CENTCOM chief Petraeus says US reserves ‘Right of Last Resort’ for threats inside Pak

September 14th, 2009 Fla. police: No credible threat to runaway convertORLANDO, Fla. — An investigation by Florida authorities has found that there were no credible threats to a teenager who ran away from her Ohio home because she says she feared for her life after converting to Christianity from Islam.

July 3rd, 2009 Gen. Petraeus says Taliban is a resilient enemyCALGARY, Alberta — The head of U.S. Central Command warned Friday that the thousands of American troops surging into Afghanistan's turbulent Helmand province to battle the Taliban are in for a tough fight.

June 17th, 2009 TAMPA - The US Central Command Chief, General David Petraeus, has said that Pakistan is fighting for its own survival, as the Pakistan Army continued its offensive against the Taliban and other insurgents in the Malakand and Swat Valley of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Talking to media persons at the Central Command headquarters here, General Petraeus approved of the military offensive against the militants in Pakistan's restive region, and said that the country was engaged in a war which was directly related to its existence.

June 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan has shifted forces from the Indian border to the west as it now sees very clearly the existential threat posed to their country by the extremists, said a top US general. "In Pakistan, there is no question I think at this point that the Pakistanis see very clearly the existential threat that is posed to their country by the extremists," General David Petraeus, Commander of the United States Central Command, said Friday.

June 11th, 2009 BANGALORE - Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has said that human habitation near tiger reserves would be completely banned. "There is a core area, which is called an inviolate area where there will be no human habitation - that is the new policy.

May 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has reiterated that India is not a threat to Pakistan, and acknowledged that the danger was from the terrorists within the country. 'Well, I am already on record.

May 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan has become the nerve centre of Al Qaeda's global operations to plan attacks around the world even while the Pakistani Taliban are planning a 'surge' of their own, according to a top American military commander. Senior leaders of Al Qaeda are using sanctuaries in Pakistan's lawless frontier regions to plan new terror attacks and funnel money, manpower and guidance to affiliates around the world, Gen.

April 24th, 2009 Petraeus: Shippers should consider armed guardsWASHINGTON — The global shipping industry should consider placing armed guards on its boats to ward off pirates who have become increasingly violent, the U.S. military commander who oversees the African coastline said Friday.

April 16th, 2009 LAHORE - US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief General David Petraeus, has said that the presence of extremists outfits such as Al Qaeda on Pakistan's soil pose 'an ever more serious threat to its very existence'. In an interview to the Philadelphia Inquirer, General Petraeus said the US policy's prime focus was on Afghanistan and Pakistan, because of the presence Al-Qaeda in the tribal regions of Pakistan.

April 6th, 2009 NEW YORK - With Pakistan's politicians apparently unprepared to take up the new US strategy of a partnership to defeat the Islamist insurgency, analysts in Washington and Islamabad have suggested that the South Asian nation could collapse in six months to a year. In a news analysis from Islamabad published Monday, Jane Perlez of the New York Times suggests 'time is short as US presses Pakistan, a reluctant ally' as 'Pakistan's politicians and people appear unprepared' to take up President Barack Obama's new strategy.

April 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - General David Petraeus, the top US commander in the Middle East, has told the US Congress that Israel could take matters into its own hands vis-à-vis Iran, should that country go ahead with its plans on the nuclear front. "The Israeli government may ultimately see itself so threatened by the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon that it would take preemptive military action to derail or delay it," The Jerusalem Post quoted General Petraeus, as saying.

March 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama has asserted his administration remains prepared to order strikes against 'high-value' targets within Pakistan, but would pursue extremists in Pakistani territory after consulting with Islamabad. 'If we have a high-value target within our sights,' Obama said, 'after consulting with Pakistan, we're going after them,' he said appearing on the CBS programme 'Face the Nation' to describe the strategy unveiled Friday to focus American counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

March 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US wants Pakistan to reform its notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, shift its focus from India to Afghanistan and train its troops in counter-insurgency to meet the terrorist threat at home. Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani 'recognises that he has an extremist threat in Pakistan', Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with PBS broadcast late Thursday.

March 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US defence chief wants Pakistan to reform its notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and shift its focus from India to Afghanistan and train its troops in counterinsurgency to meet the terrorist threat at home. Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Kayani 'recognises that he has an extremist threat in Pakistan', Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with PBS broadcast late Thursday.

March 12th, 2009 BRUSSELS - United States Vice President Joe Biden has claimed that at least 70 percent of Taliban guerrillas in Afghanistan are mercenaries fighting only for money. He said that these elements could be persuaded to lay down their arms.