The Daily Indian

Turnout in Iraq’s parliamentary election was 62 percent, higher than in last year’s provincial ballot, despite attempts by Sunni Islamist insurgents to disrupt the vote with attacks that killed 38, officials said on Monday.

Preliminary results were not expected for another day or two in a poll that Iraqis sickened by violence hope will help bring better governance and stability after years of sectarian slaughter, as U.S. troops prepare to withdraw.

Turnout reached 62 percent, said Hamdiya al-Husseini of Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC).

That was better than many had hoped for and indicated Iraqis were not deterred by blasts that thudded across the capital on election day. Iraqi officials blamed the explosions on mortar, rockets and roadside bombs, but U.S. military officials said many were caused by “noise bombs” consisting of explosives in plastic bottles.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s State of Law list said it was on course for victory in Baghdad and Iraq’s Shi’ite south, a claim that could not be verified but which, at least in the south, appeared to be backed by informal, early vote tallies.

As the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are scheduled to meet in New Delhi today, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the Obama Administration favours resumption of direct talks between the two neighbours.

“With respect to India and Pakistan, we have encouraged the resumption of direct talks which were suspended when President Pervez Musharraf left office,” Clinton told a Congressional panel yesterday.

In reply to a question from Senator Greg on Indo-Pak relations, she said “…talks between President Musharraf and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had actually been quite productive particularly in producing results on the ground in Kashmir. But they have been in abeyance now for… slightly more than two years.”

Clinton said that the countries were going to hold talks, and the US was sensitive to the concerns that the both countries have.

“We continue to raise it (resumption of talks) and make the case to each separately as to why it is in their mutual interest to proceed,” she said.

Referring to good relationship between India and the US, the Secretary of State said “with India, we have had a very successful start to this Administration building on, frankly, the success and the investment of the prior two administrations in working with India, creating more opportunities for investment, more relationship building between our two governments.”

“So I think that in these two areas, which are two of the most significant areas for America’s long term security, we are working very hard and you know trying to make even very small but significant progress in any way we can,” Clinton said.

Notwithstanding sharp differences with Moscow on key security issues, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has invited Russia to cooperate more closely with NATO allies.

“While Russia faces challenges to its security, NATO is not among them. We want a cooperative NATO-Russia relationship that produces concrete results and draws NATO and Russia closer together,” Clinton said in a major foreign policy speech on NATO yesterday. The Russian Government has come forward with its proposals for a new European Security Treaty and a new NATO-Russia treaty, she said.

“Now, we believe that some of Russia’s proposals contain constructive ideas and we welcome the opportunity to engage seriously with Russia on this important subject,” she said.

US and NATO forces are all set to roll out an “intensive 18-month” ground campaign in Afghanistan to stamp out Taliban and al-Qaeda militants, top US generals have said warning the insurgents that the Marjah offensive was just the start.

“Marjah campaign where the Taliban resistance has only been disjointed is just an initial operation of what will be a 12 to 18 month campaign to overun the Taliban,” General David Petraeus, the head of US Central Command told NBC television’s ‘Meet The Press’ programme.
He said that President Barack Obama and General Stanley McChrystal who leads a 121,000 US and NATO force in Afghanistan, had laid out a comprehensive strategy that was only beginning to unfold.

Petraeus comments come as a strong US, NATO and Afghan army detachments are close to over-running Taliban stronghold of Marjah, whose capture would choke insurgents finances derived from poppy cultivation.

The General who oversaw a similar US forces’ surge in Iraq described Taliban resistance as “weak and disjointed” and warned that the campaign so far was only in its initial stage.
His top commander in Afghanistan, McChrystal was quoted by the British newspaper Times as saying that Kandahar would be the coalition forces’ next target.

McChrystal said that the Marjah offensive was a model for future campaigns in Afghanistan. He said the military offensive would also be expanded to three other Taliban-dominated provinces.

Times said that though the US General did not specify locations of upcoming intensified campaigns, military sources said that US and NATO forces wanted to hit the elusive but powerful Taliban warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani and his network in eastern Afghanistan.

US intelligence forces have so far been pounding the Haqqani networks hideouts in the Pakistani tribal belt targeting them with drone-fired hell-fire missiles and apparently were now poised to confront him head-on in his strongholds of Khost, Pakyta, Pakhtiar and Gardez provinces.

“We are going to go where a significant part of the population are at risk and Kandahar is clearly very important not just to the south, but to the nation,” McChrystal said adding “It is not the only area though.”

On the Marjah offensive, the US Commander said, “In many ways it is a model for the future: an Afghan led operation supported by the coalition, deeply engaged with the people.”

President Barack Obama is “most likely” to visit India, which he considers an “indispensable” partner of the US, later this year, a top official of the Administration has said.

India is on top of the agenda of the Obama Administration, which is reflected in the very fact that the President invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his presidency’s first State Visit in November last year, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, said.

“President Obama has further underscored the importance of India to the United States by promising to make a reciprocal visit to India, most likely later this year,” Blake said addressing the Chicago Council on Global Affairs yesterday.

However, he did not announce any dates for the visit.

Blake reminded the audience that the US President considers India an indispensable partner of the US. “Few relationships around the world matter more to our collective future, or hold greater promise for constructive action on the challenges that matter most to all of us, than the partnership between the United States and India.”

“That doesn’t mean that we will always agree, because we won’t. But together we can build on the solid foundation that already exists, an even stronger partnership that serves not only the interests of our two countries, but of the rest of the international community,” he said.

“The United States and India share common ideals and complementary strengths reflected in our very close people-to-people contacts, our shared embrace of democratic principles and our willingness to work together on issues that matter not only to us, but to the global community,” Blake said.

Noting that India, Pakistan and the US all face the common threat of terrorism, Blake said: “While we would like to see India and Pakistan reach a stable relationship, they will do so on their terms at the appropriate time.”

At the same time, India has become a valuable, in fact, a top five contributor to Afghanistan’s reconstruction, he said.

Blake appreciated New Delhi’s valuable assistance to the war-torn country’s reconstruction, both in infrastructure, such as construction of the Parliament building and highways, and humanitarian fields like food aid to two million school children.

India has pledged over USD 1.2 billion in assistance, Blake noted.

U.S. President Barack Obama hosted exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House on Thursday, drawing an angry reaction from China and risking further damage to strained Sino-U.S. ties.

Obama used his first presidential meeting with the Dalai Lama to press China, under international criticism for its Tibet policies, to preserve Tibetan identity and respect human rights.

He sat down with the Dalai Lama, reviled by the Chinese government as a dangerous separatist, in the face of wider tensions over U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan, China’s currency practices and Internet censorship.

While defying Beijing’s demands to scrap the talks and showing a willingness to irritate an increasingly assertive China, the White House took pains to keep the encounter low-key, barring media coverage. But it later posted a photo on its official website of the two men side by side in conversation.

Beijing said it was “strongly dissatisfied” about the meeting and expected Washington to take steps to put bilateral relations back on a healthy course.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said the meeting “violated the U.S. government’s repeated acceptance that Tibet is a part of China and it does not support Tibetan independence”.

Monks living in Tongren, an overwhelmingly ethnic Tibetan part of the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai, set off fireworks for a second night to celebrate.

“This is great news for the Tibetans,” one monk told Reuters. “We don’t care that it makes the government angry. It makes us very happy that Obama met him.”

Beijing did not threaten retaliation and its response was in line with past denunciations of U.S. dealings with the Dalai Lama. But the visit could complicate Obama’s efforts to secure China’s help on key issues such as imposing tougher sanctions on Iran and forging a new global accord on climate change.

Senior Chinese military officers recently had proposed their country possibly sell part of its huge stockpile of U.S. bonds to punish Washington for the a proposed $6.4 billion arms sale to self-ruled Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.

“The thought process is definitely there, and it’s worrying,” said T.J. Marta, president of Marta on the Markets, a financial research firm in Scotch Plains, New Jersey,

China did in fact reduce its holdings of U.S. Treasuries to $755.4 billion in November, seen by some analysts as a sign of protest at U.S. policies.

But with China ranked as the United States’s second-biggest creditor to the United States, White House economic adviser Larry Summers played down the significance of Beijing’s $34 billion paring-back of its portfolio.

Adding to tensions, Obama vowed recently to address currency issues with Beijing and to “get much tougher” with China on trade. Washington complains that China keeps its currency undervalued, hurting the competitiveness of American goods.

The Dalai Lama is set to meet US President Barack Obama today to seek his help in resolving the vexed Tibet issue, notwithstanding stiff opposition from China.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader would also meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the State Department announced.

Terming it as an important meeting, the Dalai Lama’s Special Envoy Lodi Gyari, said the 74-year-old leader will speak about Tibet, and the two Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are also likely to discuss global concerns.

“His Holiness will be asking the President to help find a solution in resolving the Tibet issue that would be mutually beneficial to the Tibetan and Chinese people,” Gyari said in a statement issued soon after the arrival of the Dalai Lama here yesterday. The Dalai Lama would also receive an award for his commitment to advancing the principles of democracy and human rights.

The visit comes despite stiff opposition from China, which urged the Obama Administration to cancel the meeting warning it would further damage Sino-US ties.

Obama visited China in November last year and had discussed the Tibet issue with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today warned Iran of “greater costs” over its defiance on its nuclear programme, saying the provocative acts of Tehran leave little choice to the international community but to impose tougher sanctions on it.

“Iran leaves the international community little choice but to impose greater costs for its provocative steps,” she said in her address to the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar.

“Together, we are encouraging Iran to reconsider its dangerous policy decisions. We are now working actively with our regional and international partners, in the context of our dual track approach, to prepare and implement new measures to convince Iran to change its course,” she said.

Noting that US position regarding Iran’s nuclear programme is simple, she said: “We believe that all states, including Iran, start with the same rights and the same responsibilities.

“According to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, nations have the right to nuclear power so long as they accept the responsibility of demonstrating unequivocally that their programmes are used solely for peaceful civilian purposes.”

She alleged that Iran has consistently failed to live up to its responsibility and it had refused to demonstrate to the international community that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.

US Marines and Afghan forces today faced rocket and heavy machine-gun fire from insurgents entrenched inside a Taliban-held town, as helicopter-borne American troops swooped down, launching a long-expected attack to re-establish their control on Marjah.

The assault on Marjah is the biggest offensive since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan and will serve as a major test of a new NATO strategy focused on protecting civilians. The attack is also the first major combat operation since President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 US reinforcements here in December to try to turn the tide of the war.

Detecting multiple layers of insurgent defences encircling the city, Cobra helicopters fired Hellfire missiles at tunnels, bunkers, and other defensive positions. Militants also flooded the main canal at the town’s entrance, making it more difficult for US-led forces to enter on foot.

Marine commanders said they expected between 400 to 1,000 insurgents — including more than 100 foreign fighters — to be holed up in Marjah, a town of 80,000 people in Helmand province.
Marjah, located 610 kilometers southwest of Kabul, is the biggest southern town under Taliban control and the linchpin of the militants’ logistical and opium-smuggling network.

Sporadic rocket fire from insurgents and the rattle of gunfire echoed in the air. A US missile detonated a massive 55-gallon (208-liter) fuel-drum bomb that sent a mushroom of black smoke dozens of yards (meters) into the sky.

Helicopters carrying hundreds of US Marines and Afghan troops swooped into town under the cover of darkness early today with a ground assault of thousands of additional forces expected to follow.
“The first wave of choppers has landed inside Marjah. The operation has begun,” said Capt. Joshua Winfrey, commander of Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines, which was at the forefront of the attack.

US President Barack Obama would meet Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House on February 18, objections from China notwithstanding.

“The president looks forward to an engaging and constructive dialogue,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

However, Obama would meet the Dalai Lama in the Map Room and not in the Oval Office. Gibbs said no US President has met with the Dalai Lama in the Oval Office.

This would be the first meeting between the Dalai Lama and Obama as the US President.
The announcement of the meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama comes at a time when China has warned Washington that such a meeting would harm its relationship with the US.

The White House the issue was discussed when Obama met his Chinese counterpart in November.

“Just let me say to you that we told (the Chinese) President Hu in November in Beijing. The President (Obama) told him that, and the President discussed each of these issues: the Iranian sanctions, larger proliferation and currency,” Gibbs had said last week.

The 74-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader is due in the United States for a 10-day trip later this month. He will be in Washington from February 17 to 19.