Ex-defence secretary takes over as CVC today

July 13, 2011 By

NEW DELHI: Pradeep Kumar, the outgoing defence secretary and the next Chief Vigilance Commissioner, says corruption remains a very major challenge and would have to be dealt at all levels.

Kumar will be sworn in as the CVC on Thursday, almost four months after PJ Thomas's appointment was quashed by the Supreme Court because of a pending chargesheet against him. The President will administer the oath of office to the 62-year-old IAS officer at Rashtrapati Bhavan at 11 am, officials said.

“Corruption is a very major challenge,” Kumar said on Wednesday, discussing the challenges of heading the country's anti-corruption watchdog at a time when a spirited debate over several scandals and the efficacies of the present anti-corruption mechanisms has gripped the nation.

Kumar, a Haryana cadre IAS officer who was set to complete his mandated two-year term as defence secretary on July 31, was unanimously chosen as the next CVC by a panel comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, home minister P Chidambaram and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj. He will have a tenure of little over three years.

Meanwhile, PJ Thomas on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court demanding a stay on the appointment of Kumar. Through his writ petition, Thomas sought a direction to the President not to issue the warrant of appointment to Kumar since she was yet to decide on Thomas's represe

ntation to her against the judgment of the apex court.

Government sources said that Rashtrapati Bhavan had referred Thomas's petition within days to the Department of Personnel and Training for appropriate action.

In his representation to the President on March 16, Thomas had requested her to refer the decision of the apex court to a constitution bench, arguing the SC bench had no jurisdiction to cancel his appointment as only a five-judge bench could have adjudicated the case. The President cancelled Thomas's appointment as CVC on March 15, 11 days after the apex court order.

“The warrant of appointment of Thomas was cancelled only on the basis of the said judgment. When the legality and the validity of the judgment itself is disputed, it is our humble view that only after reaching conclusion on the legality and validity of the judgment, the respondent (President) should go ahead with the appointment of new CVC,” the petition argued, urging the HC to intervene.

The petition cites Article 145 (3) of the Constitution, saying issues connected with the interpretation of the Constitution have to be decided by a minimum five-judge bench and therefore assails the SC three-judge bench verdict.

The SC had quashed the appointment of Thomas as CVC as a chargesheet was pending against him in the palmolein corruption case in Kerala. Thomas was appointed as CVC in September 2010.

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Sri Lankan president ends minister’s anti-UN fast

July 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

COLOMBO, July 10 (Reuters) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday ordered a cabinet minister to end a hunger strike against a U.N. war crimes panel, part of a five-day protest that hurt ties with the world body and the West.

The president arrived outside the U.N. compound in Colombo, and offered water to a supine Construction Minister Wimal Weerawansa, who was in the third day of a “fast unto death” to get U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to relent.

The president made no public comment and a spokesman said he would not make a statement. Earlier in the day, medics had given an intravenous saline drip to Weerawansa, a nationalist ally of the president who gained popularity with anti-Western rhetoric.

“Don’t try to force me to stop. Not even the president can force me. Only Ban Ki-moon can stop this,” Weerawansa said then.

After Rajapaksa arrived, Weerawansa was taken away in an ambulance. Hunger strikes are a common tactic to bring attention to a cause in Sri Lanka and south Asia, but rarely end in death.

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For a related Q+A click on [nSGE66809V]

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Sri Lanka’s relations with the world body and Western nations have been strained since it destroyed the separatist Tamil Tigers and won a 25-year conflict in May 2009, a victory that drew military praise but equal criticism over civilian deaths.

Weerawansa has been laying in front of the U.N. compound since Thursday, two days after police tried to escort trapped U.N. staff out until the minister got the president’s brother, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to stop the officers.

Ban reacted angrily to the protest, recalling the U.N. country chief for talks and ordering the immediate closure of a regional U.N. office sited in Colombo, which local U.N. staff said had already been downsized for a planned move. [nN08108801]

On Friday, the United States, European Union and seven European countries said the government’s handling of the protest could harm its international reputation. [nSGE6682BC]

Ban’s appointment of a three-member panel to advise him on “accountability issues” sparked fury from the government, which views the action as a prelude to the full probe demanded by human rights groups over thousands of civilian deaths.

Rajapaksa blames the West for applying double standards to Sri Lanka’s fight to destroy a group on U.S. and EU terrorism lists. The government says Ban’s panel violates its sovereignty, because it has its own commission probing the war.

Sri Lankan allies Russia and China both have criticised the panel as unnecessary. Rajapaksa denies soldiers committed any crimes and says the casualty figures are inflated.

Ban insists the panel is merely to advise him on international best practices for post-conflict reconciliation, and has no investigative mandate. (Additional reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Andrew Caballero-Reynolds; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Philippines airforce to spend $150 mln on upgrade

July 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

MANILA, July 5 (Reuters) – The Philippines will spend about 7 billion pesos ($150 million) on aircraft and surveillance systems to guard the sprawling archipelago and help fight Muslim separatists and Maoist rebels, a senior general said on Monday.

Lieutenant-General Oscar Rabena said the airforce would get 15 combat utility and night-capable helicopters, 10 refurbished UH-1H helicopters, a long-range maritime patrol plane, a refurbished C-130 transport, basic trainer jets and long-range radar systems.

“We have the plans in place for transition from internal security to territorial defence,” Rabena told reporters at Villamor Air Base, where a ceremony was held for the 63rd anniversary of the Philippine Air Force.

He said eight combat utility helicopters from Polish company PZL Swidnik, a unit of Anglo-Italian helicopter company Agusta Westland, would be delivered next year.

For more than 40 years, the Philippines’ 130,000-member army has been fighting Muslim separatists seeking a homeland in the south of the mainly Catholic state and Maoist-led rebels waging a protracted war to overthrow a democratically-elected government.

At the ceremony, President Benigno Aquino III, the military’s commander-in-chief, reiterated his commitment to provide the troops, weapons and equipment needed to end insurgencies and protect the country’s territorial integrity. [ID:nSGE66109K]

“I will not make false promises to you or tell you things simply for the sake of making positive headlines,” Aquino said, adding a secure and stable country was needed to attract investment that could create jobs.

“That’s why they’re called investments,” Aquino later told reporters of the new equipment, adding the defence department was studying schemes to raise funds outside the annual budget.

“There are creative schemes that will not make the government lose its assets but will be in a position, like a lease, that we can enter into and then fund what we need.”

Defence Secretary Voltaire Gazmin told Reuters he had asked the military to make an inventory of available assets, including land that could be leased on a long-term to property developers.

“We have many camps within the capital region that can be leased for a minimum of 50 years. These are prime property that can generate billions of pesos and finance our modernisation programme.” (Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by John Mair and Ron Popeski)

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Top British military officials to step down

June 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

LONDON, June 13 (Reuters) – Two of Britain’s top defence officials will step down later this year, the government said on Sunday, but denied they were being blamed for mistakes in Afghanistan or for wasteful military spending.

Britain’s most senior military officer, Chief of the Defence Staff Jock Stirrup, and Bill Jeffrey, the top civil servant at the Ministry of Defence, are expected to leave towards the end of the year once a strategic defence review (SDR) ordered by Britain’s new government has been completed.

“We’ve talked about the best time to be replacing our senior staff, probably at the end of the SDR in the autumn,” Defence Secretary Liam Fox said in an interview with The Sunday Times newspaper, referring to the two men.

The strategic defence review will set out the future role of Britain’s armed forces and may pave the way for cuts in defence spending as the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government formed after the May 6 election moves to rein in a big budget deficit.

The newspaper said the changes at the top of the Ministry of Defence were designed to improve the military’s performance in the Afghanistan war and to cut wasteful spending, adding that both men were close to the former Labour government.

The armed forces and top civil servants in Britain are traditionally politically neutral.

Stirrup’s term had been due to end in 2009 but was extended for two years by former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In a BBC interview, Fox would not rule out a cut in troop numbers after the review: “I’m not saying that I’ve got any preconceived idea about the size and shape of the forces.”

A study by the Royal United Services Institute, a defence thinktank, said this month Britain could be forced to cut ground troop numbers by 20 percent by 2019 and to sharply reduce the number of its aircraft and ships to save money.

Fox told the BBC that the two men had not been dismissed and portrayed their departure as their own decision.

Fox denied Stirrup was too close to the previous government and said: “I really don’t think, whatever mistakes may have been made in Afghanistan or anywhere else, that the blame should land anywhere else but firmly on the desks of the politicians.”

British forces have been locked in some of the fiercest fighting against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and almost 300 British soldiers have now been killed there since 2001. (Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

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North Korean defiance obstacle to effective sanctions: US

June 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Singapore, June 6 (DPA) US Defence Secretary Robert Gates Sunday said any efforts to make North Korea accountable over the sinking of a South Korean warship may have little effect given Pyongyang’s defiant attitude.

North Korea’s stance was an obstacle for finding the adequate measures short of military options, Gates told the BBC on the sidelines of a summit on Asian security here.

‘You can bring together additional pressure, you can do another resolution at the UN,’ Gates said.

‘As long as the regime doesn’t care about what the outside world thinks of it, as long as it doesn’t care about the well-being of its people, there is not a lot you can do about it, to be quite frank, unless you are willing at some point to use military force,’ he said.

‘And nobody wants to do that,’ Gates said.

His remarks came after South Korea filed a complaint to the United Nations Security Council accusing the North of sinking its vessel Cheonan on March 26, causing the death of 46 sailors.

Gates told defence ministers and policymakers at the 2010 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore Saturday that the US was reviewing additional options to deal with North Korea, but did not elaborate.

‘To do nothing would set the wrong precedent,’ he said, calling on the international community to hold North Korea accountable for the Cheonan sinking.

A multinational investigation concluded that a torpedo from the North likely sank the ship, but Pyongyang denied any involvement and threatened war against the South if any punitive measures are taken.

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‘US consistently pressing Pakistan to rein in anti-India terror groups’

May 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 29 (IANS) The United States says it has consistently pressed Pakistan to stop the continuing infiltration into India by Punjab-based terror groups like Lashkar-e-Taeba and Jaish-e-Mohammed as this was a key obstacle to improved relations between ‘two friends of US’.

‘On Pakistan, I’m sure it will be a topic of discussion’ at the inaugural US-India strategic dialogue here next week Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake told reporters Friday when asked what the US was doing to rein in Pakistan to allay India’s concerns about cross border terrorism.

Welcoming the announcement that Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers will meet in Islamabad in mid-July and Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram will be visiting Islamabad in late June, he said: ‘Those are very important opportunities to try to expand relations and to reduce some of the frictions between these two friends of the United States.’

But Blake acknowledged ‘One of the most important obstacles to expansion of those relations is the continuing infiltration from Pakistan to by Punjab-based groups, such as Lashkar e-Taeba and Jaish-e-Mohammed and others.’

‘And the United States has consistently called for greater action on the part of Pakistan to stop the activities of these groups,’ he said suggesting ‘Pakistan has done so in the past between 2004 and 2007, and that laid the basis for a very significant expansion in relations between India and Pakistan.

‘So we’d like to see these two friends get back on that same course again. But one of the first things that has to happen is for there to be visible progress in stopping this.’

President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates have all made the point ‘that increasingly, these groups are all operating together as a syndicate. And so it’s very much in Pakistan’s own interest to take on these groups as well,’ Blake said,

Highlighting what he called ‘the unprecedented counterterrorism cooperation,’ between India and the US, he said they had raised the level of cooperation ‘because of the increasingly common threats that we face, particularly those in India faced by Lashkar- e-Taeba and other groups.’

Asked if the US will relay Pakistan’s concerns about India ‘training the Afghan army’, he said: ‘I’m not sure that India’s providing that much training to the Afghan army. The vast majority of the assistance that the Indians are providing to Afghanistan is in the form of economic assistance.’

And US ‘welcomed very much the assistance that India has provided and all of our cabinet-level officials have welcomed that and will continue to do so,’ he said describing it as ‘a very important part of the international effort to help stabilise Afghanistan.’

Denying reports that US is pressurising India to have its dialogue with Pakistan despite the fact that Islamabad has not taken any action against those responsible for the Mumbai terrorist attack, the official said while US ‘always have an interest in seeing our two friends have peaceful relations, but we are not pressurising either side.’

Asked where the Kashmir issue fitted into this puzzle, Blake said ‘What’s most important is first to get these talks going again and once they’ve gotten beyond the immediate counterterrorism issues, to focus on some of the important opportunities like trade’ before ‘taking up some of these more sensitive territorial issues.’

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Q+A – Why did Russia fall out with Iran?

May 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Iran’s tirade against Russia on Wednesday for supporting fresh U.N. sanctions showed how the former allies have now publicly fallen out.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a rare public rebuke to his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, telling him he should “act more cautiously” and “think more”. The Kremlin replied that Ahmadinejad should refrain from “political demagoguery”.

Below are some questions and answers on why and how Moscow has shifted its position on Iran:

WEREN’T IRAN AND RUSSIA ALLIES?

Russia is a significant trading partner with Iran. Bilateral trade reached $3 billion last year, with Moscow selling the Islamic Republic nuclear technology, aircraft and other goods.

Iran and Russia are also among the world’s top oil and gas producers and have cooperated in this area.

In the diplomatic arena, Russia had resisted in 2008 and early 2009 fresh U.N. sanctions against Tehran and played down suggestions Iran was using its nuclear programme to build bombs.

HAS RUSSIA OPPOSED AN IRANIAN BOMB?

Russian officials have always insisted Moscow — which has a big problem of its own with Islamist terrorism — does not want to see a powerful Islamic state near its troubled southern borders acquire nuclear weapons. But until last year, Russia didn’t believe American assessments that it was likely to happen.

DIDN’T PUTIN DISMISS ANY NUCLEAR THREAT FROM IRAN?

In October 2007 while still president, Vladimir Putin became the first Kremlin leader to visit Iran since Stalin, delivering smiling support to Ahmadinejad, warning the United States against any military action and upholding Iran’s right to pursue a civilian nuclear programme.

DID RUSSIA BELIEVE IRAN WAS PURSUING A BOMB?

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates recounted a meeting he had in 2007 with Putin:

“When I first met with President Putin and talked about this, he basically dismissed the idea that the Iranians would have a missile that would have the range to reach much of Western Europe and much of Russia before 2020 or so,” he said in testimony to the U.S. Senate last year.

“And he showed me a map that his intelligence guys had prepared. And I told him he needed a new intelligence service.”

WHEN DID THIS START TO CHANGE?

In the two years after that meeting, Russia started to change its assessment of the Iranian programme. However, in June 2009 Moscow was still happy to welcome Ahmadinejad to a summit of BRIC nations in Siberia and congratulate him on his disputed re-election. The real shift in policy towards Iran appears to have started over the course of last summer in Moscow.

DID OBAMA’S ELECTION ALTER ANYTHING?

When President Obama came to power in January 2009, he vowed to “reset” relations with Russia. This meant concessions to Moscow such as scaling back Bush-era missile defence plans in eastern Europe and accepting Russian influence in the former Soviet Union, in return for Moscow’s help on tackling international problems such as the Iranian nuclear programme and Afghanistan. Ties between the two nations improved dramatically.

BUT WASN’T RUSSIA RESISTING SANCTIONS ONLY LAST YEAR?

Despite headlines from Russian officials apparently resisting Western pressure on Iran, Western ambassadors in Moscow were talking confidently last year about how helpful and supportive Russia had been on Iran. It appears that Moscow was giving private assurances of support to the West on Iran some time before it changed its public position.

The West’s announcement in September that it had discovered a new secret Iranian nuclear fuel plant near the Muslim holy city of Qom further undermined Moscow’s confidence in Iran. Russia said the plant violated U.N. Security Council decisions and was a “source of serious concern”. In November 2009, Moscow supported an IAEA resolution condemning the move.

DID MEDVEDEV MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Medvedev’s strong personal relationship with Obama has made it easier for the two leaders to agree a common position on Iran. The Russian president first started talking of fresh sanctions against Iran last September and mentioned them again during a visit to the United State the same month.

After signing a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Obama last month, Medvedev said he regretted that Iran was not reacting to constructive proposals on its nuclear programme. Iran has complained that Russia is caving in to U.S. pressure.

ISN’T RUSSIA STILL PROVIDING NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY TO IRAN?

Moscow has a $1 billion contract with Tehran to build and start up a nuclear power plant at Bushehr. The plant is planned to start up in August after numerous delays — which a senior Iranian lawmaker said were the result of Russia using Iran as a pawn in dealings with other powers such as the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton complained about Bushehr’s planned summer start-up when she visited Moscow in March, but Western diplomats say privately Russia has offered satisfactory safeguards against the plant being used for military purposes.

AND WASN’T RUSSIA GOING TO SELL IRAN AN AIR DEFENCE SYSTEM?

Moscow signed a contract in 2007 to sell Iran the S-300, a modern surface-to-air missile system that can be used to shoot down multiple hostile rockets and aircraft. However Russia has not yet fulfilled the contract and Western envoys say they have private assurances from Moscow that it will not do so.

WHAT MADE RUSSIA AGREE TO SANCTIONS AGAINST IRAN THIS TIME?

A senior Kremlin official said earlier this month that if Washington wanted Moscow’s support for fresh sanctions against Iran, it needed to drop U.S. bans on trade with four Russian arms companies. Washington dropped the bans on Friday last week, though U.S. officials continue to deny any direct linkage with the Iran sanctions issue.

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)

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India, Oman armies to hold joint military exercise in 2011

May 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Muscat, May 18 (ANI): Enhancing bilateral relations between India and Oman, visiting Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said that both countries will jointly take part in a military exercise in India next year.

Addressing Indian diaspora here, Antony said: ””We have conducted joint military operations with the Omani forces and we are exploring further avenues of co-operation in trade and commerce among others.””

He emphasised that bilateral relations will witness bolstered relations between both nations.

””The bilateral relations between India and Oman are centuries old. We consolidate our relations on a regular basis while exploring newer avenues of mutual co-operation,”” he added.

He also held wide-ranging talks with his Oman counterpart Sayyid Badr bin Saud bin Harib Al Busaidi.

The two leaders discussed ways to promote military cooperation between the two countries, Gulf News reports.

This is the first high-level Indian delegation to visit Oman after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh”s trip in 2008.

Antony is accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar. (ANI)

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Ex-Lanka army chief Fonseka denies incitement charge

May 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Colombo, May 13 (ANI): Defeated Sri Lankan presidential candidate and the country’s former army chief, General Sarath Fonseka, has denied inciting unrest during an appearance before a civilian magistrate’s court here.

General Fonseka claimed that the newspaper had misquoted him and that the case was part of an attempt to silence him.

He is accused of saying that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who is the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, ordered the killings of Tamil rebels who surrendered during last year”s military offensive against the group.

General Fonseka has filed several petitions in higher courts challenging his arrest in February, 12 days after he failed to unseat President Rajapaksa in elections.

The general led the military offensive which resulted in the elimination of the separatist Tamil Tiger leadership in May last year.

General Fonseka fell out with the president and his brother over who should take the most credit for the victory.

“It is ironic that the man who was hailed a national hero for crushing Tamil Tigers is being brought before court exactly a year later,” said Gen Fonseka”s lawyer, Nalin Laduwahetty. “This is a frivolous case.”

The judge adjourned the hearing until May 26. (ANI)

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Militant infrastructure in Pakistan still a concern: Antony

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 12 (ANI): Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday said Pakistan”s militant infrastructure is still a matter of concern for India.

Reacting to a query about the resumption of talks between India and Pakistan at a time when there is an increase in infiltration attempts across the Line of Control, Antony said such attempts by militants are a matter of concern.

“Talks will continue, but at the same time we are very much concerned about the existence of more than 40 terrorist camps in Pakistan. And, our view is that Pakistan must take sincere and strong steps to dismantle these terrorist outfits,” said Antony after inaugurating the Controllers” Conference of the Defence Accounts Department.

Speaking about the China-India relations, the Defence Minister said that the bilateral relations between the two countries are improving, in spite of the border issue.

“Military relations are improving. We had joint exercise with the Chinese army. Again, we will have joint exercise with them. And this year, our Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar had gone there for discussions,” said Antony.

“So, on the whole, the relations are improving, even though that border dispute is still there. On the whole, our relation with China is comparatively better. Our border is peaceful,” he added. (ANI)

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U.S. says wants more from Pakistan, could boost aid

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The United States wants and expects more from Pakistan in the fight against insurgents and is ready to offer additional assistance if Islamabad asks, two senior Obama administration officials said on Friday.

“We’ve gotten more cooperation and it’s been a real sea change in the commitment we’ve seen from the Pakistan government. (But) we want more. We expect more,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview, excerpts of which were released on Friday.

She added that Washington had also warned of “severe consequences” if a successful attack in America were traced back to Pakistan. She did not elaborate.

Investigations into the Pakistani-American suspect in last Saturday’s failed bombing attempt in New York’s Times Square have uncovered possible links to the Pakistani Taliban and a Kashmiri Islamist group.

That has prompted speculation the United States, Pakistan’s top provider of aid, could press Islamabad to open risky new fronts against Islamic militants.

But Defence Secretary Robert Gates, speaking to reporters on a trip to Kansas, appeared to play down the chances of an expanded Pakistani crackdown on insurgents.

He pointed to the strain on security forces already battling militants in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

“With their military operations in the west, they’ve started to be pretty thinly stretched themselves, as well as taking a substantial number of casualties,” Gates said.

The United States was ready to step up assistance to Pakistan, he said.

“We’re willing to do as much … as they are willing to accept,” Gates said. “We are prepared to do training, and exercise with them. How big that operation becomes is really up to them.”

DOUBLE GAME

Citing anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, Gates added, “They (Pakistani leaders) are also very interested in keeping our footprints as small as possible, at least for now.”

President Barack Obama’s administration has repeatedly praised Pakistani military operations over the past year, including the recent capture in Pakistan of the Afghan Taliban’s No. 2, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Clinton said it marked an improvement from the “double game going on in the previous years, where we got a lot of lip service but very little produced.”

“We have seen the killing or capturing of a great number of the leadership of significant terrorist groups and we’re going (to) continue that,” she said.

The United States, which sees Pakistan’s effort against militants as crucial to its fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan, has about 200 military personnel in Pakistan, including Special Operations forces on a training mission.

The CIA is also waging a covert war using pilotless drone aircraft to target insurgents in Pakistan.

“I think cooperation has continued to (improve), the relationship is continuing to improve, and I think we just keep moving in that direction,” Gates said.

A White House official said the United States had been working with Pakistan and would keep assisting a Pakistani offensive to root out the Taliban.

“We’ve been working on the other side of the border, of course, with Pakistan in developing a strong partnership in which they have gone on the offensive — the largest offensive they’ve undertaken in some years — in order to root out extremists within their borders, including the Taliban,” deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters.

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Writing by Phil Stewart; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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Karzai ‘a reliable partner of US’

April 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Senior members of Barack Obama’s administration have been trying to repair the troubled relationship between the US and Afghan president Hamid Karzai.

Mr Karzai and US General Stanley McChrystal met hundreds of elders in Afghanistan’s Kunduz on Sunday, the third such trip in recent days, in what NATO says is part of its strategy of emphasising the Afghan government’s role in military efforts.

The Obama administration had been upset when Mr Karzai accused foreigners of instigating election fraud and of trying to weaken him.

But US secretary of state Hillary Clinton praised the Afghan leader, calling him a “reliable partner”.

“I personally have a lot of sympathy for president Karzai and the extraordinary stress he lives under every single minute of every day,” she said.

US defence secretary Robert Gates said Mr Karzai was being very helpful.

“The fact is on a day-to-day basis he has a very effective working relationship with General McChrystal.”

The Afghan leader is due to visit Washington next month.

In a sign of the volatility of a once-peaceful northern region, plans for Mr Karzai to address German troops in Kunduz were called off at the last minute.

Residents and German forces said rockets had fallen near the German base there.

Kunduz has seen a surge in Taliban attacks and is expected to become a main battle front in coming months.

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Obama and Medvedev sign disarmament treaty

April 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

In a scene that would have been unimaginable at the height of the Cold War, the leaders of the United States and Russia have signed an agreement to reduce their nuclear arsenals.

Surrounded by the golden opulence of Prague’s hill-top castle, US president Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev shared a laugh as they signed the bound documents, considered the biggest advancement in nuclear disarmament in decades.

It is being described as a historic, not just for the relationship between the former enemies but for the security of the world.

The agreement will cut strategic nuclear arsenals deployed by the former Cold War foes by 30 per cent within seven years but leave each with enough to destroy the other.

“This is a whole range of issues that I think that we can make significant progress on. I am confident that this is an important first step in that direction,” Mr Obama said.

Mr Medvedev was full of similar praise.

“This is a win-win situation. No one stands to lose from this agreement. I believe that this is typical future of our cooperation,” he said.

The former adversaries will reduce their arsenals to 1,550 deployed warheads over the next seven years.

And in another sign of growing cooperation they agreed that Iran may face tougher sanctions over its nuclear ambitions.

“Regrettably Iran is not responding to many constructive proposals that have been made and we cannot turn a blind eye to this,” Mr Medvedev said.

The new agreement has to be ratified by both the Russian parliament and the US Senate, and Mr Obama will need a handful of Republicans onside to get the two-thirds vote required.

William Cohen served as defence secretary in the Clinton administration and is concerned about the agreement.

“Politics has no place here. There is a legitimate question to be raised about the merits,” he said.

“Are we safer with this? Does this make us more vulnerable?”

But there are still hurdles ahead.

There is also the issue of America’s plans to build a missile defence shield in Europe. Russia has reiterated its opposition and that could be an obstacle to any further disarmament talks.

Moving forward is what Mr Obama hopes world leaders will do next week when they meet in Washington to discuss ways to secure nuclear weapons from terrorists.

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Pak to only get ‘unarmed shadow’ drones fleet by year-end: US official

March 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar.30 (ANI): Pakistan is likely to get a fleet of unmanned-surveillance aircrafts from the US by the year end, but the armed drones, for which it has been pestering Washington is still far from its reach, a top US military official has said.

It may be noted that US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, during his recent Pakistan visit, had offered the unarmed ‘shadow’ drones, but Islamabad is still to ascertain the viability of the surveillance drones.

“I would like to think that we would get them there within a year,” the US official said while talking to media persons on conditions of anonymity.

“We looked at Shadows. We looked at Scan Eagles and other tactical UAVs that are out and about and what we want to do is try to find out which model is best,” The Daily Times quoted the official, as saying.

Pakistan has been pressing the White House to provide it armed drones or the technology itself, so that it can carry out missile hits against extremist hideouts in the ungoverned tribal areas along the Afghanistan border, but the US so far, has turned down all such requests.

Although Pakistan publicly opposes the attacks, saying they violate its sovereignty and fuel anti-Americanism among the population, it is believed that it was sharing intelligence with the US about the insurgents and their hide-outs.

“The general US policy is not to export weaponised capabilities of any drone aircraft,” the official said. (ANI)

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Aquino’s lead widens in Philippine opinion poll

March 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Philippine presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino has arrested a slide in support while his nearest rival, Manual “Manny” Villar, lost ground ahead of elections on May 10, an opinion poll showed on Monday.

The Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, conducted on March 19-22 before the start of campaigning for Congress and local positions last Friday, also showed administration candidate Gilberto “Gibo” Tedoro remained a distant fourth in polling.

Support for opposition senator Aquino, son of the country’s democracy icon, Corazon “Cory” Aquino, stood at 37 percent, basically steady with his February reading of 36 percent although well below a support level of 60 percent last September.

Billionaire senator Villar dropped six points to 28 percent, and former president Joseph Estrada, forced out of office in 2001, saw his support rise four points to 19 percent.

Support for Teodoro, a former defence secretary in outgoing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s administration, was unchanged at 6 percent, the SWS poll showed.

Major campaign issues are corruption, poverty and managing the economy and a large budget deficit.

Aquino portrays himself as a “change” candidate, promising to fight corruption, reform development spending and improve transparency, and has said he would investigate allegations of corruption against Arroyo.

His Liberal Party lacks the national scale of the ruling Lakas-Kampi coalition, whose grassroots organisation could boost Teodoro’s ratings now that local campaigning has started.

However, if Teodoro is unable to lift his ratings soon, analysts believe Arroyo’s supporters could swing behind Villar.

The SWS results are very similar to support levels in a late February poll by Pulse Asia, another independent pollster.

The opinion poll results were posted on the SWS website http://www.sws.org.ph/ The survey of 2,100 people has a 2 percent margin of error.

(Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by John Mair and Ron Popeski)

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After civil nuke deal snub, US now rejects Pak’s drone technology demand

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Mar.27 (ANI): Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has admitted that the United States has not yet heeded Islamabad’s plea to hand over the unmanned Predator aircrafts to enable it to carry out the drone attacks targeting the extremists.

“I don’t think so,” Qureshi said in response to a question that whether the US has agreed to his country’s long standing demands for the drone technology.

In an interview with the CNN, Qureshi, acknowledged that the CIA operated missile hits inside Pakistan’s geographical boundaries has ‘taken out some valuable targets’ but added that the Obama Administration would be able to reduce the existing massive anti-America sentiment in Pakistan by offering it the drone technology.

“The issue of sovereignty is there. People of Pakistan feel strongly about it. We want the ownership. We make the decision when to operate. It will help improve the feelings in Pakistan,” Qureshi said.

Pakistan has been pestering the US to hand over drone technology to it so that it can carry out strikes on suspicious militant targets in the lawless tribal regions along the Afghan border.

Although Pakistan publicly opposes the attacks, saying that they violate its sovereignty and fuel anti-Americanism among the population, it is believed that it is sharing intelligence with the US about the insurgents and their hideouts.

The US has rejected Pakistan’s demand for armed drones, but during his recent Islamabad visit US Defence Secretary Robert Gates had offered to provide at least a dozen ‘unarmed aerial vehicles to Pakistan.

The Shadow surveillance drone was seen as a compromise aimed at enticing Pakistan further into the ‘war on terror’ and helping the country’s political leadership explain the drone strikes to the country’s people. (ANI)

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U.S. looks to export drone technology to allies

March 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday he hoped to export coveted U.S. drone technology to allies, despite legal hurdles, and played down the threat from rival drone programs in nations like Iran.

Gates, testifying at a Senate hearing, said it was in the U.S. interest to try to help friendly nations get drone technology, despite limitations on exports imposed by an international pact.

“There are other countries that are very interested in this capability and frankly it is, in my view, in our interest to see what we can do to accommodate them,” Gates said.

The drones have proven to be a crucial technological advantage for the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq, allowing it to remotely track and kill insurgents and giving troops eyes-in-the-sky battleground imagery in real time.

The CIA has used drones armed with missiles to ramp up its covert campaign to kill al Qaeda and Taliban targets in Pakistan.

“The reality is so far we have been in situations where (drone) technology cannot be used, or has not been used against our troops anywhere,” Gates said.

But that might not remain the case, he said. He cited Iran, which he has said is providing limited support to Afghan insurgents, and which is developing unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs.

“Iran has UAVs and that is a concern because it is one of those areas where I suppose if they chose to, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, they could create difficulties for us,” Gates said.

Still, he called UAVs “relatively slow flyers” that could be neutralized by the Air Force if they threatened U.S. forces.

“I actually think our ability to protect our troops from these things particularly in a theater of combat like this is actually quite good,” he said.

Militant groups, as opposed to other countries, were a bigger concern when it came to the spread of drone technology.

“My worry would be capabilities like this getting into the hands of non-state actors who could use them for terrorist purposes,” Gates said.

PENT-UP DEMAND

The U.S. aerospace industry estimated in December that U.S. military demand for unmanned aircraft would double over the next five years after rising 600 percent since 2004. It is also hoping for growth abroad.

The industry wants to change the Missile Technology Control Regime, or MTCR, a pact among at least 34 countries aimed at curbing the spread of unmanned delivery systems that could be used for weapons of mass destruction.

Gates said he shared concerns of lawmakers about the spread of the technology to adversaries and “about these capabilities getting into the hands of those who are our adversaries.”

But he also said the United States had only sold UAVs to Italy and Britain so far.

“With respect to export … I think there are some specific cases where we have allies with whom we have formal treaty alliances who have expressed interest in these capabilities,” he said.

“And we have told them that we are limited in what we can do by the MTCR, but I think it’s something we need to pursue with them.”

Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk, which provides surveillance capabilities, has drawn interest from countries including South Korea, Japan and Singapore as well as Britain, Spain and Canada, a company spokeswoman said in December.

Washington announced plans to give Pakistan surveillance drones but Islamabad also wants shoot-and-kill drones, like the Predator, which may be armed with Hellfire missiles.

(Editing by Eric Beech)

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Pentagon poised to raise bar for kicking out gays – officials

March 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates plans to announce on Thursday interim steps that would, in some cases, make it more difficult for gays to be kicked out of the military, defence officials said on Wednesday.

The directives are the result of a 45-day review of what the Pentagon can do in the short-term while Congress considers President Barack Obama’s call to repeal the existing “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that bars homosexuals from serving openly in the U.S. military.

By Dec. 1, the Pentagon is expected to complete a more sweeping review of how any repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” could be implemented.

The interim changes to be ordered by Gates are expected to include raising the rank of those allowed to begin investigation procedures against suspected violators of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, officials said.

Gates is also expected to raise the bar for what constitutes “credible” information to start an inquiry, and to curb expulsions of servicemen and women “outed” by third parties, the officials said on condition of anonymity because an announcement has yet to be made.

The changes are fashioned to give commanders the leeway to enforce the existing prohibitions in a “fair and more appropriate manner,” a defence official said.

Another official said, “He’s going to order policy changes within the confines of the existing law to make the procedures less draconian right now.”

Critics say the Pentagon has been dragging its feet. It has opposed efforts advocated by some lawmakers to implement a moratorium or an outright repeal before the Pentagon’s nearly yearlong review is completed.

Nathaniel Frank, a senior research fellow at the Palm Center, a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara, said a full-fledged ban on third-party outings would be “substantial.”

“That could create a scenario where the world knows a servicemember is gay but the Pentagon continues to let her serve,” said Frank, a proponent of repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

But Frank said it would be crucial to carefully review the wording of any changes in Pentagon enforcement, adding “the devil is in the details.”

Only about a fifth of discharges are the result of third-party outings, the rest by direct admissions by gay servicemembers, according to Palm Center research.

People who oppose allowing gays to serve openly in the military argue that doing so would harm morale, undermine unit cohesion and hurt good order and discipline in the ranks.

While the top U.S. military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, has supported a repeal, several prominent officers and lawmakers have questioned lifting the ban at a time when the U.S. military is stretched by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Americans favour allowing gays to serve openly in the military by 57 percent to 36 percent, according to a recent poll by Quinnipiac University.

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Will Dunham and Stacey Joyce)

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U.S., Pakistan seek to turn around ties

March 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The United States and Pakistan sought on Wednesday to overcome years of mistrust, with Washington promising to speed up overdue military payments as the two increase cooperation in tackling militants.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke of having a new partnership that “stands the test of time” while her Pakistani counterpart said he was a “happy man” after a day of talks that covered issues from security to energy and water.

“It is a new day,” Clinton said, but she predicted a bumpy road. “Our countries have had our misunderstandings and disagreements in the past, and there are sure to be more disagreements in the future.”

Pakistan is an important U.S. ally in the battle against al Qaeda and the Taliban, particularly as Washington sends more troops to neighbouring Afghanistan to fight a war weighing heavily on President Barack Obama’s political legacy.

One bone of contention has been a delay in about $2 billion in military aid owed by the United States to Pakistan under a program called the Coalition Support Fund.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said a “substantial” amount of the money would be paid by the end of April, with Washington promising the remainder by the end of June, coincidentally the same time as an IMF performance review is due of its $7.6 billion loan package for Pakistan.

That IMF review leads to a disbursement of money under the loan for Pakistan but there has to be evidence that Islamabad has met financial targets and has enough cash flow to meet the loan obligations.

Qureshi also said the two agreed to fast-track pending Pakistani requests for military equipment as the two increase security cooperation and Clinton said they would work on a multiyear security package.

MILITARY PRAISE

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates praised Pakistan for increased coordination over stabilizing Afghanistan, including the recent arrest of a key Afghan Taliban commander in a joint American-Pakistani raid in Karachi.

“It has really been extraordinary, in my view, seeing what Pakistan has done over the last, really, more than a year in terms of becoming engaged, in terms of their operations, in terms of understanding that they now face an existential threat,” Gates said.

Qureshi spoke of the sacrifices felt by his country with repeated attacks and suicide bombings against civilians and an economy in turmoil because of the violence.

“Yet our resolve remains undiminished because it is a matter of standing up for your principles and facing the consequences that come in its wake,” he said.

Pakistan’s delegation sent a 56-page document to the Americans ahead of this week’s meetings, giving their view of future relations and asking for more helicopters and pilotless drones as well as civilian nuclear cooperation.

Pakistan expert Bruce Riedel said the Americans were happy with recent military successes but this had ironically underscored that Islamabad could do a lot more.

NUCLEAR COOPERATION?

“There will be some horse-trading. We owe them helicopters but I would be very surprised if we gave them anything on the nuclear front,” said Riedel, a former CIA analyst now with the Brookings Institution think tank.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan wants civilian nuclear cooperation with the United States and is pushing for the same kind of deal that its rival India negotiated for years.

“We hope nondiscriminatory access to vital energy resources will be available to us so that we can pursue our economic and industrial development plans,” said Qureshi in his opening statement, a reference to nuclear energy capability that Pakistan wants to boost to resolve its power crisis.

But the United States is reluctant to discuss such cooperation. Clinton sidestepped questions on the issue except to say that the Obama administration was prepared to discuss “whatever issues” the Pakistani delegation raised.

Such negotiations would be lengthy. It took years to negotiate such a deal with India and require consensus approval from both the 46-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group and the U.S. Congress.

The United States is also cautious due to an uproar created by allegations that a disgraced Pakistani scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, transferred nuclear secrets to Iraq and Iran.

Despite rumblings over security assistance and nuclear issues, both sides sought to show a united front with the delegations intermingled rather than seated on opposite sides for the official meetings as is often the case.

Last year, the U.S. Congress passed legislation for a $7.5 billion aid package for Pakistan over the next five years, which includes funding for water, energy and other projects.

Qureshi urged increased trade and market access to the United States. Clinton said she was looking into it but gave no specifics.

(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles and Phil Stewart; editing by Paul Simao and Will Dunham)

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Pentagon to raise bar for kicking out gays – officials

March 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates plans to announce on Thursday interim steps that would, in some cases, make it more difficult for gays to be kicked out of the military, defence officials said on Wednesday.

The directives are the result of a 45-day review of what the Pentagon can do in the short-term while Congress considers President Barack Obama’s call for a repeal of the existing “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which bars homosexuals from serving openly.

The interim changes to be ordered by Gates are expected to include raising the rank of those allowed to begin investigation procedures against suspected violators of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, officials said.

Gates is also expected to raise the bar for what constitutes “credible” information to start an inquiry, and to curb expulsions of servicemen and women “outed” by third parties, the officials said on condition of anonymity because an announcement has yet to be made.

The changes are fashioned to give commanders the leeway to enforce the existing prohibitions in a “fair and more appropriate manner,” a defence official said.

Another official said; “He’s going to order policy changes within the confines of the existing law to make the procedures less draconian right now.”

Critics say the Pentagon is dragging its feet.

It has opposed efforts advocated by some lawmakers to implement a moratorium or an outright repeal before the Pentagon’s nearly year-long review is completed.

While the top U.S. military officer, Admiral Mike Mullen, has supported a repeal, several prominent officers and lawmakers have questioned lifting the ban at a time when the U.S. military is stretched by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Americans favour allowing gays to serve openly in the military by 57 percent to 36 percent, according to a recent poll by Quinnipiac University.

(Reporting by Adam Entous; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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