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Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Pakistan worms back into US good books as 'Field Marshal' Asim Munir goes to Washington
Pakistan army Lt Gen Syed Asim Munir attends a ceremony in Islamabad, Pakistan, November 1, 2022. (AP file photo) TOI correspondent from Washington: Pakistani expat supporters of former PM Imran Khan are lining up protests against the country's de facto military ruler, "Field Marshal" Asim Munir, who is scheduled to arrive in Washington DC on Thursday to attend a military parade to celebrate the 250th anniversary of US Army. "General Asim Munir and his regime have committed some of the worst human rights abuses in Pakistan's history. Pakistani-Americans from across the country will travel to Washington this Saturday, the 14th, to demand a lifting of the martial law, an end to human rights violations, and restoration of the constitution," the US wing of the Imran Khan's PTI said in a statement. Munir is a guest of the Centcom commander Gen Michael Kurilla, who gave glowing testimonials to Pakistan as a "phenomenal partner" in counter-terrorism at a congressional hearing earlier this week, underscoring rejuvenated ties between Washington and Islamabad. The remarks came in the face of Pakistan's terrorist depredations in the US and in India, where officials attribute the uptick in terror attacks in Kashmir, including the Pahalgam carnage, to Munir's hardline policies aimed at keeping the military relevant. Once a "frontline ally" and a "major non-Nato partner", Pakistan's ties with US have been moribund for almost 15 years following a tactical alliance during the Bush presidency to vanquish Al Qaeda and ISIS, even as Washington forged strategic ties with New Delhi with a civilian nuclear deal and began to view India as a counterweight to China. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 2025: Steel Suppliers From Mexico At Lowest Prices (Take A Look) Steel Suppliers | search ads Search Now Undo Successive US Presidents after Bush, including Obama, Trump in his first term, and Biden, largely ignored the country. But ties have rebounded dramatically over the past 15 weeks after the Pakistani establishment reached out to Trump surrogates to play a "get out of jail" card, dangling lucrative contracts in mineral exploration and cryptocurrency to Trump surrogates to make inroads into Washington. Among them is Gentry Beach, a Texas-based businessman, hedge fund manager, and CEO/co-founder of Highground Holdings and Valence Chemicals, who is a longtime friend and associate of Donald Trump Jr., having met him at the Wharton School of Business in the 1990s. Beach led a US business investor delegation to Pakistan soon after the Trump II inauguration to explore investments in luxury real estate, mining, energy, technology, with his company White Bridge Mining, signing an agreement for exploration of gold and other minerals. Following meetings with top Pakistani leaders in Islamabad and Dubai, Beach began talking up Pakistan in Washington, calling it an "amazing country" and echoing Islamabad's talking points that it has been on the "frontlines in the war on terrorism" and "sacrificed so much for America. " Trump himself began taking a charitable view of Pakistan after having lambasted it during his first term. "The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!' he tweeted in January 2018. He also suspended $1.3 billion in security assistance to Pakistan, citing its failure to crack down on terrorist networks. But amid scuttlebutt that Pakistan had bought its way back into Washington's good books, the US President took a more benign view of Islamabad, asserting on June 6, 'Pakistan has very strong leadership. Some people won't like when I say that, but it is what it is."
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jets, intelligence or troops: What could a US security backstop in Ukraine look like?
Sir Keir Starmer has renewed his call for the US to provide a 'backstop' security guarantee in Ukraine to deter Russia from invading again in the event of a peace deal between the two nations. Speaking on his flight to Washington DC to meet president Donald Trump, the prime minister said 'there is no issue between' the UK and US on Ukraine, despite the two leaders having appeared at odds in recent weeks over the role European nations and the US should play in any peacekeeping operation in Ukraine. President Trump's administration has played up the chances of a deal to end Vladimir Putin's three-year full invasion – but has downplayed the prospect of Ukraine joining Nato and said it is 'unrealistic' to expect the nation's pre-2014 borders [before Russia illegally annexed the region of Crimea] to be restored. Speaking earlier in February, new US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the country would not longer "tolerate an imbalanced relationship" with its European allies in Nato. He added that these members must begin providing the majority of military aid to Ukraine and take on safeguarding responsibilities. This includes "capable European and non-European troops" to be deployed as peacekeepers Mr Hegesth said. However, he added that the troops must be deployed on a non-Nato mission, meaning the organisation's Article 5 – which guarantees collective security – would not be triggered. Essentially, this would waive the US's obligation to intervene. Only a few days later, Sir Keir said he was ready to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine 'if necessary' to guarantee the country's security. He later added that Nato troop presence in Ukraine must be backed by a US security 'backstop.' Speaking to reporters over the Atlantic ahead of a meeting with Mr Trump on Thursday, Sir Keir clarified: 'The reason I say the backstop is so important is that the security guarantee has to be sufficient to deter Putin from coming again. 'Because my concern is if there is a ceasefire without a backstop, it will simply give him the opportunity to wait and to come again because his ambition in relation to Ukraine is pretty obvious, I think, for all to see. 'We will play our part and I've been clear that we will need a US backstop of some sort,' he added. The issue is likely to be a source of tension between the two leaders today as they meet for the first time since Trump's election victory in November. What kind of security guarantee Sir Keir wants the US to commit to is unclear. En route to Washington DC, he said: "Exactly what the configuration of that is, exactly what the backstop is, is obviously the subject of intense discussion but I'm not going to get ahead of myself on it, other than to say I'm very clear about what the principles are." He faces a difficult task, with President Trump ruling out any such commitment. He told reporters on Wednesday: "I'm not going to make security guarantees beyond very much. "We're going to have Europe do that, because we're talking about Europe as the next door neighbour." If the US were to provide a backstop to European troops on the ground in Ukraine, it's unlikely it would be in the form of troops on the ground. Former four-star US Air Force general Philip Breedlove says it would instead be a matter of supporting with intelligence and providing air support. Speaking to BBC's Radio 4 Today programme, he said the US needs to 'correct' the idea that it is telling Europe 'if you get into a dust-up with Russia, we're not gonna be there.' 'We need to correct that publicly, clearly,' he said. 'We, the United States, may not put boots on the ground, I understand our president. 'But the United States can still provide a backstop by first supplying all of that great intelligence that we have given Ukraine in the past we need to give them into the future. 'And we have airpower that could be that backstop,' he added. 'Basically, if Mr Putin tries to run over Nato troops, the United States could be that backstop via airpower.'
The Independent
27-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Jets, intelligence or troops: What could a US security backstop in Ukraine look like?
Sir Keir Starmer has renewed his call for the US to provide a 'backstop' security guarantee in Ukraine to deter Russia from invading again in the event of a peace deal between the two nations. Speaking on his flight to Washington DC to meet president Donald Trump, the prime minister said 'there is no issue between' the UK and US on Ukraine, despite the two leaders having appeared at odds in recent weeks over the role European nations and the US should play in any peacekeeping operation in Ukraine. President Trump's administration has played up the chances of a deal to end Vladimir Putin's three-year full invasion – but has downplayed the prospect of Ukraine joining Nato and said it is 'unrealistic' to expect the nation's pre-2014 borders [before Russia illegally annexed the region of Crimea] to be restored. Speaking earlier in February, new US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the country would not longer "tolerate an imbalanced relationship" with its European allies in Nato. He added that these members must begin providing the majority of military aid to Ukraine and take on safeguarding responsibilities. This includes "capable European and non-European troops" to be deployed as peacekeepers Mr Hegesth said. However, he added that the troops must be deployed on a non-Nato mission, meaning the organisation's Article 5 – which guarantees collective security – would not be triggered. Essentially, this would waive the US's obligation to intervene. Only a few days later, Sir Keir said he was ready to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine 'if necessary' to guarantee the country's security. He later added that Nato troop presence in Ukraine must be backed by a US security 'backstop.' Speaking to reporters over the Atlantic ahead of a meeting with Mr Trump on Thursday, Sir Keir clarified: 'The reason I say the backstop is so important is that the security guarantee has to be sufficient to deter Putin from coming again. 'Because my concern is if there is a ceasefire without a backstop, it will simply give him the opportunity to wait and to come again because his ambition in relation to Ukraine is pretty obvious, I think, for all to see. 'We will play our part and I've been clear that we will need a US backstop of some sort,' he added. The issue is likely to be a source of tension between the two leaders today as they meet for the first time since Trump's election victory in November. What would a US backstop in Ukraine look like? What kind of security guarantee Sir Keir wants the US to commit to is unclear. En route to Washington DC, he said: "Exactly what the configuration of that is, exactly what the backstop is, is obviously the subject of intense discussion but I'm not going to get ahead of myself on it, other than to say I'm very clear about what the principles are." He faces a difficult task, with President Trump ruling out any such commitment. He told reporters on Wednesday: "I'm not going to make security guarantees beyond very much. "We're going to have Europe do that, because we're talking about Europe as the next door neighbour." If the US were to provide a backstop to European troops on the ground in Ukraine, it's unlikely it would be in the form of troops on the ground. Former four-star US Air Force general Philip Breedlove says it would instead be a matter of supporting with intelligence and providing air support. Speaking to BBC's Radio 4 Today programme, he said the US needs to 'correct' the idea that it is telling Europe 'if you get into a dust-up with Russia, we're not gonna be there.' 'We need to correct that publicly, clearly,' he said. 'We, the United States, may not put boots on the ground, I understand our president. 'But the United States can still provide a backstop by first supplying all of that great intelligence that we have given Ukraine in the past we need to give them into the future. 'And we have airpower that could be that backstop,' he added. 'Basically, if Mr Putin tries to run over Nato troops, the United States could be that backstop via airpower.'
Telegraph
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Europe's military weakness means nobody is paying it any attention
After warning European Nato members to stop freeloading on the US, President Trump has contemptuously sidelined Europe from immediate negotiations with Russia over ending the Ukraine war. Whether anything will come of this we don't yet know. Putin told Trump he is interested in peace but that means nothing and Russia has been stepping up the tempo of its operations on Ukrainian territory in recent weeks. Although the US special envoy for Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, has said Russia will have to make territorial concessions and give undertakings against future aggression in Europe, any settlement is likely to end with a frozen conflict roughly along current front lines, with Russia in possession of around 20 per cent of Ukrainian sovereign territory. Sir Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron seem to be contemplating taking the lead on a non-Nato peacekeeping force to police the approximately 800 mile ceasefire lines if the fighting ends. The Nato Secretary General as well as other military experts have estimated a force of up to 100,000 would be needed. Germany seems unlikely to send troops to Ukraine, fearful of an all-out war with Russia, and Poland has ruled out participation. So the job would fall mostly to Britain and France. France's foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot has said 'Who will bring the guarantees? It will be the Europeans'. Meanwhile at around the same time, Macron dismissed the idea of a 'huge force' to patrol the buffer zone as 'far-fetched'. Starmer says he will consider putting British boots on the ground. But how can an army of now fewer than 75,000 regular troops sustain a sizeable force on rotation for a protracted period? Let's not forget as well: without an immediate increase in the defence budget, there will have to be further cuts to UK forces this year. Since taking office Starmer has repeatedly equivocated on any increase in both size and time-scale and his Chancellor has pretty much ruled it out. This is a continuation of Britain's bankrupt defence policy which has for years assumed that our hollowed-out forces would always be fighting with the US alongside to prop up inadequate troop numbers and bargain basement equipment. Now, faced with an emerging reality, Starmer on the one hand talks about the UK taking the lead while on the other says it is conditional on US security guarantees. Europe's faltering reaction to a potential frozen conflict is no different to its support for Ukraine in the three years this war's been running – depend on the US for everything but talk, flag waving and whatever cash can be spared from bloated social welfare budgets. That dependence was misplaced as Biden refused to properly fill the gap because he was deterred by nuclear-armed Russia. And now we have Trump, understandably exasperated by European failure to take care of its own defence and in any case wanting to prioritise what he considers the greater threat from China. A lack of any real vision of what they stand for has left European leaders – including our own – wringing their hands over the threats they face but lacking means to defend themselves. That has left Ukraine fatally exposed and Russia undeterred from any future aggression on the continent of Europe.
South China Morning Post
17-02-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Xi assures entrepreneurs, China's peace role in Ukraine: SCMP daily highlights
Catch up on some of SCMP's biggest China and economy stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing President Xi Jinping on Monday assured China's leading entrepreneurs of persistent government support as the world's second-largest economy faces greater external headwinds. China could send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine to help preserve any negotiated ceasefire in its war with Russia – as long as they worked with non-Nato countries like India, a former Chinese colonel has suggested. Illustration: Henry Wong Ex-US Department of State official discusses the role of civil diplomats and whether US should have an end-state goal in its China strategy.
