Accusations that Pakistan helped a militant group bomb India’s embassy in Afghanistan cast a cloud yesterday over the start of an eight-nation South Asian summit aimed at fostering regional cooperation.
India, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, all fighting decades-old insurgencies, exhorted South Asian nations yesterday to pool efforts to fight terrorism, which they said posed the biggest threat to the region’s stability.
PHOTO: AFP
‘GREATER GRIP’
“Terrorism and its sanctuaries are gaining a greater grip in Pakistan,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in a speech at the start of the two-day summit.
He said terrorists in Pakistan were getting “institutionalized nurturing and support.”
Afghanistan was the worst victim of international terrorism, Karzai said.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the recent attack on his country’s embassy in Kabul and a string of bombings in Indian cities “are gruesome reminders of the barbarity that still finds a place in South Asia.”
“It remains the single biggest threat to our stability,” he said.
ACCORD
The summit is expected to approve an accord on fighting terror, including freezing funds used for attacks and agreements on the creation of a regional development fund and a food bank aimed at coping with skyrocketing food prices.
Tensions between India and Pakistan have heightened amid accusations that members of Pakistan’s intelligence service have aided Islamic militants fighting in Afghanistan and the Indian portion of Kashmir.
The New York Times reported on Friday that US intelligence agencies had intercepted communications between Pakistani intelligence officials and Islamic militants implicating the intelligence service in the July 7 attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul, which left at least 41 people dead.
Pakistan dismissed the accusation as “rubbish” and promised to cooperate with neighboring countries to combat terror.
WORST OFF
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said yesterday that his country had suffered the most from terrorism, though it was afflicting all countries of the region.
The summit is being attended by leaders from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
The region, home to one-fifth of the world’s population and many of its most impoverished people, has been plagued by terror attacks.
Pakistan is grappling with restive tribal regions along its border with Afghanistan, where fighting between insurgents and government troops intensified this week.
TALIBAN
The Afghan government is facing a resurgent Taliban and a spate of bombings has hit India in recent weeks.
Afghan officials have repeatedly said Pakistan is not doing enough to crack down on militants, an allegation which Pakistan denies.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation was set up in 1985 to promote economic cooperation, but progress in most areas has been slow, mainly because of the rivalry between India and Pakistan, and the organization has often been derided as little more than a talk shop.
Also See: Fighting breaks out ahead of regional summit in Colombo
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS