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Posts published in “Day: February 16, 2016

Tasked With Combating Opium, Afghan Officials Profit From It By AZAM AHMED in The NY Times, Feb 16, 2016

GARMSIR, Afghanistan — The United States spent more than $7 billion in the past 14 years to fight the runaway poppy production that has made Afghan opium the world’s biggest brand. Tens of billions more went to governance programs to stem corruption and train a credible police force. Countless more dollars and thousands of lives were lost on the main thrust of the war: to put the Afghan government in charge of district centers and…

Abduction mystery: edit in Daily Times, Feb 16, 2016

The government of Kabul has expressed deep concern over the abduction of former Afghanistan governor Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, who was kidnapped on February 12 from a marketplace in Islamabad where he came to do some shopping with his grandson. After two days of the incident on February 14, Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistan’s envoy to Kabul and condemned the incident. Kabul urged Pakistan to make all-out efforts for an early recovery of the Afghan politician.…

Dozens of militants killed in Afghanistan operation

KHYBER AGENCY:  Over 30 militants, including commanders from Khyber Agency, were killed in military action in Afghanistan on Monday. Official sources were unable to confirm the toll till the filing of this report. Sources in the tribal areas told The Express Tribune that at least 10 of the militants killed belonged to banned group Lashkar-e-Islam, while one was from the Islamic State also known as Da’ish. TTP bases in Afghanistan: Evidence mounts on Afghan origin…

China Favours Flexibility in Managing Yuan: By Lingling Wei & Carloyn Cui in The Wall St Journal, Feb 15, 2016 ay 8.47pm ET

Beijing/New York:  China’s yuan had its biggest jump against the dollar in more than a decade on Monday, as Beijing keeps markets off guard with a shifting approach to managing its currency. The central bank is keeping its options open, swinging between its pledge to attach the yuan’s value to the currencies of its major trading partners and, when that works against it, repegging it to the dollar. Since mid-January, the People’s Bank of China…

Public opinion may alter China’s NK policy: Editorial in The Global Times, Feb 16, 2016

As the North Korean nuclear issue has turned pressing and perplexing, China can feel mounting pressure and growing challenges. The Chinese public is paying increased attention to the issue and holds unprecedentedly complicated attitudes toward Pyongyang. What informs their views includes the traditional China-North Korea friendship, North Korea as China’s buffer state, Pyongyang’s repeated nuclear tests regardless of Beijing’s opposition and alleged human rights abuses. A growing number of Chinese, both elites and the general…

Officials used Spring Festival holidays for bribery: discipline watchdog Report in The Global Times, Feb 16, 2016

Beijing:  Some Chinese officials used the lunar new year celebrations as an excuse to bribe people, China’s discipline watchdog said on Monday. Officials tried to give presents to their superiors in novel ways, avoiding dining at restaurants and instead going to “private places,” according to cases revealed by discipline inspection agencies. Chinese people traditionally give “red envelopes” to friends and relatives, especially minors, during Special Festival, or Chinese lunar new year, hoping to bring good…

China’s top legislature prepares for NPC annual session: report in The Global Times, Feb 16, 2016

Beijing: The Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) will convene its bimonthly meeting from Feb. 24 to 26, to prepare for the annual congress session next month. Key tasks at the meeting will include discussing an agenda for the fourth annual session of the 12th NPC, and a work report of the NPC Standing Committee to be submitted for review during the session, said a statement issued after the meeting of chairman and…

Blessings of Saudi Arabia — I : op-ed by Tahir Ali in Daily Times, Feb 16, 2016

The writer is a research fellow at Charles Darwin University, Australia. Saudi Arabia is the Muslim heartland by virtue of its status as birthplace of Islam, land of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and the site of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Saudi Arabia emerged as a new Muslim leader and since then it has been enjoying great respect among the Muslim ummah (community) around the globe.…

Saudi pressure: by MOEED YUSUF in Dawn, February 16th, 2016

The writer is a foreign policy expert based in Washington, DC. THAT Pakistan has thus far managed to steer clear of the fires in the Middle East is no less than a miracle. The Pakistani government dodged the Saudi request for direct involvement in Yemen last year. But this pressure will sustain. The reason is simple: there is no other Muslim country that has deep links with key Arab regimes and can be coerced to…

‘Northern Thunder’, A foreign policy blunder: edit in Pakistan Today,, February 15, 2016

First we were told that Pakistan is only training the Saudi forces. Then, Pakistan is only sharing intelligence with the Saudis. Now Pakistan is taking part in a military exercise with aggressive designs towards Syria. Step by step, gradually but unmistakably, the country is being put on a path that leads to the quagmire of the ongoing war in the Gulf. Earlier, Saudi Arabia spearheading a coalition of nine Arab states, began carrying out airstrikes…

Pakistan agrees to take part in Saudi-led drill: report in The Express Tribune, February 16th, 2016.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday confirmed its participation in a ‘multi-national exercise’ on counter-terrorism being held in Saudi Arabia a day after Riyadh announced that it was holding ‘largest, most important military maneuvers’ ever staged in the region. In a statement the Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said given Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s close fraternal ties, the two countries have cooperated in the field of defence for the past many decades. “This includes military exercises and…