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Posts published in “Day: May 23, 2016

Drone blowback in Pakistan is a myth. Here’s why. By Aqil Shah in The Washington Post, May 17, 2016

(The writer is the Wick Cary Assistant Professor of South Asian politics in the College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma and a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) Since 2001, the United States has used armed drones (or unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs) against Islamist militants in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Yemen and Pakistan. Obama administration officials and other proponentsbelieve drones work because they deny terrorists sanctuaries and degrade their…

QCG meeting: EDITORIAL in Dawn, May 20th, 2016

CONVENED after three turbulent months, the fifth meeting of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group was not expected to provide any significant breakthroughs. But when the QCG itself can only agree on hopeful — even wishful — language in the official statement and cannot even announce a date for the next meeting, it would appear that the peace process in Afghanistan is well and truly at an impasse. Yet, given the overall history of the Pak-Afghan relationship,…

Dwindling talks: edit in The News, May 20, 2016

The fifth meeting of the Quadrilateral Crisis Group, consisting of Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and the US was doomed to failure before it even started. Afghanistan decided not to send a delegation to Islamabad for the meeting, instead getting its ambassador to Pakistan to represent them. This was a departure from the previous four summits of the QCG, where each country sent relatively high-level delegations, and is a sure sign that Afghanistan holds out little hope…

So much for the QCG: edit in Pakistan Today, May 20, 2016

If any confirmation was needed that Afghanistan had lost confidence in the QCG it came at the fifth meeting of the Quadrilateral – on Wednesday in Islamabad. Kabul sent its ambassador in Islamabad, Omar Zakhilwal, in place of the usual participant, Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai. And the ambassador minced few words when he spoke. Kabul came with the simple understanding, he said, that if the Taliban didn’t talk they’d be attacked. And since…

Top Afghan army general Abdul Basir Sharwand martyred in Kandahar explosion KHAAMA PRESS – Thu May 19 2016, 8:11 pm

A top Afghan army General Abdul Basir Sharwan was martyred in an explosion southern Kandahar province, the third senior Afghan general martyred in a span of almost 4 months. According to the provincial government media office, Gen. Sharwand, the commander of the 1st Brigade of 205th Atal Corps of Afghan National Army, was martyred while he was on his way following a visit of the Afghan army check posts in Shahwali Kot district. Gen. Sharwan…

Russia ready establish helicopters service center in Afghanistan By KHAAMA PRESS – Fri May 20 2016, 8:59 am

The Russian helicopters company officials have said they are prepared to establish a service center in Afghanistan to provide repair and other technical services to the Afghan Air Force. The Chief Executive Officer of the Russian Helicopters Alexander Mikheev has said the company is also prepared to assist the Afghan Air Force in training the Afghan technical staff and engineers. According to the State-run Sputnik News Agency, Mikheev made the commitment during a meeting with…

QCG Fails To Draw Taliban to Peace Table: Analysts by Sayed Sharif Amiri in Tolo News, May 19, 2016 at 20.23hrs

Political commentators said Thursday that the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) has so far failed to achieve a breakthrough in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process in terms of bringing the Taliban to the negotiations tables. The QCG, which involves senior officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, US and China, wrapped up their fifth meeting in Pakistan on Wednesday without any visible signs of progress on the Afghan peace and reconciliation process. As such, Afghan political experts have…

US expects Pakistan to target all terrorists: report in The Nation, May 20, 2016

WASHINGTON – The United States expects that Pakistan would stand by its commitment not to “discriminate” among terrorist groups, a State Department spokesman has said. “Pakistan has said itself that they’re not going to discriminate among terrorist groups, and it’s our expectation that they will continue to meet that pledge,” spokesman John Kirby told reporters at the daily Press briefing on Wednesday. The spokesman was responding to a question about State Department’s assessment of Pakistan’s…

Pakistan may get F-16s by July: experts ANWAR IQBAL in Dawn, May 20th, 2016

WASHINGTON: Defence experts in the US capital believe that Pakistan may get the disputed F-16s by the end of July, despite a strong opposition from American lawmakers. The experts, who spoke to Dawn, said that the Obama administration would ultimately succeed in convincing Congress that it was in America’s interest to enable Pakistan to buy the aircraft. Earlier this year, the Obama administration informed Islamabad that it was ready to sell eight F-16 fighter jets…

US House seeks to tighten restrictions on Pakistan aid: REUTERS report in The News, May 20, 2016

WASHINGTON: U.S. lawmakers are looking to use a defense policy bill to increase restrictions on military aid for Pakistan, expressing frustration with what they see as Islamabad´s failure to crack down on Afghanistan´s militant Haqqani network. The $602 billion National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, passed by the House of Representatives late on Wednesday would block $450 million in aid to Islamabad unless it does more to fight the network, which lawmakers see as a…

Security circus: by AASIM SAJJAD AKHTAR in Dawn, May 20th, 2016

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. A WEEK from tomorrow will mark the 18th anniversary of Nawaz Sharif’s crowning achievement — the Chagai nuclear tests. We hear much these days about ‘development’ in the form of motorways, metro buses and what not but make no mistake — the announcement of Pakistan’s nuclear capability remains the jewel in the PML-N crown. What the Sharifs have called ‘Youm-i-Takbeer’ will be celebrated this year like in the…