aziz Haniffa reports
United States Ambassador to India Nancy Powell plans to meet Narendra Modi, signalling a shift in America's stand towards the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate in connection with the 2002 Gujarat riots.
'Dev for me embodied all that kind of charm, optimism, energy, vulnerability, awkwardness and yet strength.' 'He's in every scene for two hours.' 'He has to play drama, melodrama, romance, pathos, comedy.' 'It was a relief when he said yes.'
"The Council will inform and provide advice to the President and other senior US officials on US global development policies and practices, support new and existing public-private partnerships, and increase awareness and action in support of development by soliciting public input on current and emerging issues in the field of global development," the White House said.
Last week 36-year-old Khanna, who has previously served in the Obama administration as one of his top ranking trade official, had announced his Congressional bid for the 2014 general elections from California against his own partyman and incumbent Mike Honda from California's 17th Congressional district as the new State laws allows two opponents from the same party to run against each other in general elections.
The two got together for a social cause.
"There is no change (in US policy)... he (Modi) is welcome to apply. All visa decisions are made on a case by case basis, and I'm not going to prejudge it here," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told media persons at her daily news conference.
The use of unmanned aircrafts in the fight against terrorism is "legal, ethical and wise", the White House has said, defending the decision of the Obama administration to use drones as a key tool against Al Qaeda terrorists. "We have acknowledged that sometimes we use remotely piloted aircraft to conduct targeted strikes against specific Al Qaeda terrorists in order to prevent attacks on the United States and to save American lives," White House Press Secy Jay Carney said.
"India requires sustained high-level attention, but also a structured US approach to the bilateral relationship. This approach needs to accurately judge how much US and Indian interests will converge and how best to manage the tone of political and diplomatic engagement," a report released by Asia Society said.
President Barack Obama has the power to order a pre-emptive cyber strike if the United States detects credible evidence of a major digital attack against it from abroad, a secret legal review has concluded amid increased cyberattacks on American firms and critical infrastructure.
The woman in question is a young Mumbai-based cake designer.
United States needs to successfully manage its relationship with emerging powers like India and China, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said and insisted that the Obama administration's shift of military, diplomatic and commercial assets to Asia is not to "contain" Beijing.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has worked for weeks to prepare speeches and the Congress' Jaipur Declaration. "This is the Obama moment of the Congress, where the party is re-energised with the rise of young leadership," he said.
'A unified Hindu votebank -- the creation of the largest and most reliable votebank in Indian politics, ever,' says Mihir S Sharma.
The United States is working with India to deepen defence co-operation as part of its new rebalancing strategy in Asia which is not aimed at containing China, a top Pentagon official has said.
United States President Barack Obama will spend the Election Day in his hometown of Chicago, playing basketball with friends and giving a dozen satellite interviews in several battleground states.
'It is important to recognise that insourcing, outsourcing, supply chain complexity, supply chain disaggregation is here to stay'
The 135th annual White House Easter Egg Roll saw more than 30,000 people visiting the South Lawn for games, stories, and, of course, the traditional egg roll.
