The Londoner

KABUL: An overwhelming majority of Afghans support the government’s efforts to negotiate peace with Taliban insurgents, according to a poll released Tuesday that ranks insecurity as the top concern among citizens, followed by unemployment and corruption. Some 83 per cent of Afghan adults back efforts to secure the country through negotiations with armed, anti-government groups, the survey conducted by the Asia Foundation said. That’s up from 71 per cent last year. The report also said that 55 per cent of Afghan adults had no sympathy at all for the armed opposition groups — up from 36 per cent last year — and another 26 per cent had only a little sympathy. Moreover, 81 per cent — 10 per cent more than last year — support programs to lure Taliban foot soldiers off the battlefield by providing assistance, jobs and housing to those who lay down their arms and reintegrate into society. President Hamid Karzai has made reconciliation a top priority and recently formed a 70-member High Peace...

The president said his efforts to improve the relationship between Muslims and the West have been "earnest" and "sustained". Still, he said the progress is "incomplete" and there is more work to do. Though issues of terrorism and extremism often dominate the tensions between the Muslim world and the West, Mr Obama said the relationship must expand beyond security issues. "What we're trying to do is make sure that we are building bridges and expanding our interactions with Muslim countries," Mr Obama said during a joint news conference with Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The president, at a news conference in the world's largest Muslim country, also criticised Israel's plans to build new apartments in disputed East Jerusalem. "This kind of activity is never helpful when it comes to peace negotiations," Mr Obama said. Mr Obama's visit to Indonesia , the second country on his 10-day Asia trip, is a home...

In an interview publicising his new book “Decision Points”, Mr Bush vigorously defended waterboarding, a kind of simulated drowning that was known as an “enhanced interrogation technique” by the Bush   administration   but regarded as “torture” by many opponents, some allies and a few internal dissenters. “Three people were waterboarded and I believe that decision saved lives,” said Mr Bush, who denied that the practice amounted to torture. When asked if he authorised waterboarding to gain information from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the captured al-Qaeda leader, he responded: “Damn right!” In his book, Mr Bush writes: “Their interrogations helped break up plots to attack  American   diplomatic facilities abroad, Heathrow airport and Canary Wharf in London, and multiple targets in the United States.” He writes that although the procedure was "tough", it was legal. The British Government has long viewed waterboarding as torture. Last month, Sir John Sawers, the head of MI...

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By Jawed Naqvi  The creation of Pakistan from the Indian subcontinent was not inevitable. It happened despite several attempts to avert its formation, including efforts by the Muslim League. Former Indian foreign minister Jaswant Singh has given a compelling account in his book of the Congress party’s arrogance and culpability in forcing Jinnah to say enough is enough. By the same token, the independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan was not a pre-determined fact. Islamabad’s grievous mishandling of the situation led to a truncated Pakistan. The same argument could apply to Kashmir. It is of course not surprising that the Indian middle class, led by its Murdochian TV channels, advocates military force to tame Kashmir’s anti-India upsurge in the way Gen Yahya Khan unleashed military terror in East Pakistan. However, somewhat hypocritically while it celebrates India’s military intervention, which led to the creation of Bangladesh, when it comes to Kashmir the Indian middle ...

By  Will Heaven   “He’s the only guy I know on the scene today who makes grown men cry,” says  Florida’s former Governor, Jeb Bush . And Mr Bush isn’t the only one to notice Marco Rubio’s special quality. Already at the Telegraph, Jon Swaine  has been captivated by the Republican’s final TV ad for the Senate, while Alex Spillius noted  he outshone Sarah Palin  at a campaign event in Florida.  Toby Harnden reckoned  he is “one of the most exciting new faces in the Republican Party” (and that Mitt Romney will need to win his support sooner rather than later for a 2012 presidential campaign). Now I’ve the caught the bug, too. Why? Simple enough. Marco Rubio is the first Tea Party candidate I’ve come across who – if I was an American – I’d actually consider voting for. In fact, and I may be getting ahead of myself here, he’s the only Tea Party candidate so far who I can imagine being President of the USA one day. More important than my inexpert opinio...

By Sikander Hayat I do not know if anyone else has noticed but to me the news that 4000 Baloch youth  has been recruited in the Pakistan army with another 10000 on their way to joining the force in near future seemed to be a major strategic shift by the Pakistan army. It is true that the rules on education were relaxed for this intake but other than that all other criterion for the recruitment was in place. This batch of soldiers from Baluchistan thoroughly deserved their place in Pakistan army. Let’s first look at the past and to be honest Baloch youngsters were never at the forefront of the people joining Pakistan army due to the strict rules applied by the army. Baloch people felt alienated and given the central position of the army in the Pakistani society, they felt that they are not part of the Pakistani society. It is also a fact that many Balochis have fought and died for Pakistan but it is also true that their number was not comparable to the other ethnic g...