Great news today, as Indian Express reports that Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari.
“They will be at the same place at the same time….They will meet, they will shake hands,” Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters while briefing them on Singh’s visit to Russia.
After talks between India and Pakistan broke down last year, it is fantastic to see the two leaders coming together again, and this shows further evidence that President Zardari is making swift progress in defeating militants and rebuilding cooperation with India.
On the military front, New York Times reports that there is growing evidence that al Qaeda is leaving Pakistan following the government’s crackdown on militants, and retreating to Somalia and Yemen.
American officials say they are seeing the first evidence that dozens of fighters with Al Qaeda, and a small handful of the terrorist group’s leaders, are moving to Somalia and Yemen from their principal haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas. In communications that are being watched carefully at the Pentagon, the White House and the Central Intelligence Agency, the terrorist groups in all three locations are now communicating more frequently, and apparently trying to coordinate their actions, the officials said.
