By James Joyner In a speech to the Atlantic Council this week, Major General John Toolan, just returned from a year commanding NATO forces in southwestern Afghanistan, both highlighted the tremendous progress coalition forces have made since the beginning of the Afghan surge and candidly acknowledged how much work remains to be done. Toolan was, for the most part, dismissive of the Taliban’s strength, which ...

US warns N Korea to refrain from hostile acts Washington: The White House has warned North Korea to refrain from future hostile acts amid indications Pyongyang could soon embark on a new nuclear test or may plan more missile launches. Pyongyang should "refrain from engaging in any more hostile or provocative actions. They do nothing to advance the cause of peace on the Korean peninsula (or) in Northeast Asi ...

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is creating a new intelligence agency that will focus on Iran and China as it begins to pivot away from war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, the New York Times reported. The newspaper said late Monday that the new Defense Clandestine Service would make use of existing agents, authorities and assets and work closely with the Central Intelligence Agency to track emerging threats. “It wi ...

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Saturday to increase the number of observers in Syria to 300 for three months. A 30-member UN team is already in Syria to monitor a fragile ceasefire between government forces and rebel militias. The UN resolution was approved at a time when the monitors were allowed to visit the city of Homs for the first time. The resolution, sponsored by Russia ...

BRUSSELS (AP): Russia's foreign minister sharply criticized NATO's plan to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by 2014, saying Thursday that coalition troops should remain in the country until Afghan government forces are capable of ensuring security. "As long as Afghanistan is not able to ensure by itself the security in the country, the artificial timelines of withdrawal are not correct and they should n ...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reminded India on Saturday of a 1989 agreement for resolving the Siachen dispute and asked New Delhi to honour it. “A 1989 agreement exists, which settled the principles for the resolution of Siachen conflict,” Zehra Akbari, Director General (South Asia) at the Foreign Office, said at a media briefing on rescue operations in avalanche-hit Gayari. “Time has come for the implementation of ...