Washington: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday said the generous civilian aid to Pakistan would continue despite the uneasy relationship with Islamabad as disengagement with it was not an option for the US.
"As our commanders on the ground will attest, it is critical to our broader strategy that civilian assistance continues in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Disengaging now would undermine our military and political efforts and the national security interests of the US," she said in remarks accompanying a status report on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"The civilian surge in Afghanistan and Pakistan that President (Barack) Obama launched in 2009 to accompany the military surge in Afghanistan has helped advance our goals of defeating al-Qaeda, reversing Taliban's momentum in key areas, and bolstering the economy and civil society of both countries," she said.
"As US troops begin a phased drawdown in Afghanistan as part of the larger plan for transition, our civilian initiatives in both Afghanistan and Pakistan are assuming new importance," she said....
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10:23 PM, Nov 04, 2011
Washington: Even as their killer drones strike at ranking members of the al-Qaeda linked Haqqani network, US officials secretly met leaders of the group this summer in a Persian Gulf country, in an effort to draw them into talks on winding down the war. Though Washington has publicly scorned the group which it has blamed for bringing a new level of violence in the Afghan insurgency, Wall Street Journal said...
02:54 PM, Oct 13, 2011
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar held the US responsible for creating the 'Frankenstein' of terrorism. ...
09:51 AM, Oct 03, 2011
Washington: Pakistan's counter-terrorism measures have failed to yield results in 2011 with insurgent activities gaining ground and operational situation facing the military in the country continuing to deteriorate, US President Barack Obama has informed the Congress. "The return of militant-inspired violence after a four-month lull following the 2010 floods demonstrated how insurgent elements have managed to survive and even return to many areas previously cleared by the Pakistan military," a...
12:00 PM, Oct 02, 2011
Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said the country fights terrorism on the ground on a daily basis. ...
07:59 AM, Oct 01, 2011
Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK Wajid Shamshul Hassan said there is not total breakdown of US-Pakistan relationship. ...
08:24 AM, Sep 30, 2011
London: Pakistan has freed a senior al Qaeda commander who served as a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, a media report said. Amin al-Haq was detained in Lahore three years ago by the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. He had escaped from Afghanistan with the al Qaeda leader in 2001 and went on to become a key financial aide. The ISI had passed al-Haq on to the police before he was...
07:54 AM, Sep 30, 2011
New Delhi: An all-party conference is a rare event in Pakistan, and so the turnout at Thursday's show could be termed a sell out. From current Prime Minister Gilani to ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif - they were all there. The religious parties were also present in force and of course the army chief Gen Kayani generally acknowledged as the orchestrator of this TV primetime event. In tough uncompromising language Gilani...
10:33 PM, Sep 29, 2011
Islamabad: The United States must stop blaming Islamabad for regional instability, Pakistan's prime minister told a gathering of the country's political leaders on Thursday, as Washington stepped up pressure on the South Asian nation to tackle militancy. "The blame game should end, and Pakistan's sensitive national interests should be respected," Yusuf Raza Gilani said in comments carried live on local television stations. Pakistani military officials, who set security and foreign...
08:00 PM, Sep 29, 2011
New Delhi: India is considering allowing in its territory Pakistani banks, and the neighbouring country is set to reciprocate, for strengthening bilateral trade. A common view was expressed by commerce ministers of the two countries at a FICCI meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. "The Reserve Bank of India and State Bank of Pakistan have already discussed this matter and will take the next step," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand...
07:25 PM, Sep 29, 2011
London: Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar is beyond Pakistani control, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf has claimed, describing him as "absolutely obstinate" and semi-literate. Claiming that Pakistan should tell US that it has compulsions of "national interest" in not cracking down on the Haqqani network, Musharraf told Telegraph that Omar was semi-literate and not aware of issues of the world. Apparently indicating that Haqqani terror outfit was Pakistan's safe bet...
07:07 PM, Sep 29, 2011
Washington: General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani is the most powerful man in Pakistan, according to top US military commander Mike Mullen, who said that the Army chief controls the military run ISI, which supports terror groups like Haqqani network and LeT, using them as proxies. Standing by his statement that Haqqani network is the 'veritable arm' of the ISI, Mullen asserted that Pakistan Army uses terror groups like Haqqani network and...
01:53 PM, Sep 29, 2011
Speaking to Fareed Zakaria, Mike Mullen remained firm on his allegations against Pakistan. ...
01:21 PM, Sep 29, 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan's top civilian and military leadership held a nearly two-hour meeting ahead of a crucial conference of political parties convened by the government today to forge national consensus on dealing with mounting tensions with the US. President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani met in the Presidency late on Wednesday night and "reviewed the current issues facing the country", presidential...
01:20 PM, Sep 29, 2011
Washington: The unusual decision of Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, to send a blunt message to Pakistan reflects that bilateral relations are in trouble and likely to deteriorate further, an influential American think tank has said. In a blunt statement, Mullen identified the Haqqani network as "a strategic arm of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency," which thereby made the spy agency complicit in the September...
10:36 AM, Sep 29, 2011
New Delhi: Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will convene an all-party meeting on Thursday to discuss the worsening US-Pakistan relations. Under fire, ISI Chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha, is also expected to brief the political leadership. A rally was staged by schoolchildren in Karachi against the US, who is considered to be the enemy after differences arose between both nations on the relations between the ISI and the Haqqani network....
07:21 AM, Sep 29, 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan has informed the US that it will be forced to retaliate if American forces attempt to launch a unilateral strike on the country's tribal belt that the US has said is a safe haven for Taliban elements, according to a media report on Wednesday. The message was personally delivered by Inter-Services Intelligence powerful chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha to CIA head Gen David Petraeus during the former's...
12:42 PM, Sep 28, 2011
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in her address to the UN also defended her ISI saying it had contributed in eliminating al Qaeda. ...
08:57 AM, Sep 28, 2011
United Nations: India and Pakistan are engaged in a "substantive dialogue process" that Islamabad hopes will be "uninterrupted and uninterruptable" as it looks forward to resolve all outstanding issues like the Kashmir dispute, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Tuesday. "I am happy to note that both Pakistan and India are now engaged in a substantive dialogue process. A dialogue process that we in Pakistan hope will be uninterrupted...
08:19 AM, Sep 28, 2011
Islamabad: Pakistan's prime minister warned the United States on Tuesday to stop accusing it of playing a double game with Islamist militants, and said Washington must correct a perceived tilt towards arch-foe India. Yusuf Raza Gilani also said any unilateral military action by the United States to hunt down militants of the Haqqani network inside Pakistan would be a violation of his country's sovereignty. However, speaking from his office in...
10:17 PM, Sep 27, 2011
