Washington, July 24 : The US administration is planning to deliver key policy messages to Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani during his next week’s US visit, in a bid to make it clear that now it wants to get over its Musharraf phobia and acknowledge the new politico-democratic government led by Gilani.

Islamabad, July 24: Pakistani security forces have arrested a senior Afghan Taleban commander in Quetta.

Mullah Rahim is said to be the senior most Taleban leader in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

The Times quoted British commanders in Afghanistan as saying that Rahim gave himself up on Saturday.

The issue was so sensitive that Pakistani security officials would neither confirm nor deny the capture of Mullah Rahim — just as they have never acknowledged the arrest of other high-ranking insurgents in the past.

Washington, July 24: In a move which has attracted criticism from a section of US Congressmen, President George Bush has reportedly planned to shift nearly 230-million-dollar aid to Pakistan from counter-terrorism programs to upgrading that country’s aging F-16 jets, because “Pakistan prizes more for their contribution to its military rivalry with India than for fighting insurgents along its Afghan border”.

Washington, July 24: The increasing number of foreign terrorists, including Uzbeks, Chechans and those from Arab, arriving into Afghanistan from across its borders with Pakistan, has been a cause of concern for the Pentagon.

This has emerged as a major problem for the US, especially in the wake of its inability to send more forces into Afghanistan as the Bush administration presently wants to focus more on Iraq.

Karachi, July 24: Pakistan intelligence inputs have found that Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Baitullah Mehsud has prepared a hit list of around 300 high-profile figures, including political leaders, perceiving them as ‘American agents’.

Source close to an intelligence agency said that it was assumed that the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP), anti-Taliban Shia, Sunni clerics, personnel from the intelligence and law enforcement agencies, officials from the interior and provincial ministries and journalists could be targeted by the Pakistani Taliban. Their families were also believed to be at risk, added the sources.

Islamabad  - A British climber was reported missing on a peak in northern Pakistan on Wednesday as the operation to rescue two Italians stranded on Nanga Parbat remained halted owing to poor weather, officials said.

Benjamin Cheek had been missing for four days on White Horn peak in the Hazara region, according to Mohammed Akram, vice president of Alpine Club of Pakistan.

He told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that initially two fellow climbers, who were safe, had tried to contact Cheek but, when that failed, they requested a rescue operation.