Pakistan plans to arm tens of thousands of anti-Taliban tribal fighters in its western border region in hopes — shared by the U.S. military — that the nascent militias can replicate the tribal “Awakening” movement that proved decisive in the battle against al-Qaeda in Iraq. The militias, called lashkars, will receive Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifles […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) ‚ Pakistan sought help from the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday to avoid defaulting on billions of dollars in loans and to skirt a financial crisis brought on by high fuel prices, dwindling foreign investment and soaring militant violence. Pakistani officials had previously said that turning to the I.M.F. would be a […]
The visiting American official couldn't have been more blunt. After attending Monday's Friends of Pakistan meeting in Islamabad, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher told a news conference, ‘It is not going to be a cash advance for Pakistan’. Similar sentiment is said to be filtering in from Saudi Arabia and China at a time […]
ISLAMABAD: Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Tariq Majid has observed that the country's armed forces have to be prepared for the whole spectrum of threats in the wake of emerging geo strategic environment where non traditional security threats were taking the centre stage. Delivering key note address at the inaugural session of […]
LAHORE: As Pakistan's finance managers began crucial talks on its Economic Stabilization Programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday in Dubai, most commercial banks back home had already run out of dollars in hard cash. While some banks were straight forward in "informing' their customers that they couldn't withdraw hard cash from their […]
NEW DELHI ‚ After more than 60 years, trade opened Tuesday across the de facto border dividing the Indian and Pakistani parts of the disputed region of Kashmir. Sixteen Indian trucks, loaded mostly with apples and walnuts, rumbled across the border on Tuesday morning, said Pawan Kotwal, the commerce secretary for Indian-administered Kashmir. Trucks from […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Taliban militants bombed a convoy of Pakistani troops and opened fire on the survivors in a battle that killed five security officers and seven attackers, officials said Wednesday. Violent clashes in regions near the Afghan border and suicide bombings across the country are undermining confidence in Pakistan and its crisis-threatened economy. […]
ISLAMABAD: An unusual parliamentary debate designed to forge a Pakistani policy on how to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda has exposed deep ambivalence about the militants, even as their reach extends to suicide attacks in the capital. Calls for dialogue with the Taliban, peppered with opposition to fighting what is perceived as an American […]
WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda, which has mutated over the years, is now a loose network without a hierarchy, made up of groups that are global, fluid and unpredictable, former federal minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao told the US Institute of Peace on Friday. He said Al Qaeda's appeal is "inspirational" and it does not operate an […]
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will conclude negotiations on the Economic Stabilisation Programme this week in Abu Dhabi, a senior official in the Finance Ministry told Daily Times on Sunday. The official said negotiations on the micro-economic programme would enable Pakistan to seek lending from the IMF without further negotiations if Pakistan […]
IN the sixty-second year of independence the political dilemma facing the people of Pakistan is the same as it was in the first year ‚ in whom the executive authority of the state vests and who actually exercises it? It became an issue serious enough in the lifetime of Mr Jinnah to have persuaded him […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan ‚ President Asif Ali Zardari returned from China late Friday without a commitment for cash needed to shore up Pakistan's crumbling economy, leaving him with the politically unpopular prospect of having to ask the International Monetary Fund for help. Pakistan was seeking the aid from China, an important ally, as it faces the […]
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