London, Jan.27 (ANI): Indian External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who is currently in London to attend a one-day conference on Afghanistan, has said he is looking forward to the summit and is keen to cement New Delhi’s relationship with the rest of the international community.
Interacting with reporters here before the meeting, Krishna and British [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Secretary David Miliband’
India, Britain to discuss various issues ahead of Afghan conference
January 27th, 2010 |
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Al Qaeda home Pakistan risks turning radical: Miliband
January 23rd, 2010 |
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With Al Qaeda pushed into Pakistan’s tribal areas, Islamabad risks slipping into radical hands as it was already home to the terrorist group’s leadership, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband warned Friday.
“We know that Pakistan matters not just because it is the location for the Afghanistan Taliban leadership; it is also important in its own right,” [...]
“U.S., allies won’t back down on Iran nuclear issueâ€
January 22nd, 2010 |
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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. and allies will not back down in pressing Iran on concerns that its nuclear program is weapons related. Clinton discussed Iran, and next week’s London conference on Afghanistan, with the new European Union chief diplomat Catherine Ashton and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
Serbian FM meets British counterpart
December 8th, 2009 |
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British Foreign Secretary David Miliband showed support for the progress Belgrade has made in cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, said reports. “I stressed that Britain supports Serbia’s progress towards EU membership and the completion of the necessary conditions. Great Britain and Serbia share a vision of EU member for the entire Western Balkans region and are working to strengthen peace and prosperity in the region,†Miliband said after meeting with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić in London on Monday.
Iran releases five Britons detained from yacht: radio
December 2nd, 2009 |
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Iran has released five Britons who had been detained in the Gulf after their yacht apparently strayed into Iranian waters, state radio said on Wednesday. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki late on Tuesday and called for formal
Karzai govt will collapse within weeks of international forces pullout, warns Miliband
November 21st, 2009 |
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British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has warned British opponents of the Afghan war that the Hamid Karzai-led government could collapse within weeks if NATO pulled out its troops now.
“If international forces leave, you can choose a time – five minutes, 24 hours or seven days – but the insurgent forces will overrun those forces that [...]
Karzai says Afghan forces will take over security within five years
November 20th, 2009 |
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai has set a five-year time frame for Afghan forces to take over from international troops.
“We are determined that by the next five years, the Afghan forces are capable of taking the lead in ensuring security and stability across the country,” The Telegraph quoted Karzai, as saying.
Karzai’s statement came a day after [...]
Britain slams reported jailing of embassy worker in Iran
October 29th, 2009 |
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British Foreign Secretary David Miliband branded Thursday the reported jailing of an embassy worker in Iran as “wholly unjustified” and urged an immediate appeal of the sentence. British embassy worker Hossein Rassam was sentenced to four years in jail this week after being found guilty of
Clinton says world will not wait indefinitely on Iran
October 12th, 2009 |
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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that the international community would not wait indefinitely for Iran to show that it is prepared to meet its international obligations.
She was holding a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband in London.
Miliband said Iran would never have a better opportunity to establish normal [...]
US, Britain deplore Ahmadinejad’s ‘false Holocaust’ remark
September 19th, 2009 |
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The United States and Britain have both condemned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent “hateful†speech in which he had said the Holocaust was “a false pretext to create Israel.â€
The Jerusalem Post quoted White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, as saying: “Obviously we condemn what he said.â€
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also criticized Ahmadinejad’’s ‘myth’ remark.
In a [...]
Important to stabilize Pakistan for a peaceful Afghanistan : Miliband
July 29th, 2009 |
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British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has commended efforts of the Obama administration to re-balance the relationship between the United States and Pakistan saying it is very important to stabilize Pakistan in order to maintain peace in Afghanistan.
“We need a more stable Pakistan to get a more stable Afghanistan. That’’s why I really applaud what President [...]
UK urged to reveal ‘torture’ file
July 28th, 2009 |
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A human rights charity has begun a legal fight to force the UK government to reveal what it knew about an alleged CIA "rendition flight" in 2002.
Reprieve is to bring a case on behalf of a man who says he was tortured in Egypt after being flown there via the British territory of Diego Garcia.
Iqbal Madni, who was freed from Guantanamo Bay last year, claims he was tortured during a CIA interrogation.
The Foreign Office said the UK condemned torture "unreservedly".
Last year, Foreign Secretary David Miliband admitted Diego Garcia had been used for rendition flights, but the UK government has so far refused to reveal what else it knew about the flights.
Reprieve is taking legal action to obtain the release of UK government information relating to the flight involving Iqbal Madni, who spent six years in Guatanamo Bay detention camp.
Mr Madni, who was arrested on 11 January 2002 in Jakarta, Indonesia, believes his journey to Cairo took in a refuelling stop at a US facility in Diego Garcia.
Mr Madni, who claims he was shackled tightly and packed in a wooden box on the flight, told BBC File on 4 he was tortured in Egypt.
‘Blindfolded prisoner’
"When I arrived in Egypt I was blindfolded and left in a room… they interrogated me three times. Each was for 17 hours and they electrocuted me in my knees," he said.
"And they asked if I knew Osama Bin Laden or went to Afghanistan or if I met Richard Reid or knew anything about a shoe bomb or future attacks."
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He claimed an American interrogator wrote down questions for others to ask.
Mr Madni said he had electric shocks passed through him repeatedly and he was made to drink drugged tea.
Reprieve’s Clive Stafford-Smith told the BBC that by analysing various statements from the British government about rendition flights it had deduced Mr Madni was on the flight which stopped at Diego Garcia.
"I would defy the British government to deny that we are right," he said.
"The issue for Britain is that Diego Garcia is a British territory, we’re responsible for it and what happens on it… the Americans are meant to tell us what they are doing and we, as supervisor of Diego Garcia, have a responsibility to make sure that crimes do not happen on it."
‘Ostrich policy’
He added: "I think particularly under the Blair administration there was an awful lot of playing the ostrich where the government knew what was going on but just buried its head in the sand.
"Now that’s just wrong."
Mr Stafford-Smith added that when the government was challenged over its knowledge of rendition flights "each time it has come forward and put its hands up and said ‘Ah well two people did fly through Diego Garcia’ they have refused to say who the victims are."
He also said: "To me that is utterly scandalous that you can commit an offence against an individual and then refuse the identity of that individual and refuse to let us at Reprieve help the poor guy get reunited with his legal rights.
"I think that is so wrong and our government cannot stand there and say they are doing everything they can against torture when they continue to refuse to admit who the victims are."
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) statement said: "The movement of detainees through UK territory without our permission, whilst concerning, does not mean that the UK has been complicit in torture. We condemn unreservedly any use of torture.
"The government never uses torture for any purpose, nor would we instigate or encourage others to do so."
The FCO added it was limited to what it could say about specific cases.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Karzai: Afghans want rules for troops changed
July 28th, 2009 |
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KABUL (AP) — A confident President Hamid Karzai on Monday offered peace talks to Taliban militants if they renounce violence and called for a new relationship with the West if he wins a second term in next month’s presidential election.
Karzai is considered the favorite in the Aug. 20 vote. But his chances could hinge on [...]
US, UK urge Taliban ‘integration’
July 27th, 2009 |
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Top American and British officials have called for the inclusion of Taliban fighters who renounce extremism in Afghanistan’s political life.
Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to the region, told the BBC the integration of such people had been neglected.
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said including moderate Taliban members in dialogue could help stability.
Their comments came as officials confirmed the first phase of the UK-led offensive in the south had ended.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said that Nato troops would now focus on holding territory gained in Helmand province under Operation Panchai Palang (Panther’s Claw) ahead of next month’s presidential elections.
The offensive – which started in June and has involved 3,000 soldiers – has led to a spike in casualties.
Two more British soldiers were killed in separate incidents in Helmand on Monday, officials said, taking the UK toll from the operation to 11.
US Marines this month launched their own offensive – Operation Khanjar (Thrust of the Sword) – to flush out militants in Helmand.
‘Intense pressure’
Speaking to the BBC, Richard Holbrooke said that the Taliban were "under intense pressure", with their funding sources seriously undermined.
But the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan said a new priority was bringing more Taliban fighters into the political process.
"There is room in Afghan society for all those fighting with the Taliban who renounce al-Qaeda and its extremist allies, who lay down their arms and who participate in the political life of the country," he said.
The leading presidential candidates all agreed that this was an area that had been neglected, he said.
His remarks echoed those of Mr Miliband, speaking at Nato headquarters in Brussels.
The Afghan government had to develop "effective grass-roots initiatives to offer an alternative to fight or flight to the foot soldiers of the insurgency", he said.
A distinction needed to be made, he said, between "hard-line ideologues" who must be defeated and those who could be "drawn into a political process".
"Essentially this means a clear route for former insurgents to return to their villages and go back to farming their land, or a role for some of them within the legitimate security forces," he said.
Afghans go to the polls on 20 August to elect a president – and both Mr Miliband and Mr Holbrooke called on the next government to focus on this issue.
In a separate development, the Afghan government says the Taliban have agreed a ceasefire in an insurgent-held area to allow polls to take place smoothly there.
A presidential spokesman said the deal applied to the north-western province of Badghis.
But a spokesman for the Taliban later denied that a deal was in place, reports from Afghanistan said.
Meanwhile, the US military in Afghanistan said it would no longer make public the number of insurgents it kills in its operations against the Taliban.
The military said publishing these figures distracted from its real objective of improving the lives of Afghans and separating the people from the insurgency.
Civilian deaths caused by military operations against the Taliban have caused considerable anger in Afghanistan.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Afghanistan ‘agrees Taliban deal’
July 27th, 2009 |
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The Afghan government has agreed a truce with Taliban insurgents in the north-western province of Badghis ahead of elections next month, officials say.
The Taliban have pledged not to attack voting centres and to hand key areas to government forces, officials say. There has been no word from the militants.
The government says it hopes to replicate the deal in other provinces.
The moves comes as the UK is emphasising that more must be done to engage moderate members of the Taliban.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced the shift of emphasis in the UK’s Afghanistan strategy in a speech to Nato.
He stressed the Afghan government must do more to talk to moderate members of the Taliban as part of a broader political process.
Violence in Afghanistan has escalated in recent months as UK and US forces launched a full-scale offensive against Taliban militants in the south of the country.
Taliban engagement
But Badghis has seen comparatively little violence in recent months.
The BBC’s Bilal Sarwary in Kabul says the province, which borders Turkmenistan, has been a launching point for attacks in the nearby provinces of Ghor and Herat.
In November 2008 about 200 militants attacked an Afghan army convoy in Badghis, killing at least 13 Afghan soldiers and policemen.
Presidential spokesman Siamak Hirawi told the BBC the agreement in Badghis also stipulated that the Taliban would allow the reconstruction of the main highway.
If the Taliban confirm they have agreed to the terms of the ceasefire and if the deal is repeated in other provinces, then it could mark a significant new stage in the conflict, correspondents say.
But it would not be the first time the Afghan government has tried to engage the Taliban.
In October 2008, President Hamid Karzai’s brother confirmed a BBC report that he had met former members of the Taliban in Saudi Arabia as part of a first step towards peace talks.
There are grave concerns about security across the country ahead of presidential and provincial council elections on 20 August.
Mr Karzai faces about 40 challengers for the post of president.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Spain on rare Gibraltar visit
July 21st, 2009 |
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Spain’s foreign minister is to meet UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband in an historic visit to Gibraltar.
Miguel Angel Moratinos will travel to the British-held peninsula on Tuesday for talks with Mr Miliband and chief minister of Gibraltar, Peter Caruana.
It will be the first time a Spanish minister has been to the disputed territory for more than 300 years.
The UK insists it will not hand over Gibraltar against residents’ wishes despite Spanish sovereignty claims.
Border closed
The talks, officially called a "trilateral forum of dialogue", were confirmed despite a new row over Gibraltar’s territorial waters.
The Gibraltar government opposed a reported move by Spain to use a European Commission environmental directive to officially denote the surrounding seas as Spanish.
The Self-determination for Gibraltar group has called on Gibraltarians to fly union jacks during the Spanish minister’s visit.
Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1704 but has long said it should return to Spanish sovereignty.
The border between Spain and Gibraltar was closed by Spanish dictator General Franco in 1969 and did not fully reopen until 1985.</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Ahmadinejad Criticized By Hard-Liners Over Vice President Choice
July 19th, 2009 |
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TEHRAN,Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, already at the center of a post-election crisis, came under criticism from his own hard-line supporters Sunday for appointing a first vice president who once caused an outcry by saying Iranian…
Iraqis to sue UK for compensation
July 13th, 2009 |
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By Angus Crawford
BBC News
More than 20 Iraqis who worked for British forces are to sue the UK government, the BBC has learned.
Most were interpreters, who say they were not given adequate protection from attack by extremist militias.
They claim they were owed a duty of care, and later this week will begin their legal actions in a bid to gain compensation from the UK.
The government says it has helped hundreds of Iraqis settle in the UK through an assistance scheme.
It also says "many thousands" of Iraqis have worked for British forces since 2003.
Some became targets for local militias who saw them as collaborators.
As the security situation deteriorated some were murdered, others fled to Syria and Jordan, some went into hiding in southern Iraq.
"[After] my loyal and faithful service to the British army, I am alone without any help"
"Jamal"
Jamal – not his real name – knew he couldn’t go on working for the British after his best friend was killed.
"He was tortured, severe, merciless torture and was killed and thrown into a remote place," he said.
Jamal, who is 28, worked for the British army from March 2005 to December 2005, but now lives secretly in Basra. His says his family constantly worry about him.
"It was like a daily nightmare for them, whenever I was going out they were thinking of me, they were fearing and expecting the worst for me."
Jamal now sees no option but to take legal action against the government which he feels let him down.
"I feel so disappointed. [After] my loyal and faithful service to the British army, I am alone without any help. It is devastating to me."
Legal action
Jassim – who also does not want to use his real name – decided he had to give up work and take his family to Syria because of the anonymous death threats he received on his mobile.
"They said ‘we know where you are working, we know your house, we know what time you came into the base’," he said.
Both applied to come to Britain under the Locally Engaged Staff Assistance Scheme (LESAS), set up to help local staff employed by the British.
But neither had served continuously for 12 months, so their applications failed.
The two men, along with more than 20 others, are expected to start legal action this week to sue the government.
Sapna Malik is a partner at the solicitors Leigh Day and is co-ordinating the actions.
"The MoD could certainly have taken better steps to protect the identities of interpreters and in certain cases they should have housed the interpreters on the bases," she said.
There are 25 claims in total, and most of them are interpreters. Three are the wives or mothers of men who were murdered by militias.
Duty of care
She says the British government owed local staff a duty of care.
"Financial compensation will go a significant way to reduce the hardship they’ve been suffering.
"They are also hoping that this will help shape the policy if Britain gets involved in any future conflicts."
IRAQIS IN UK UNDER LESAS- Resettled in the UK – 201 former and current employees
- Total including dependents – 612
- Rejected – 694
Two years ago the prime minister announced help for Iraqis who had served for a year – they were offered financial assistance or resettlement.
The scheme closed for former employees in May this year.
Of those eligible, 201 have come to Britain. Hundreds of others have taken the money. But almost seven hundred have been told they do not qualify.
The Foreign Secretary David Miliband praised the "dedication and commitment" of local staff in a recent statement.
"The scheme for assistance is designed to reflect our enduring debt to them. I am pleased it has proved popular and effective," he said.
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "We have made a decision to focus assistance on those staff who have had a sustained association with us in the most difficult circumstances."
"Wherever we draw the line, there will be difficult cases."</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.