Archivo de la etiqueta: Islamabad

Pakistan Elections: More Continuity Than Change

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pakistan-elections-story-topSupporters during an election campaign rally on May 06, 2013 in Multan, Pakistan. Read more in: “In Pakistan, more election violence”, by Nasir Habib, CNN

Pakistan Elections: More Continuity Than Change

Scott Or, RAND Corporation, May 8, 2013

This weekend’s elections in Pakistan are more likely to yield continuity than change, an outcome that could offer some opportunities for enhanced engagement between Washington and Islamabad, a pair of RAND experts told reporters on April 6.

During a conference call from Washington, Seth Jones, associate director of RAND’s International Security and Defense Policy Center, and Jonah Blank, a senior political scientist, said a relatively free and fair election would be a welcome sign of political stability for a key U.S. partner in South Asia.

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China confirms nuclear deal with Pakistan

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pakistan-nuclear-reactor Pakistan´s plutonium production reactor at Khushab. Image source: Digital Globe

China confirms nuclear deal with Pakistan

By Bill Gertz, The Washington Times, March 26, 2013

China confirmed this week it will sell a new 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactor to Pakistan that the United States says would violate Beijing’s obligations under a nuclear supplier control group.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei was asked Monday about a report in the Free Beacon March 22 that first disclosed the secret agreement for the reactor reached last month in Beijing between the China National Nuclear Corp. and the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.

“China has noted the relevant report,” Hong told reporters in Beijing.

Normally, Chinese government spokesmen deny such reports and label them “groundless” as a way to avoid comment. The spokesman’s use of the phrase “noted the relevant report” is unusual and a tacit admission the report is accurate.

U.S. intelligence and diplomatic officials privately said the agreement was reached in Beijing during a visit by a high-level Pakistani delegation of nuclear industry officials from Feb. 15 to 18.

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Work with Moscow in Central Asia

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baikonur A scene from “Baikonur” (2011), the movie (dir. Veit Helmer)

Work with Moscow in Central Asia

March 21, 2013

When Uzbek security forces killed hundreds of protestors in the city of Andijon in May 2005, both Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a bipartisan group of senators called for an international investigation, while Moscow and Beijing backed the Uzbek government. Tashkent soon ordered U.S. forces out of the country and, in November 2005, joined the Russian-led CSTO (from which it withdrew again in 2012 to pursue a strategic partnership with the United States that risks deepening Central Asia’s polarization).

During his first summit with Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow in June 2009, President Obama emphasized that the American military presence in Central Asia dovetailed with Russia’s own interest in fighting Islamist extremism, leading Moscow to walk back its demands for U.S. forces to leave their remaining airbase in Kyrgyzstan. Medvedev also agreed to allow the transit of U.S. troops and equipment through Russian territory, helping set the stage for the creation of the Northern Distribution Network. This series of transit routes across Europe, Russia, and Central Asia leading to Afghanistan allowed the U.S. and its NATO allies to reduce their dependence on lines of communication through Pakistan, which Islamabad has shut down on multiple occasions and has been a boon for cooperation among the U.S., Russia, and Central Asia.

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Tibia esperanza de diálogo en Afganistán

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Taliban-prisoners
Los tobillos encadenados de prisioneros talibanes en Pakistán

Kabul observa con tibia esperanza los nuevos movimientos de Islamabad

Fawad Peikar/Pau Miranda, 08/12/2012 10:27

Kabul/Islamabad, 8 dic (EFE).- La reciente liberación de talibanes afganos por Pakistán ha ofrecido una tibia esperanza a las autoridades de Afganistán de reavivar el diálogo con los insurgentes aunque no diluye la desconfianza sobre las intenciones de Islamabad.

A mediados de noviembre, el Gobierno paquistaní accedió a poner en libertad a nueve cabecillas talibanes tras una visita al país de una delegación del Consejo de Paz afgano y dos semanas después se comprometió a hacer lo propio con más prisioneros.

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