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.
The United States has hoped that the major diplomatic row over the arrest of the Indian Deputy Consul General in New York will not affect bilateral ties with India. In a major diplomatic embarrassment to India, 39-year-old Devyani Khobragade, a 1999-batch IFS officer, was taken into custody on Thursday as she was dropping her daughter to school and handcuffed in public on visa fraud charges before being released on a USD 250,000 bond after pleading not guilty.
Underlining that it cannot take action against Lashkar-e-Tayyiba founder Hafeez Saeed in the absence of concrete proof, Pakistan on Thursday said that even the United States does not possess any evidence linking the Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief to terrorism.
Kirby's remark comes a day after Saeed had reportedly said that the United States is the real enemy of Pakistan.
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.
US is putting in effort to reduce dependency on Iranian oil
The United States is providing relief material and aid to the flood affected people of Pakistan following an appeal in this regard from Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani, a US official has said.
Investigators from the United States on Thursday concluded a two-week long counter-terrorism programme at the Indian Detective Training School at Chandigarh on the identification and seizure of digital evidence. The training, organised jointly by the US embassy and the home ministry, was imparted by instructors from the US State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security under its Antiterrorism Assistance programme.
The former Central Intelligence Agency director, was confirmed by the Senate by 57-42 votes. He replaced Rex Tillerson, who was fired by US President Donald Trump last month.
The fundamental challenge to United States-India strategic cooperation is China, says Daniel Markey, senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he specialises in security and governance issues in the subcontinent.
Expressing gratification over the lifting of travel curbs imposed on former envoy to the United States Husain Haqqani by the Pakistan's apex court, Washington has said that it wants to see him "treated fairly".
The United States on Tuesday designated a top Pakistan-based Haqqani network commander, Mali Khan, as a foreign terrorist and slapped financial sanctions against him, aimed at crippling the finances to the dreaded outfit.
Terming Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's scheduled visit to India as "very constructive", the United States has said it does not want any new strains in Indo-Pak ties over the $ 10 million bounty offered by it for Lashkar-e-Tayyiba founder Hafiz Saeed.
Pompeo would leave for New Delhi on June 24.
As US State Department on Wednesday posted a new map of India reflecting its long standing official position on the country's geographical boundaries, its spokesman acknowledged of having made a "goof up" in this regard, which had resulted in a strong objection from New Delhi.
Triggering a fresh controversy, the US State Department has now posted a new map of India which reflects the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir with dotted lines, thereby projecting it as a disputed territory.
Welcoming the strategic partnership agreement between India and Afghanistan, the United States on Wednesday asserted that there was no reason for uneasiness or apprehension by Pakistan's leadership on this.
The Obama administration continued to tighten the noose around the Pakistan-based, Inter Services Intelligence-supported terrorist organisation, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba -- responsible for the horrific 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks -- by sanctioning two of its leaders and founding members Zafar Iqbal and Hafiz Abdul Salam Bhuttavi.
A federal United States court has dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, noting he is immune from lawsuits as a sitting Head of State. Dismissing the case on Thursday, the US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said that Rajapaksa has immunity as head of the State.
Japan was the only nation that had any serious inkling as India was preparing for its maiden nuclear test under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in May 1974 in Pokhran, according to a recently declassified Intelligence Community Staff post-mortem posted by the National Security Archive and the Nuclear Proliferation International History Project
India needs to take note of China's assertiveness in implementing its national security law as also its recently exhibited sensitivity to criticism of Xi Jinping by the Indian media, says former senior R&AW officer and China expert Jayadeva Ranade.
Terming the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir as an important achievement, classified United States documents released by Wikileaks revealed that Washington was keen on 'preserving' the truce by denouncing the violations carried out by Pakistani troops.
The US president said that there is a lot of "dislike" (between India and Pakistan).
The United States on Tuesday evacuated nearly 90 Americans from Yemen, while the Britain has withdrawn all diplomatic staff in the country amid a worldwide terror alert linked to electronic intercepts from Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, ordering a major attack since 9/11.
The United States underlined that $ 10 million bounty for Lashkar-e-Tayyiba founder Hafiz Seed is not about finding his location, but to seek information that can convict the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in a court of law.
Meet Stuti Jalan who hails from an industrial town in Orissa and runs a successful public relations company today.
"We made a goof up and we fixed it and we're now back in compliance with our own cartographical policy," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told media persons at her daily news conference.
Pakistan's new envoy to the United States, Sherry Rehman, is set to reach Washington on January 9 to occupy the position that was vacated by Husain Haqqani after he was linked to the Memogate scandal.
Both Mahinda Rajapaksa and Modi have learnt from their past mistakes. Modi has understood that Rajapaksa is a 'forever politician' that India has to live with, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee met United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon to discuss bilateral and regional issues.
Officials said Umar Mansour, alias Umar Naray, had been killed in the US drone attack in the Bandar area of Afghanistan's Nangarhar province on Saturday.
The managing director of the IMF, doubtless, had diplomatic immunity, but it became irrelevant, while Krittika's immunity was in question, but her humiliation stood condemned. Former ambassador TP Sreenivasan offers an insight into the world of diplomatic immunity
'Pakistan is determined to garner the peace dividends.' 'On the diplomatic front, this will be, principally, in terms of a revival of Pakistan's relations with the US,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Four militant groups, including India focussed Lashkar-e-Tayiba, receives covert support from Pakistan's influential army and "no amount of money" from America will change the policy, according to a newspaper report on Wednesday.
On his maiden trip to India as the Deputy Secretary of State -- the most powerful position in the US State Department after the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton -- Burns visit is reflective of the high-level engagement between the two countries in the aftermath of the Bali meet between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President Barack Obama.
"We have taken the map down off the website. It did contain some inaccuracies which were associated with the boundaries of some geographic features," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said at her daily news conference.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has had "two conversations" over the "last two days" with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on this issue, even as India explores a range of diplomatic options to isolate Islamabad.
The visit of the Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to Kabul was good and well timed, the United States has said even as it awaited the details of the trip from the two countries.
India on Friday reacted sharply to the United States State Department's remarks on Anna Hazare, who plans to launch hunger strike against corruption next week, saying the utterances are "needless".
Controversial Pakistani-American businessman Mansoor Ijaz has said he had been assured by the US of its support during his upcoming visit to Pakistan to testify before a judicial panel probing the memo scandal.
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