W O R L D

US to unveil new Afghan policy today
Washington, December 1
Diplomatic engagement with Pakistan will be a key element in the new US policy towards Afghanistan, which is to be announced by President Barack Obama tomorrow, the White House has said.

US Senator: Bring India into regional alliance with Pak
Washington, December 1
An influential American Senator today said there is a need to bring India into a regional alliance with Pakistan, given that Islamabad is not able to come out with its cold-war mentality as it still considers New Delhi as a primary adversary.

Major cities at risk from rising sea level
London, December 1
A large number of cities across the world, including the eastern Indian metropolis of Kolkata, are at risk from the threat of rising sea level due to global warming, a major international study has claimed.

US to unveil new Afghan policy today

Washington, December 1
Diplomatic engagement with Pakistan will be a key element in the new US policy towards Afghanistan, which is to be announced by President Barack Obama tomorrow, the White House has said.

"I think you can anticipate that a good portion of the President's speech tomorrow (Tuesday) will discuss our relationship with Pakistan and touch on going back to the very beginning of this administration in a renewed engagement diplomatically with the Pakistanis to jointly address violent extremism," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Noting that the US-Pak relationship is stronger, Gibbs said, Obama will talk about the importance of that engagement and diplomacy in Afghanistan.

In his speech, Gibbs said Obama will be "pretty clear about how we're moving forward with Afghanistan and Pakistan".

Giving a brief preview of the policy, Gibbs said: "I think what the President will discuss tomorrow is ensuring that we prevent the Taliban from being capable of controlling the government of Afghanistan as well as incapable of providing safe haven from which Al Qaeda can plot and undertake terrorist activities like we've seen happen previously in the United States."

Responding to queries at his daily press briefing, Gibbs said the new Af-Pak policy would come with an exit strategy.

"The President will reiterate tomorrow what I have said a number of times, which is that this is not an open-ended commitment; that we are there to partner with the Afghans to train the Afghan national security forces, the army and the police, so that they can provide security for their country and wage a battle against an unpopular insurgency in that country."

"First and foremost, we have to have a partner that can identify, recruit, retain a security force and a police force that are able to take improved security - an improved security environment and eventually hold that area," he said.

Gibbs said: "Once that area is cleared, that area then has to be held. Ultimately, the strategy will be to transfer the security responsibility of an area to the Afghans. That is a big part of what you'll hear the President talk about tomorrow".

Responding to a question, he said, "I don't think anybody could look themselves in the mirror with a straight face and say that this President hasn't in any way been anything but resolved to doing what has to happen in Afghanistan to make this country safe".

According to a Pentagon estimate, the cost of sending for 10,000 troops is $ 10 billion a year, he said.

Observing that there has to be renewed emphasis on the training of Afghan national security forces, Gibbs said: "We aren't going to be there forever and we can't and we don't have the resources, manpower or budgetarily, to be primarily responsible for the security of Afghanistan". — PTI

US Senator: Bring India into regional alliance with Pak

Washington, December 1
An influential American Senator today said there is a need to bring India into a regional alliance with Pakistan, given that Islamabad is not able to come out with its cold-war mentality as it still considers New Delhi as a primary adversary.

"We have to do more to bring India into a regional alliance or at least some ad hoc coalition with Pakistan," Senator Joe Sestak told MSNBC in an interview.

"Pakistan has been primarily focused on India. It still thinks India is its - like the Soviet Union was to us; its still cold-war adversary," he said.

Such a statement from the senior Democratic Senator came amidst media reports that US President Barack Obama has offered Pakistan help to reduce tensions between the country and India.

India has traditionally opposed any third party mediation, which has been respected by the Obama Administration.

Both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have said it is up to India and Pakistan to resolve their disputes through bilateral dialogue.

At the same time, they have maintained that the US would encourage the two South Asian neighbours to do so.

Senator Sestak also supported the idea of giving access to Drones to Pakistan.

"We understand that their intelligence is very involved with some of these terrorist groups. They sent them up into Afghanistan to go after the Soviet Union and others. But we have to be able to trust them," he said.

“For example, we actually have our Predators, our drones, where we pull the trigger and actually kill someone of al Qaeda on the other side of the border.

“And if we were to give them the ability to pull the trigger, that takes away the onus from us and places it upon their own troops going after al Qaeda."

"We just have to leave behind conditions that are inhospitable to some degree for al Qaeda to come back," Sestak said.

"This whole strategy has only one objective, and I hope the President makes that very clear tomorrow night. That's the eradication of al Qaeda's safe haven in Pakistan. This is really a Pakistan strategy, Pakistan a nation that's almost a failed state, a failed state with nuclear weapons," he said. — PTI

Major cities at risk from rising sea level

London, December 1
A large number of cities across the world, including the eastern Indian metropolis of Kolkata, are at risk from the threat of rising sea level due to global warming, a major international study has claimed.

According to the study by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, sea levels would rise by twice as much as previously predicted as a result of global warming and by 2100 they would be up to 1.4 metres.

Such a rise in sea levels would engulf island nations such as the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and Tuvalu in the Pacific, devastate coastal cities such as Kolkata and Dhaka and force London, New York and Shanghai to spend billions on flood defences, 'The Times' reported.

Even if the average global temperature increases by only 2C - the target set for next week's Copenhagen summit - sea levels could still rise by 50 cm, twice that predicted two years ago, the study has calculated.

SCAR, a partnership of 35 of the world's leading climate research institutions, made the prediction in the report 'Antarctic Climate Change and Climate'. It far exceeds the 0.59 metre rise by the end of the century quoted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2007.

SCAR scientists said the IPCC underestimated grossly how much the melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets would contribute to total sea-level rises.

In a related interview with the British newspaper, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the IPCC, said geo-engineering, where carbon is stripped from the atmosphere using specialist technologies, would be necessary to control runaway damage to the climate.

"At some point we will have to cross over and start sucking some of those gases out of the atmosphere," he said, adding world leaders meeting in Copenhagen should aim for a target of no more than a 1.5C rise in global temperatures.

The IPCC report predicted that the melting of ice sheets would contribute about 20 per cent of the total rise in sea levels, with the majority coming from the melting of glaciers and the expansion of the water as it warms. It said that it was not able to predict the impact of melting ice sheets, but suggested this could add 10-20cm. — PTI

NRI gets leadership award

London, December 1
Leading NRI entrepreneur Maneck Dalal, who has played a major role in promoting Indian art and culture in the UK, has been awarded the Asian Leadership Award for his contribution towards heritage.

Dalal, who has been Chairman of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan UK for the last 36 years, was presented the award last night by British lawmaker Keith Vaz here.

Surinder Mongia, a leading NRI entrepreneur specialising in consultancy and design services for aviation projects with offices in Canada, UK, Finland and India, won the Asian of the Year Award 2009.

Vijay Goel, partner at Singhania & Co, one of the largest Indian law firms here, received the Asian Leadership in Europe award for his “significant role in promoting Indo-European business relations.” — PTI