WASHINGTON: Pakistan’s envoy to the US, Masood Khan, has urged Washington to provide small arms and modern equipment to the country to ensure the success of Operation Azm-i-Istehkam, a newly approved counter-terrorism initiative. The federal government recently greenlit the reinvigorated national counter-terrorism drive, however, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif clarified that this initiative would not be a large-scale military operation and would …

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday passed a resolution with a majority vote terming the June 25 resolution adopted by the US House of Representatives — seeking probe into the alleged irregularities in the Feb 8 elections — “an interference” in Pakistan’s internal affairs amid noisy protest by the opposition PTI members who voted against it. After passage of the resolution, the treasury …

BEIJING: Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu on Thursday stated China’s stance on the Taiwan question, Xizang, the South China Sea issue and the Ukraine crisis in a phone call with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell. During the phone conversation, Ma demanded that the United States translate the “five-no” commitments made by U.S. President Joe Biden into real …

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday said that a resolution passed by the US House of Representatives in support of democracy in Pakistan stemmed from an “incomplete understanding” of the country’s political situation and electoral process. In a significant display of bipartisan support, the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution expressing robust support for democracy in Pakistan …

WASHINGTON: The US State Department on Wednesday said that no country should face the kind of terrorist attacks Pakistani people have suffered from, adding that Washington has a shared interest with Islamabad in combating threats to regional security. On Saturday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif-led federal government approved a reinvigorated and re-energised national counter-terrorism campaign — originally titled Operation Azm-i-Istehkam but later rebranded as Vision …

WASHINGTON: In a significant display of bipartisan support, the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution expressing robust support for democracy in Pakistan by an overwhelming 368-7 vote. Lawmakers supporting resolution HR 901, titled ‘Expressing support for democracy and human rights in Pakistan’, claimed that the approval highlighted the United States’ commitment to promoting democratic values globally. The resolution — …

SYDNEY: Julian Assange was on his way home to Australia as a free man on Wednesday after a plea deal ended years of legal drama for the WikiLeaks founder, who had long been wanted for revealing US state secrets. Assange, who from 2010 published hundreds of thousands of confidential US documents on the whistleblowing website, was released this week from a high-security British prison. The 52-year-old …

WASHINGTON: The US State Department said on Thursday that Washington supports direct talks between India and Pakistan but will not tell them how to conduct those discussions. At the regular news briefing in Washington, spokesperson Matthew Miller also emphasised a strong counterterrorism partnership with Pakistan, stating that both countries are committed to maintaining this relationship. “We value our important relationships …

BEIJING: The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday urged the United States to revoke its plan to sell arms to China’s Taiwan region and stop arming the region with weapons.  Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the ministry, voiced China’s strong condemnation and firm opposition in response to reports that the U.S. State Department has approved $360 million in weapons …

BEIJING: China on Thursday denounced the U.S.’s new sanctions on over 300 entities and individuals, including dozens of Chinese enterprises, which the U.S. side claimed helped Russia sustain military production to combat Ukraine. “China firmly opposes any illegal unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction. The normal economic and trade exchanges between China and Russia should not be interfered with, nor should …