RIGHTS: Britain Admits Complicity in U.S. Rendition

In a stunning reversal, Britain’s government admitted Wednesday that it participated in the ‘extraordinary rendition’ to Afghanistan of two terror suspects captured in Iraq.

PAKISTAN: Time Running Out to Restore Stability – U.S. Report

The United States and its allies must act urgently to prevent Pakistan - the only predominantly Muslim nation with nuclear weapons - from descending into a spiral of economic, security, and political crises, according to a new report released here by an influential think tank.

RIGHTS-US: What About Bagram?

While human rights and legal advocacy groups applauded President Barack Obama’s decision to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay within a year, many immediately raised another thorny question: "What about Bagram?"

GERMANY: Back From War, Shattered Survivors

Quickly after the idyllic scenes presented in the film, the story changes. The group of vigorous young men are home, greeted at the airport with flowers, hugs, kisses by loved ones and girlfriends. And then you find that the main character of the film 'Willkommen zu hause' ('Welcome Home') is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Peace Deal With Taliban Setback For Women

The ceasefire agreement reached by the provincial government in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the Taliban on Feb.16, involving implementation of shariah (Islamic law), is being seen as a setback for women’s rights in the area bordering Afghanistan.

US-RUSSIA: Kinder, Gentler Tone, Same Policy Tradeoffs

The relationship between the U.S. and Russia, which reached a nadir this past August during the war in Georgia, appears to have experienced a slight thaw during the first month of the Barack Obama administration.

US-AFGHANISTAN: Obama Nixed Full Surge After Quizzing Brass

President Barack Obama decided to approve only 17,000 of the 30,000 troops requested by Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, and Gen. David Petraeus, the CENTCOM commander, after McKiernan was unable to tell him how they would be used, according to a White House source.

PAKISTAN: Fatal Polio Thrives on Conflict Along Porous Border

The battle to eradicate polio in Pakistan has become more complicated.

POLITICS: Afghanistan Still World’s Opium Capital

Despite the heavy military presence of the United States and other Western powers, Afghanistan remains the world's largest illicit producer of opium, according to a new study released by experts who monitor the worldwide trade in narcotics on behalf of the United Nations.

POLITICS: Afghanistan, the Next U.S. Quagmire?

The United States is planning to send an additional 17,000 troops to one of the world's most battle-scarred nations - Afghanistan - long described as "a graveyard of empires".

US-AFGHANISTAN: Civilian Casualties May Surge As Well

U.S. President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he is sending two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan, marking the start of what many believe will be an escalation that will ultimately see the U.S. forces there double.

PAKISTAN: Militants Make Aid Work Risky

The kidnapping of John Solecki of the United Nations High Commission on Refugees(UNHCR)in Quetta, Balochistan province seems to confirm the perception of international humanitarian organisations that aid work in Pakistan is becoming increasingly hazardous.

INDIA/PAKISTAN: New Beginning Uncertain – Top Analysts

Almost three months after the terrorist attacks on India's commercial hub of Mumbai, which soured relations between India and Pakistan, the prospect for renewed cooperation between the nuclear-armed neighbours looks dim, two eminent analysts from the region conceded at a policy dialogue here.

PAKISTAN/INDIA: Taliban As Common Enemy

Since being elected to office five months ago, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has often declared that Pakistan's single biggest challenge stems from ‘religious' militants.

POLITICS-US: New Bid to Ban Indiscriminate Weapons

Leaders of a wide variety of national organisations and Congress are putting pressure on U.S. President Barack Obama to reconsider his predecessor's policies of allowing the use, transfer and production of weapons that have been shown to indiscriminately maim and kill civilians.

POLITICS-US: Afghanistan Pressures Beget Dubious Alliances

Central Asia is shaping up to be an early test of Barack Obama's foreign policy, as the increased demands of the war in Afghanistan force his administration to decide how far to accommodate or to pressure the region's autocratic governments.

PAKISTAN: Bracing For More Drone Attacks

On Jan 23, days after Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States, a series of missiles slammed into Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border - in continuation of Washington’s policy of targeting al-Qaeda and Taliban elements regardless of sovereignty issues.

U.S.: More Troops, More Worries, Less Consensus on Afghanistan

Even as U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to deploy more military forces to Afghanistan - what he has called "the central front" in former President George W. Bush's "global war on terror" - a consensus on overall U.S. strategy there remains elusive.

POLITICS-US: Top Defence Chiefs Vow Focus on Afghanistan

Both the top civilian and military leadership of the U.S. Department of Defence had busy days on Tuesday, fielding topically varied questions on their new policy priorities since President Barack Obama took office one week ago.

U.S.: Obama Picks Israel-Arab, Afghanistan-Pakistan Negotiators

In his first major diplomatic moves since his inauguration, U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday named two accomplished negotiators, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and Amb. Richard Holbrooke, as special envoys to deal with the Israel-Arab conflict and "the deteriorating situation" in Afghanistan and Pakistan, respectively.

PAKISTAN: Obama Inauguration Brings Hope, Scepticism

As billions of people around the world tuned in to participate electronically in Barack Hussein Obama’s inauguration as the 44th President of the United States, the message of hope that he symbolised resonated with Pakistanis - though some shrugged it off as part of a system that is unlikely to change.