Pakistan is reportedly calling for a reduction in U.S. drone missile strikes against terrorists sheltering in its tribal border areas, greater transparency from the CIA regarding its counterterrorism activities inside Pakistan, and a reduction in U.S. military trainers in the country. Following a meeting in Washington between the director of …
The recently released Century Foundation International Task Force report on Afghanistan titled “Afghanistan: Negotiating Peace” usefully sketches out the myriad issues surrounding the challenges of seeking an Afghan peace settlement involving the Taliban. However, the report’s call for a “neutral international facilitator” harkens back to the 1990s, when the United …
After spending almost two months in a Lahore jail for killing two Pakistanis, CIA contractor Raymond Davis was released today, ending one of the most serious diplomatic standoffs between Islamabad and Washington in nine years of partnering in the fight against terrorism. Davis was set free after family members of …
According to the latest news, India has successfully tested two nuclear-capable short-range ballistic missiles. New Delhi is developing a range of missiles to improve its strategic capabilities against neighboring Pakistan (with whom it has fought three wars) and China (with whom it fought a brief border war in 1962). Pakistan …
Today’s murder of Pakistani Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti by religious extremists establishes a pattern of growing religious intolerance. It is undermining Pakistan’s struggling democracy by shutting down free speech and political expression in the name of a ruthless ideology disguised as religion. The murderers left pamphlets at the scene …
In the midst of a tense bilateral dispute between the U.S. and Pakistan over the case of Raymond Davis—an American Embassy employee who shot and killed two armed Pakistanis in what he claims was self-defense—civil society leaders from both countries met in Lahore, Pakistan, February 17-19. The initiative, dubbed the …
This week, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, who is also vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), which oversees the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), met with General Khalid Wynne, Chairman of Pakistan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. The meetings, and associated announcements, underscore the close security relationship between …
Compared to the U.S.–China joint statement in 2009, this year’s joint statement issued at the summit between Presidents Barack Obama and Hu Jintao contains no mention of improving U.S.–China “communication, dialogue, and cooperation on issues related to South Asia.” India objected strenuously to the language in the 2009 joint statement, …
The international community has been shocked and sickened by reaction in Pakistan to the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer. Support for the Governor’s murderer was found not only within the religious parties but also from lawyers, parts of the media, and even some politicians from the mainstream political parties. …
In a twisted response to the devastating assassination of Pakistani Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, several hundred Pakistani clerics and so-called “scholars” signed a statement condoning the slaying and warning Pakistanis against grieving the death of the Governor. Adding insult to injury, several of the country’s clerics refused to lead funeral …
