PESHAWAR: The Obama administration has asked the Taliban to engage in a peace process and ultimately become a legitimate part of the political system of a sovereign and united Afghanistan. State Department spokesman John Kirby issued the call days after the militant movement refused to enter a reconciliation dialogue with the government of President Ashraf Ghani. Instead of continuing to ...

WASHINGTON: The United States on Sunday warned the Taliban to either join the peace process or face the onslaught of American and Afghan forces.  “The Taliban have a choice:  to join good-faith negotiations for peace, or continue to fight a war in which they are killing their fellow Afghans and destroying their country,” a State Department spokesman told Pajhwok Afghan News.  “If they choose ...

WASHINGTON: Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump on Thursday favored American troops staying in Afghanistan because its neighbor Pakistan has nuclear weapons, which needs to be secured.  “I think you have to stay in Afghanistan for a while, because of the fact that you’re right next to Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons, and we have to protect that. Nuclear weapons change the ...

WASHINGTON: Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton moved closer to winning their parties’ nominations with a series of victories in the Super Tuesday elections, the biggest day of the primary campaign. Clinton and Trump each won seven of 11 state races as they distanced themselves from party rivals and looked ahead to a November presidential election showdown. Clinton’s opponent, ...

WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Monday made public the final batch of emails taken from a private server which former secretary of state Hillary Clinton controversially used during her time in office. Clinton will hope the release will quiet the furore over her decision to spurn a government email account, but federal investigators are still probing whether her home-brew ...

WASHINGTON: The ongoing military operation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) forced the Haqqani network to relocate, said US Secretary of State John Kerry while defending the Obama administration’s decision to sell eight F-16 aircraft to Pakistan. The network’s presence in Fata was used as the main argument against the proposed sale during a congressional hearing on Tuesday. “They ...

WASHINGTON: The wife of an American held hostage in Pakistan has accused the Obama administration of not doing anything to help free her husband. In an interview to CBS, Elaine Weinstein recalled “the harrowing negotiations with her husband’s kidnappers in Pakistan and her anger that the US government didn’t do enough”. The interview, which would be broadcast on Sunday, was ...

WASHINGTON: The United States expressed concern on Friday over the security of Pakistan’s tactical nuclear weapons. The statement followed the US announcement about its intention to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan. At a State Department news briefing, Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said that tensions between India and Pakistan were equally worrying and urged the two nations to continue their ...

WASHINGTON: In a strong message, US president Barack Obama told Pakistan on Sunday that it “can and must” take more effective action against terrorist groups operating from its soil by “delegitimising, disrupting and dismantling” terror networks there. Describing the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot as “another example of the inexcusable terrorism that India has endured for too ...

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama, tackling one of the most vexing foreign policy challenges of his presidency, vowed a robust campaign to “take out” the militant Islamic State (IS) group in his final State of the Union address. He chastised Republicans for “over the top claims” about the extremist group’s power in his final State of the Union address on Tuesday. ...