PESHAWAR: Two Pakistani nationals were killed in a bomb blast in Laalpura district in Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday An improvised explosive device went off on the armed opponents in a mosque in Sada area in Laalpura district, leaving two Pakistani nationals dead, Nangarhar police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal told Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). He said two Afghan nationals were injured in the incident, he said, adding, that they were involved in…
Posts published in “Day: September 16, 2016”
The writer is an Islamabad-based freelance journalist Henry Kissinger, storied academic and secretary of state to US presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, is arguably the finest political brain of his generation. In 2014 at the ripe old age of 91, Kissinger published his magisterial tome World Order, a peerless peek at history tracing the evolution of the incumbent international system of rules from pre-Westphalian Europe to the global response to militant Islamic extremism over…
Pakistan’s importance to the United States has been one that has adopted many forms in light of changing conditions. So when the former CIA station chief in Islamabad, Robert L Grenier said in his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the US that the lawmakers should take into account US long term interests in Pakistan that dwarf those in Afghanistan, he was talking about one such possible shift. With India and China on…
WASHINGTON: United States lawmakers were warned at a congressional hearing that sanctioning Pakistan or declaring it a state sponsor of terrorism could backfire. A transcript released on Sunday shows a lively debate on the issue at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which held a hearing on US-Pakistan relations. In his opening statement, the committee’s chairman Senator Bob Corker expressed frustration with Pakistan’s alleged lack of cooperation in defeating militant groups still active in neighbouring…
CARACAS—China spent much of the last decade building a strategic alliance with Venezuela, a country that sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves and was led by a socialist president, the late Hugo Chávez, who admired Mao Zedong and wanted to counter U.S. influence in Latin America. These days, confronted with a pile of unpaid bills and increasing security headaches for its citizens and companies in Venezuela, China appears to be recalculating its alliance with…
(Cathy Holcombe is a Hong Kong based financial writer) Chinese President Xi Jinping has been compared to Mikhail Gorbachev – because of China’s stepped-up privatisation of state assets – and to Mao Zedong, on the back of Xi’s tendency towards personality cult and repression. Here’s another comparison worth considering: Xi and Mother Teresa. Ok, sure, this connection is less obvious. Mother Teresa is a Catholic nun who was this month elevated to sainthood, for her…
The toppling of acting Tianjin Communist Party boss and former Politburo contender Huang Xingguo could unleash a power struggle as forces vie for the coveted spot at the top ahead of next year’s reshuffle, analysts say. Graft-busters announced late on Saturday that Huang, 61, was suspected of “serious violations of discipline”, a term that usually refers to corruption. Huang’s fall means that a key municipality under the central government is simultaneously without a party chief…
ISLAMABAD: South Asia appears to be on the cusp of a strategic realignment, though nobody is ready to talk about it candidly. Pakistan and Russia are set to hold their first-ever joint military exercises later this year, officials and diplomatic sources said on Sunday. Not only that, Islamabad is also considering purchase of advanced Russian warplanes. The joint military drill is seen as another step in growing military-to-military cooperation, indicating a steady growth in bilateral…
TEHRAN – Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency says the Revolutionary Guard has killed four militants along the eastern border with Pakistan. The Sunday report says the Guard clashed with a nine-member cell of the Jaish al-Adl militant group last week, killing four of them, including their leader. Last week, Guard forces wounded two militants in clashes near the border and confiscated weapons and ammunition. Security forces often clash with drug traffickers in the area, which…
ISLAMABAD: Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada has asked his followers to “enforce Sharia and good governance” in areas under their control. “During the initial years of occupation, our obligation was to combat against the enemy but now as we have control over many areas of the country, it is time we should reap the fruit of the 15 year-long jihad and implement objectives of jihad,” the Taliban leader said in his Eidul Azha message.…