New York: The US military has decided that none of its soldiers involved in a NATO airstrike in November last year that had killed 24 Pakistani soldiers will face disciplinary charges, an incident that had plunged the bilateral ties to a new low. A second inquiry to determine whether any American military personnel should be held accountable for the incident concluded that the Americans fired in self-defence and should not...
11:16 AM, Mar 26, 2012
Miranshah: The Pakistan Taliban will attack lawmakers if they decide to re-open NATO supply routes to Afghanistan, the militant group's spokesman said on Sunday, a threat likely to complicate efforts to mend severely strained relations between the United States and Pakistan. "If the parliament decides to restore NATO supplies, we will attack parliamentarians and their overlords," Ehsanullah Ehsan, spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) told Reuters. The US needs Pakistani...
03:07 AM, Mar 26, 2012
Dera Ismail Khan: The Taliban have threatened to attack Pakistani lawmakers and their families if they support allowing NATO to resume shipping supplies through the country to troops in Afghanistan. Pakistan closed its Afghan border crossings to NATO in November in retaliation for American airstrikes that accidentally killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan's parliament is scheduled to begin debate on Monday on a revised relationship with the US that could lead...
07:39 PM, Mar 25, 2012
Seattle: Two US senators are asking Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate whether employers asking for Facebook passwords during job interviews are violating federal law, their offices announced Sunday. Troubled by reports of the practice, Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said they are calling on the Department of Justice and the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to launch investigations. The senators are sending...
07:25 PM, Mar 25, 2012
Washington: US President Barack Obama would meet Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in South Korea next week, the White House said on Friday. The meeting scheduled for March 27 is the highest level interaction between the leaders of the two countries after the November 26 incident last year in which 24 Pak soldiers were killed due to a NATO cross border...
12:14 AM, Mar 24, 2012
Mali: Soldiers looted Mali's presidential palace hours after they declared a coup on Thursday, suspending the constitution and dissolving the institutions of one of the few established democracies in this troubled corner of Africa. The whereabouts of the country's 63-year-old president Amadou Toumani Toure, who was just one month away from stepping down after a decade in office, could not be confirmed. The soldier heading the group of putschists said...
05:19 AM, Mar 23, 2012
Washington: The Taliban's suspension of preliminary peace talks is a tactical move reflecting internal tensions, US officials believe, rather than a definitive halt to discussions the White House hopes will bring a peaceful end to the war in Afghanistan. US officials had been bracing themselves for backlash from the militant group following a string of public setbacks that have scandalized and angered Afghans, notably US soldiers' burning of copies of...
01:06 AM, Mar 23, 2012
Washington: India, which is one of the top donors for Afghanistan post 9/11, is poised to play a very important role as the international community prepares to withdraw troops from this war-torn country, a top American commander has told lawmakers. Testifying before a Congressional Committee, General John Allen, Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan told lawmakers on Tuesday that India is not only a major economic donor but...
08:17 AM, Mar 21, 2012
London: Stockpiles of NATO military equipment meant for use against the Taliban are being sold in Pakistan's black market, a British media report said. Stolen military-issue knives, Kevlar bulletproof vests, tool kits, flares, first aid sets and even official stationery are on sale in Pakistan, the Daily Express reported. According to the report, in Pakistan's Karkhano market in Peshawar city, near Afghan border, merchants display masses of camouflage clothing and...
12:01 PM, Mar 18, 2012
Washington: The US Army identified the soldier implicated in the massacre of 16 villagers in Afghanistan this week as Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, and said he arrived on Friday at a Kansas base where he will be held in a solitary cell. Bales, a four-tour veteran, is suspected of walking off his base in southern Afghanistan on Sunday and gunning down the 16 civilians, including nine children and three women,...
08:04 AM, Mar 18, 2012
Kabul: The US and the Afghan governments should work together for an early handover of security responsibility, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has said. According to a Karzai office statement, the Afghan president told visiting US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta Thursday that "both sides should work together for a security handover from international forces to Afghan troops to take place by 2013 instead of 2014". "The Afghan government is ready to...
05:01 AM, Mar 16, 2012
Kabul: President Hamid Karzai called for NATO troops to leave Afghan villages and confine themselves to major bases after the slaughter of 16 civilians by an American soldier, underscoring fury over the massacre and clouding US exit plans. In a near-simultaneous announcement, the Afghan Taliban said it was suspending nascent peace talks with the United States that had been seen as a strong chance to end the country's decade-long conflict,...
02:39 AM, Mar 16, 2012
Kandahar: The massacre of 16 villagers by a US soldier triggered angry calls from Afghans for an immediate American exit even as the Obama administration vowed on Monday that the killings would not alter US plans for the war. Just days before Sunday's attack, Kabul and Washington had made significant progress in negotiations on a strategic partnership agreement that would allow American advisers and special forces to stay in Afghanistan...
05:17 AM, Mar 13, 2012
Washington: President Barack Obama on Sunday called his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai to express shock over the killing of 16 civilians, mostly women and children in Kandahar by a US soldier and assured him to hold fully accountable anyone responsible, the White House has said. "President Obama extended his condolences to the people of Afghanistan, and made clear his Administration's commitment to establish the facts as quickly as possible and...
10:10 AM, Mar 12, 2012
Kabul: Demonstrators hurled grenades at a US base in northern Afghanistan, and a gun battle left two Afghans dead and seven NATO troops injured Sunday in the escalating crisis over the burning of Muslim holy books at an American airfield. More than 30 people have been killed, including four US troops, in six days of unrest. Still, the top US diplomat in Afghanistan said the violence would not change Washington's...
08:25 AM, Feb 27, 2012
Kabul: Two American officers were shot dead at close range in Afghanistan's Interior Ministry on Saturday, a US official said, as rage gripped the country for a fifth day over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base. NATO recalled all staff working at ministries in the Afghan capital, Kabul, following the attack, with its top commander in Afghanistan calling the killer a coward. "For obvious force...
07:52 AM, Feb 26, 2012
Kabul: At least 15 people have died in violence over the past three days in Afghanistan following reports of burning holy Quran by foreign soldiers. Afghans in various provinces staged demonstrations that entered its third day on Thursday. At least 15 people died and dozens of others were injured in clashes with police, Xinhua reported. The protests erupted on Tuesday in Bagram, the main US military base 50 km from...
05:17 AM, Feb 24, 2012
Kabul: Clashes between Afghan troops and protesters angry over the burning of Muslim holy books at a US military base left at least seven people dead and dozens wounded on Wednesday as anger spread despite US apologies over what it said was a mistake. The demonstrations across four eastern provinces illustrated the intensity of Afghans' anger at what they saw as foreign forces flouting their laws and insulting their culture....
01:49 AM, Feb 23, 2012
Kabul: The US apologised on Tuesday for the burning of Muslim holy books that had been pulled from the shelves of a detention center library adjoining a major base in eastern Afghanistan because they contained extremist messages or inscriptions. The White House echoed military officials in saying that the burning of Qurans and other Islamic reading material that had been tossed in a pile of garbage was an accident. But...
11:31 AM, Feb 22, 2012
Kabul: The US apologised on Tuesday for the burning of Muslim holy books that had been pulled from the shelves of a detention center library adjoining a major base in eastern Afghanistan because they contained extremist messages or inscriptions. The White House echoed military officials in saying that the burning of Qurans and other Islamic reading material that had been tossed in a pile of garbage was an accident. But...
05:29 AM, Feb 22, 2012
