US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen expressed his concern over the ‘unintended consequences’ of an attack on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Speaking during a joint press conference with Defence Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon, Adm Mullen said Iran’s path towards building of a nuclear weapon was an overarching concern from all the countries he visited. Those countries include Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “I worry a lot about the unintended consequences of any sort of military action. For now, the diplomatic and the economic levers of international power are, and ought to be, the levers first pulled.” Both the men said that though the Afghan war is going on a slow pace, however, they added that it was not affecting the US Afghan policy.
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US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen expressed his concern over the ‘unintended consequences’ of an attack on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Speaking during a joint press conference with Defence Secretary Robert Gates at the Pentagon, Adm Mullen said Iran’s path towards building of a nuclear weapon was an overarching concern from all the countries he visited. Those countries include Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. “I worry a lot about the unintended consequences of any sort of military action. For now, the diplomatic and the economic levers of international power are, and ought to be, the levers first pulled.” Both the men said that though the Afghan war is going on a slow pace, however, they added that it was not affecting the US Afghan policy.
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Top Sunni militant leader Abdolmalek Rigi, accused of masterminding a series of deadly bombings and killings, has been apprehended in Iran.
According to Tehran based TV channel, Rigi has been arrested in the east of the country. Rigi heads a shadowy Sunni militant group called Jundallah (Army of God) which has been accused by Iranian officials of carrying out several attacks in the Sistan-Balochistan province. Iran accused that Rigi has close links with a terrorist outfit al-Qaeda besides it did have the backing of US and UK., while both the countries denied the allegations.

MUNICH: Foreign Minister Zalmay Rasul said ties were improving with Pakistan and curbing terrorism and militancy is a difficult task.

In an interview with foreign news agency, improving ties with neighboring countries is top priority of Afghan government. Terrorism issue could not be resolved without mutual efforts among the countries of the region.

“We are in the phase of trust-building, confidence-building between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” he said.

He said a secure, peaceful and democratic Afghanistan was no threat to Pakistan. “The Pakistan too was suffering militant violence.

“So we have started a deep strategic discussion and we will continue to do it.It is a beginning,” Rasul said.

Afghanistan will not pay bribes to persuade Taliban footsoldiers to stop fighting, but will help them to reintegrate into Afghan society and find jobs, Zalmay added.

President Barack Obama said that China would be constantly pressurized to get its markets open for trade with the US besides making it respect the trade accords.
Obama told Democrat senators that he would put ‘constant pressure’ on China and other countries to abide by the trade accords, however he ruled out taking of protectionist stance towards China, warning that ‘to close ourselves off from that market would be a mistake’. Tension between the US and China mounted over arms sales to Taiwan. Relations have also been strained by reports of Chinese cyber attacks on US-run websites and a planned visit to the US by the Dalai Lama. Earlier, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman warned Obama that meeting the Tibetan spiritual leader would further erode ties.

Chidambaram to Visit Pakistan on Feb. 20, Indian Home Minister Chidambaram will come to Pakistan to participate in conference of foreign ministers of SAARC countries to be held on February 20. This will be the first visit of India’s any top official after Mumbai attacks. It is expected that deadlock between both the countries may be ended. The decision of Chidambaram’s participation in SAARC FM’s conference was taken in a meeting of PM Manmohan Singh and Foreign Minister S. M. Krishna. Chidambaram’s visit is of great importance to overcome the tensions between both the nations. SAARC FM’s 3-day conference will start on February 20 in Islamabad. Dialogues between both the countries were suspended after Mumbai attacks. Earlier, Pronab Mukharjee came to Pakistan to participate in composite dialogue.

Lahore, Pakistan :- Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Thursday said that nuclear assets would not be compromised.

Giving details of his meetings with Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan under the Obama administration Richard Holbrooke in the National Assembly, the PM said that he told Holbrooke, “Drone attacks are harmful for us. We are trying to purse America on drone attack issue. It is possible that our stance on drone attack is more rigid than the opposition. We don’t want that Pakistan should rely on aid.”

The Prime Minister said the government has asked America to release Dr. Affia Siddique as soon as possible. He said that Pakistan wants relations with other countries on the basis of equality.

LONDON: A Taliban detainee in Pakistan claims to have information about Osama Bin Laden’s whereabouts in January or February of this year.

His claims cannot be verified but a leading American expert says his account should be investigated.

The detainee claims to have met Osama Bin Laden numerous times before 9/11.

He told British Broadcast that earlier this year he met a trusted contact that had seen Bin Laden 15 to 20 days earlier across the border in Afghanistan.

“In 2009, in January or February I met this friend of mine. He said he had come from meeting Sheikh Osama, and he could arrange for me to meet him,” he said.

According to the detainee, his contact is a Mehsud tribesman, responsible for getting al-Qaeda operatives based abroad to meetings with Bin Laden.

“He helps al-Qaeda people coming from other countries to get to the sheikh, so he can advise them on whatever they are planning for Europe or other places.

“The sheikh doesn’t stay in any one place. That guy came from Ghazni, so I think that’s where the sheikh was.”

Obama Afghanistan Speech updates :- Al Qaeda wants to occupy Pakistani nukes: Obama.

US President Barack Obama says that success in Afghanistan is linked to Pakistan. Obama made an announcement to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan and said that Al Qaeda wants to occupy Pakistan’s nukes.

Obama maintained that Pakistan faced the biggest threat from militancy. Announcing the new Afghan Policy Obama observed that US didn’t want to occupy any country but would fight for the safety of other countries and its own. “Security situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan is not satisfactory and Al Qaeda is plotting new attack. US is forced to stay and fight in Afghanistan and can not pull out its troops from there at this stage,” he added. Obama told that US troops’ pull out from Afghanistan would start after 18months, adding that US was ready to negotiate with Taliban who are ready to surrender. US President said that Pakistani people should know that US was the biggest supporter of their security and wanted a strong democracy there. “America has given the maximum aid for IDPs. We don’t want confrontation with Islamic countries,” he explained.

Obama Afghanistan Speech time

CAPE TOWN: South African Football Association President Kirsten Nematendani said on Wednesday the arrival of the FIFA World Cup 2010 trophy in South Africa was another step towards the country hosting the first tournament on African soil.

The solid gold trophy has toured almost all the countries in Africa since September and arrived from Lesotho on Tuesday amid tight security at Cape Town International Airport.

2010 Organising Committee CEO Danny Jordaan said the trophy represented the hope of all the teams competing for glory and spells the end of doubt in South Africa’s ability to host the tournament.