WASHINGTON: The United States has said it is time for Pakistan to demonstrate fully its willingness to assist America in achieving its core counterterrorism goals . “It is time for Pakistan to demonstrate fully that it is willing to assist the US in its core counterterrorism goals in the region,” a senior administration official told reporters during a conference call. Unlike in ...

KABUL: The Special Charge d’Affaires of the US Embassy in Kabul Ambassador Hugo Llorens has said the United States will take steps against the supporters of the Taliban group. In a statement released after the announcement of the US strategy for South Asia, Ambassador Llorens said “At the core of this commitment, we will continue to support Afghan forces in ...

President Donald Trump cleared the way for the deployment of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan on Monday, backtracking from his promise to swiftly end America’s longest war, while pillorying ally Pakistan for offering safe haven to “agents of chaos”. In his first formal address to the nation as commander-in-chief, Trump discarded his previous criticism of the 16-year-old war as a ...

The US President Donald Trump has confirmed that decisions have been made on Afghanistan during the meeting with the Generals and military leaders on Friday. “Important day spent at Camp David with our very talented Generals and military leaders. Many decisions made, including on Afghanistan,” Trump said in a Twitter post. No further details have been given regarding the decisions ...

The US President Donald Trump’s administration has once again criticized Pakistan for the selective fight against the terror groups, warning that President Trump will not tolerate support to Taliban or related groups. In an interview with the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, President Trump’s national security adviser, Gen. Herbert McMaster said  White House wants to see a “change in behavior” ...

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday announced nominating his envoy to Turkey John R Bass as his next ambassador to Afghanistan. A career foreign service official, Bass has been the US Ambassador to Turkey since 2014. The Senate needs to confirm his nomination. An American diplomat since 1988, Bass also served as US Ambassador to Georgia from 2009 to 2012. ...

The United States has once again accused Pakistan of not taking significant action against the militant outfits and accusing them of operating from “Pakistan-based safe havens” to threaten the US and Afghan forces in Afghanistan. The US State Department, in its annual “Country Reports on Terrorism 2016” released on Wednesday, said Islamabad has failed to take significant action to constrain ...

WASHINGTON: The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2018, as passed by the US House of Representatives on Friday, requires the defense secretary to provide an Afghan strategy beyond five years. “It directs the secretary of defense to provide an Afghanistan strategy that will look beyond the next five years to describe the trajectory of US efforts in Afghanistan and assess the timeline ...

ISLAMABAD: Peace will elude Afghanistan and the region at large without the involvement of Pakistan, a leading American lawmaker has acknowledged. McCain, a former US presidential runner and head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said during a visit to Islamabad on Sunday. “We will not have peace in the region without Pakistan.” After meetings with Pakistan’s foreign policy advisor Sartaj Aziz, and ...

The President Donald Trump administration will close the office of the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, it has been reported. According to the Wall Street Journal, quoting informed US sources, the office will be absorbed into the larger State Department division responsible for South and Central Asia. The officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said the acting US ...