Washington, Sept 25 : In the wake of the recent surge in tensions with Pakistan over unilateral strikes by US-led forces from across the Afghan border, the US administration has reportedly called for a review of US strategy in Afghanistan.
A senior Pentagon official said that US President George Bush has ordered a review of US strategy in Afghanistan, amid rising insurgent violence and tensions with Pakistan.
The review is being led by Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, a deputy national security adviser, with the participation of senior representatives from the Pentagon and other departments, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Islamabad - International airports in all major cities of Pakistan were put on alert on Thursday following threats of suicide bombings by Islamic militants, officials and media reports said.
A state of emergency was declared at Islamabad airport, which was recently named after slain former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, after a warning that a suicide bomber could strike the facility located just outside the capital city.
Islamabad, Sept 25 : Newly-elected Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari underwent a heart checkup last evening in New Yorl with cardiologists including Dr. Javed Suleman, Martin Goldman and Samin Sharma in New York.
The doctors attending to him said that the “affected part of his heart” was found functioning normally and he was in overall good health.
“According to test reports, affected part of Zardari’s heart was also functioning properly,” The News quoted Dr. Suleman as saying.
New York - The leaders of India and Pakistan agreed to jump-start peace talks with new discussions planned between the nuclear-armed neighbours before the end of the year.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who took office this month, came to the decision when they met Wednesday night in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Lahore, Sept 25: NWFP Governor Owais Ghani has said that the US should talk to Mullah Omar in order to negotiate peace in Afghanistan. Further elaborating his suggestion, he said that the West must hold talks with the Taliban as “Al Qaeda was regrouping from Iraq to Afghanistan”.
Urging the US to ‘talk’ to militant commanders in Afghanistan to establish peace, Ghani said: “They have to talk to Mullah Omar, certainly – not maybe, and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Jalaluddin Haqqani group.”
Lahore, Sept 25: The Fidayeen-e-Islam (FI), a terrorist outfit which claimed responsibility for the Marriott Hotel suicide blast in Islamabad last Saturday killing 60 people, has reportedly threatened to target every person facilitating the US Army in Pakistan.
In a message received by an Arab TV office in Islamabad, the FI rejected the Pentagon’s claim that only two US marines had been killed in the Marriott blast, reported the Daily Times.