LONDON: The conflict in Afghanistan is deteriorating in some ways and will "not remain winnable indefinitely," the top US military commander in the country warned Thursday.
General Stanley McChrystal added that forces would be in a much stronger position once US President Barack Obama decides on troop levels in Afghanistan, while saying that it would be wrong to rush to make a decision.
"The situation is serious and I choose that word very, very carefully ... neither success nor failure can be taken for granted," said McChrystal, who has asked for up to 40,000 more troops to fight the Taliban.
"The situation is in some ways deteriorating but not in all ways," he told the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think-tank in London.
"Waiting does not prolong a favourable outcome. This effort will not remain winnable indefinitely."
McChrystal, who is also the International Security Assistance Force commander in Afghanistan, warned in a report leaked last month that the conflict could be lost within a year without more troops.
He reportedly wants up to 40,000 more US troops in Afghanistan.
The US general said Obama led talks in the White House this week "very effectively" but declined to give any further details on the decision-making process.
"I think that is a necessary process we go through so we come to a clear decision... Once he makes that decision I think we'll be in a much stronger position," he said.
Asked if he was worried that the political debate was holding up military action, he said: "I think the more debate we have the healthier this is going to be."
"I don't think we have the luxury of going so fast we make the wrong decision," he added.
The White House says Obama will only decide on whether to accept McChrystal's request for more troops -- as part of a rigorous counter-insurgency push -- after first arriving at a new US strategy.
The process could take weeks, officials say, warning that past conflicts like the Vietnam war have shown the folly of throwing thousands of men into a fight that is not properly defined.
KARAK: Ten persons were killed and 11 wounded when a bus plunged into a gorge in Shaheedian area in suburb of district Karak.
According to police sources, a bus traveling from Karachi to Swat had been plunged into a gorge due to over speeding while negotiating Shaheedan curve. Ten persons including a child were killed and 11 injured in the incident. The wounded were rushed to district headquarter hospital Karak from where three bodies were shifted to Kohat.
LONDON: Britain is helping to set up a national security authority in Pakistan to combat terrorism and promote political stability, the BBC revealed.
It will be modelled on terrorism units run by the Home Office and MI5.
Many analysts fear the battle with the Taliban in Pakistan could reach the scale of the conflict in Afghanistan.
British intelligence has estimated that almost three quarters of terrorist attacks in Britain have their origins in Pakistan.
According to the BBC report, senior British and Pakistani counter-terrorism sources have said British training and funding will be made available to the new authority.
Initially 200 experts will be employed in Pakistan, covering extremism and religious affairs.
There will be a new counter-terrorism strategy within six months, and research projects will be launched.
One of these will examine the alleged role in religious schools and radicalisation.
Critics of the plan suggest Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI, could block progress, because it will remain in charge of terrorist investigations, although Pakistani sources insist the ISI is fully on board, our correspondent added.
The Home Office declined to comment on funding, but said it strongly supported the move.
WASHINGTON : The US Congress on Wednesday voted to triple aid to Pakistan in a five-year commitment aimed at bringing development to the frontline nation and reducing the allure of extremism.
President Barack Obama has enthusiastically supported the 7.5 billion-dollar package, calling it a long-term investment to fight al Qaeda by building schools and infrastructure and improving the role of women.
The House of Representatives approved the package despite misgivings of some lawmakers concerned either that Pakistan was not doing enough to
ISLAMABAD : Saudi government has released five Pakistanis arrested under drug smuggling charges in Saudi Arabia, Aaj News reported.
Saudi Embassy in Islamabad in a statement said that five Pakistanis have been released after the confirmation that they were not linked with the drug smuggling. They were unaware about smuggling of narcotics.
MUMBAI: A Bengali topline daily in Kolkata flashed on its frontpage on Monday that global brand Mexican architect, Javier Senosian, was designing an organic weird shell house for Sachin Tendulkar bang in the middle of Mumbai and even carried photographs as "first images" of what was purportedly the master blaster's TV room.
It was too good to be true and seemed outlandish though brilliant. The paper also said that the house, worth Rs 30 crores spread over 9000 sq feet, was being built on Carter Road in Mumbai and gave a host of reasons as to why Tendulkar was shifting.
The photographs kindled interest and a search on the net revealed hundreds of matches saying the same thing but what jarred was the look of the house, shaped like a snail with its snout out of the shell, which looked hopelessly out of place in Mumbai. It looked more weird and bizarre than imaginative.
The Bengali newspaper also praised Tendulkar's "great sense of imagination." Incidentally, the report was written by a topline sports journalist who, it has always been thought, was close to Tendulkar and other international cricketers. Obviously, no one doubted the story.
However, when the Mexican designer was called up in Mexico City, who has a website showing photographs which had appeared on the net and thence in the Bengali newspaper but clearly said that the Nautilus House as it is called in Mexico City had no plans of replication anywhere else. The internet stories could be a fake.
It was early morning in Mexico and Senosian himself picked up the phone. First, he hardly knew English. Second, he was rudely jolted early in the morning by a name as unfamiliar as Tendulkar and this correspondent had to spell it out for him. "No, what is cricket? I have never been to India and this is nothing concerning me," he spluttered."
Who is Senor Tendulkar?" he asked incredulously.
Later he said in an email sent to an Indian daily which reads simply: "Your query about the Shell House is accepted. That's not true, this house is not in Mumbai, India, and Sachin Tendulkar is not the owner of this house. The house is in Mexico City and Javier Senosian, Mexican architect, has designed and built it here in Mexico. He has never been to India. I have a house like a shell but we call it Nautilus House, and I don't have any work in India."
CENTURION: Australia will take on England in the first semi-final of ICC Champions Trophy to be played here on Friday.
Australia clinched top spot in Group A with a last-ball two-wicket win over Pakistan.
Australia and England will face each other for the first time in the Champions Trophy event.
The match will be played at 6:00 PM (Pakistan Standard Time).
The match toss will be of key significance between the two teams.
Forecast of rain has been made during tomorrow’s critical match.
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