The speaker of the US House met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul yesterday for talks about the ongoing strategic review of the US mission in Afghanistan, the president’s office said.
Nancy Pelosi arrived in Afghanistan on Friday to meet with Afghan officials and US and NATO military leaders, said Captain Elizabeth Mathias, a US military spokeswoman.
Pelosi, a California Democrat, also met with US troops during her two-day visit.
PHOTO: EPA
Karzai and Pelosi talked about the US strategy review of the situation in Afghanistan and Pelosi reiterated the US’ long-term commitment to Afghanistan’s security situation and economic development, Karzai’s office said.
Afghanistan was to send a high-level delegation headed by Foreign Minister Dadfar Rangeen Spanta to the US today “to review the joint strategy and the fight against terrorism,” the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Afghanistan’s interior and defense ministers, its national security director and chief of intelligence are on the delegation.
Pakistan is also sending representatives to take part in the review. Spanta and Pakistan’s foreign minister are expected to meet together with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Earlier, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on Friday that Washington could accept a political agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban if the insurgents laid down their arms and accepted the government’s terms.
He was responding to a question from a Pakistani reporter about whether a deal struck by Pakistan with Taliban fighters in the restive Swat valley could serve as a model for Afghanistan.
On Monday, Pakistan announced it would agree to the imposition of Islamic law in the northwest valley as part of an agreement aimed at restoring peace after an 18-month military campaign. The pact was spearheaded by a hard-line cleric who is negotiating with the Taliban in the valley to give up their arms.
A reporter from Pakistan’s Geo Television brought up the Swat deal and criticism of it by Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to the region.
The reporter asked whether, if Pakistan succeeds in pacifying militant activity in Swat, the US would allow Afghans to make a similar type of agreement.
“If there is a reconciliation, if insurgents are willing to put down their arms, if the reconciliation is essentially on the terms being offered by the government, then I think we would be very open to that,” Gates said. “We have said all along that ultimately some sort of political reconciliation has to be part of the long-term solution in Afghanistan.”
Later, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said: “The secretary is too polite to take issue with the premise of the question, but he was in no way equating the prospect for reconciliation in Afghanistan with whatever deal the Pakistani government may or may not be trying to cut with militants in Swat Province.”
Gates also welcomed the fact that NATO nations have signaled a willingness to provide more troops or other assistance to the war effort.
“Countries are making new commitments on a fairly steady basis on both the civilian and military sides,” Gates said. “I expect there will be new commitments by the time of the NATO summit [in April].”
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young people in India are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration. A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humor into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach — known for its ability to survive harsh conditions — as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of endurance. The online movement’s rise has been unusually rapid. The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)
BIGGER ROLE: Beijing has said it maintains an impartial stance on the war in Ukraine, but by training Russian troops, China is far more involved than previously known China’s armed forces secretly trained about 200 Russian military personnel in China late last year, and some have since returned to fight in Ukraine, according to three European intelligence agencies and documents seen by Reuters. While China and Russia have held a number of joint military exercises since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Beijing has repeatedly said that it is neutral in the conflict and presents itself as a peace mediator. The covert training sessions, which predominantly focused on the use of drones, were outlined in a dual-language Russian-Chinese agreement signed by senior Russian and Chinese officers in Beijing on
HOTTER: While Indians are accustomed to summer heat, climate change has caused northwestern India to warm faster than other parts of the country, an academic said Roads and markets have emptied during afternoons and some farmers have switched to nighttime work to avoid scorching temperatures as a heat wave grips large parts of India. The India Meteorological Department forecast maximum temperatures for yesterday of about 45°C in the capital, New Delhi, where authorities have opened temporary “cooling zones” to help people cope. The weather department warned that conditions would likely persist across several northern regions in the coming days, with temperatures staying well above seasonal averages. Authorities urged people to stay indoors during the hottest hours and take precautions against heat-related illnesses. India declares a heat wave whenever maximum temperatures
RSS