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Posts published in “Day: April 21, 2016

Defence ministry wants bigger slice of budget pie By Shahbaz Rana / Qamar Zaman in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2016.

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Defense has termed the indicative defence budget of Rs860 billion for next fiscal year insufficient, seeking its linkage with threat perception that it said was increasing due to current geo-political situation. Against its current 60% share, the defence ministry also wants to take 100% of the Coalition Support Fund that the United States disburses in return for the country’s services against the war on terrorism. The remaining 40% goes to the…

Kabul bombed again: edit in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2016.

The Taliban recently announced the commencement of their spring offensive in Afghanistan, much to the dismay of those working to cobble together a peace process. They made good — or bad — on their promise on April 19 by detonating a huge IED in the centre of Kabul and followed it up with an invasion of government buildings in the vicinity of the bombing where they, as is customary, fought to the death. The attack…

The latest massacre in Kabul : edit in daily times, Apr 21, 2016

If anyone was in doubt about the barbarity of the Afghan Taliban, the Tuesday’s attack should put an end to that wishful assumption. On the morning of April 19, 2016, a suicide bomber belonging to the Afghan Taliban detonated a vehicle filled with explosives in a private parking lot outside the offices of an elite security force that provides protection to senior government officials. At least 30 people died while more than 300 were wounded…

Taliban suffer heavy casualties in operations led by Gen. Dostum in Jawzjan By KHAAMA PRESS – Wed Apr 20 2016, 10:30 pm

The Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum has returned to the battlefield in northern Jawzjan province as local officials report the Taliban insurgents have suffered heavy casualties. Provincial governor’s spokesman Mohammad Reza Ghafoori said at least 30 Taliban insurgents have been killed and nearly 40 others have sustained injuries during the operations. He said the operations are being conducted in Aqcha district but the Office of the Vice President reported that 5 villages have been…

US drone strikes outnumber warplane attacks for first time in Afghanistan The Guardian, Apr 21, 2016 at 0235 BST

Drones are firing more weapons than conventional warplanes for the first time in Afghanistan and the ratio is rising, previously unreported US Air Force data for 2015 show, underlining how reliant the military has become on unmanned aircraft. The data show strikes by unmanned aircraft accounted for 56% of weapons deployed by the air force in Afghanistan in 2015, up dramatically from 5% in 2011. In the first quarter of 2016, about 300 weapons were…

Afghanistan losing interest in trade links with Pakistan By Peer Muhammad in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2016.

ISLAMABAD: Afghan authorities appear to have lost interest in pushing forward any trade related agreements with Pakistan with the alternative route via Iran close to being finalised. Last week, on April 11, Iran, Afghanistan and India finished negotiating the details of the trilateral transport and transit pact, meant to provide legal framework to operate trade corridors via Iran’s Chabahar port. This development could possibly downgrade Pakistan’s importance from being the primary facilitator of India-Afghanistan trade…

China eyes deeper military ties with Afghanistan

BEIJING: China wants to have deeper military ties with Afghanistan, including counter-terrorism intelligence cooperation and joint drills, a senior Chinese officer told a visiting Afghan envoy. China is working with Pakistan and the United States to broker peace talks to end a Taliban insurgency that has raged for 15 years in Afghanistan, but last month the militants refused to take part. The US-led NATO mission ceased combat operations at the end of 2014, and has…

China exported military drones to 10 nations: report

China has exported military drones to more than 10 countries in deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and plans to sell unmanned craft capable of launching laser-guided bombs, state-run media said Thursday. Chinese drones “have bigger payloads, which means they can carry more weapons” than their competitors, Shi Wen, chief drone designer at the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics, told the China Daily newspaper. Chinese companies dominate the global market for commercial drones, but…

Chinese state media name Xi ‘commander in chief’

BEIJING: Chinese state media unveiled a new title for President Xi Jinping calling him “commander in chief” of the country’s new joint forces battle command centre, as he seeks to consolidate power over the military. State-run Xinhua news agency and state broadcaster CCTV both carried reports in English and Chinese referring to Xi by the new description for the first time after he visited the command centre on Wednesday. As well as president, Xi is…

Timing of Editor’s Firing Has Hong Kong Worried About Press Freedom By MICHAEL FORSYTHE and ALAN WONG in The NY Times, Apr 21, 2016

HONG KONG — A top editor at one of Hong Kong’s most prestigious newspapers was fired on Wednesday after the publication of a front page devoted to a single story: the offshore holdings uncovered by the Panama Papers of some of the city’s tycoons, celebrities and politicians. The Chinese-language paper, Ming Pao, said in a statement with no mention of the editor by name that it was cutting staff because of a “difficult business environment.”…

Is Iran a game-changer: By: Faraz Ahmed in daily times, Apr 21, 2016

The writer is an entrepreneur and analyst Major oil producers from both the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC countries attended the meeting in Doha, capital of Qatar, on Sunday. The 12 members of the OPEC oil producing group, headed by Saudi Arabia, and Russia, Oman and Bahrain, all non-OPEC producers. Mexico, reportedly, participated as an ‘observer’, but the US, a major shale oil producer, and Iran, an emerging power of the…