US senator finds ISI-Taliban ties ‘troubling’

July 29th, 2009 NC Republican Burr will vote against SotomayorWASHINGTON — Republican Sen. Richard Burr says he will vote against the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.

July 21st, 2009 BUNER - Despite the continuing Taliban presence in Pakistan's Buner district, Pakistani military is allowing many displaced residents of the area to return to their homes. "More than 100 Taliban are here right now in Malakpur village.

July 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States has ruled out any negotiations with the Taliban until it lays down arms and severe all its ties with Al-Qaeda. When enquired about the statement of the Pakistan Army's spokesman, Major General Athar Abbas, that the Pakistan military can bring the Taliban to the discussion table with the United States, the US Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said such a possibility can only occur when the Taliban 'repudiates al-Qaeda publicly'.

June 9th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A senator affiliated to the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal ur has charged the Taliban with defaming Islam and questioned the government's handling of banned outfit leader Sufi Mohammed. "What militants are doing is no service to Islam, rather their actions are bringing bad name to it," The Nation quoted Senator Maulana Gul Naseeb, as saying.

May 31st, 2009 GOP senator: Sotomayor not better than a white manWASHINGTON — A GOP senator on the committee that will consider Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination says her early life of hardship is praiseworthy. But it doesn't make her better than he or other white men.

May 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - The United States is ready to take emergency action to prevent Pakistan's nuclear arsenals falling into the hands of the Taliban. he United States said that while it is comfortable with the protocols that the Pakistani military has in place to ensure nuclear arsenal security, it also has a contingency plan to thwart challenges from the Taliban.

May 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Visiting Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has said the military operation in the North West Frontier Province's Swat Valley would continue until the Taliban and other extremist groups are completely flushed out, and 'normalcy' returns to the troubled region. Addressing a joint press conference with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai and US Senator John Kerry here, Zardari said: "It is going to carry on until life in Swat comes back to normalcy." Zardari's statement came after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani declared an all out war against the Taliban in restive Swat and Malakand Divisions of the NWFP.

May 1st, 2009 ISLAMABAD - A senior US Republican Senator Kit Bond has criticized the Pakistan Government over the Swat peace deal. Bond said such deals have failed to yield desired results in the past, and are bound to fall short of expectations.

April 30th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The United States has reiterated that there is an immediate need to dismantle the Taliban and Al-Qaeda safe havens in Pakistan for the safety of the US and the world. Addressing the Senate, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee for Middle-east and South Asia, Senator Tom Casey expressed concerns about the expanding writ of the Taliban in Pakistan.

April 24th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - With the Taliban's unchallenged surge into newer regions inside Pakistan continuing, the United States has raised severe questions over Islamabad's willingness to tackle the issue, and the decision of the country's Army to keep away from the problem. Consolidating their position inside Pakistan's geographical territory, some 400 to 500 insurgents entered the North West Frontier Province's Buner district, which is located just 70 miles away from the federal capital Islamabad.

April 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Hollywood actor Robert Pattinson finds reports about a romance between him and his Twilight co-actor Kirsten Stewart "bizarre". Robert said he finds it amusing when tabloids keep on alleging that he is dating Kirsten.

April 23rd, 2009 LAHORE - The United States while expressing serious concerns over the Pakistan Government's decision to implement Islamic law is Swat Valley has raised questions over Pakistan army's capability to counter insurgency inside the country. Senator Jack Reed, who accompanied another Senator Ted Kaufman on a visit to Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, said that the increasing writ of Taliban in the country posed the greatest threat to the region.

April 20th, 2009 LAHORE - While Pakistan, in its effort to convince the international community, has repeatedly said that it is sincere in thwarting the rising Taliban influence in the region, the United States believes that Islamabad does not have either the will, nor the capacity to pose a challenge for the extremists. Terming Pakistan as a 'big problem', US Senator Ted Kaufman has said that the country lacks both ability and capacity to counter the insurgents from expanding their writ inside its territory.

April 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Many US lawmakers are concerned over the Obama administration's new Af-Pak strategy calling for deepening ties with Pakistan with some calling the Pakistanis unreliable allies against Al Qaeda and its 'syndicate' of extremism. Key administration officials appearing before a Senate panel Wednesday to explain the new strategy to confront growing extremist activity in Pakistan and Afghanistan faced sceptic senators questioning the Pakistani government' s willingness to fight extremists using its ungoverned tribal areas for staging attacks.

March 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is directly giving money, military supplies and strategic planning guidance to Taliban commanders fighting the US-led NATO forces, leading to rise in militant outfit's campaign in Afghanistan. ISI's direct help is making possible the Taliban campaign in southern Afghanistan, despite Pakistani Government promises to sever ties to militant groups fighting in Afghanistan, according to US Government officials.