The newly elected French President Francois Hollande made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Friday, days after a NATO summit at which he discomfited allies by insisting that France would pull out its combat troops by the end of the year. The newly inaugurated French leader was meeting with President Hamid Karzai and visiting with French troops, who are mainly deployed in Kapisa province, east of the ca ...

[caption id="attachment_1304" align="alignright" width="361" caption="U.S. President Barack Obama makes opening remarks during the meeting on Afghanistan at the NATO summit in Chicago, May 21, 2012. U.S. Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, center, U.S. Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, far right, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe, U. ...

Air Commodore (R) Khalid Iqbal As Chicago summit was on, western media carried reports that President Obama had declined a formal meeting with President of Pakistan until the supply routes were opened. Both Pakistan and America have exposed the crude fragility of their bilateral relations. America has indicated that it could go to any extent of arm twisting in the context of reopening of supply routes via T ...

By Alex Rodriguez Pakistan -- A Pakistani doctor who led a phony vaccination campaign aimed at helping the CIA pinpoint Osama bin Laden's whereabouts was convicted of treason Wednesday and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a decision that is likely to further fray Washington's fragile relations with Islamabad. U.S. officials have been seeking the release of Shakeel Afridi since his arrest by Pakistani author ...

Jawad Raza Khan Pakistan is undeniably under huge compression especially after discontinuing NATO supplies, since the dejected Salala incident. Experts are evaluating the situation on hourly basis, giving news and theories with pessimistic approach leaving audience hopeless (most of them). Bonn conference, Shamsi Air Base and Chicago moot all are discussed at length, but what is really unheard off is someth ...

Mohammad Jamil For quite some time, there have been targeted killings of people belonging to different ethnicities including Punjabi settlers in Balochistan. Few Baloch nationalist leaders were also either killed or reportedly disappeared. Whereas civil society acted as a silent spectator of targeting killings, some elements highlighted the murder of Baloch nationalist leaders, and what they called their en ...

Sultan M Hali Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) are wreaking double havoc in Pakistan. Firstly, their incessant use by miscreants is resulting in the loss of precious human lives and limbs. Secondly, Pakistan is being blamed for alleged complicity in the transportation of raw material (Ammonium Nitrate) used in the preparation of the IEDs. A number of international bodies and think tanks have conducted re ...

Editor Pakistan Observer Turkish support and sincerity has never been in doubt but this became more vocal this week during visit to Pakistan by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the role played by Turkish President Abdullah Gul at the NATO Summit at Chicago. Gul not only backed Pakistan’s position on crucial issues at the summit but also, during bilateral talks with president Asif Ali Zardari, express ...