Ashish Kumar Sen

Iraq presents opportunity for U.S.-Iran partnership The swift advances by Sunni militants belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has provided an opportunity for the U.S. and Iran to unite against an enemy that hates Shias and Americans in equal measure.

Kerry in Baghdad as another key town falls US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Baghdad on Monday as Sunni radicals closed in on the Iraqi capital. Flying in from Jordan on a visit which the State Department had sought to keep secret amid security concerns, Kerry met Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and was to hold talks with Iraqi leaders across the political and communal spectrum.

Afghan presidential frontrunner Abdullah Abdullah wants warm ties with neighbours Afghan presidential frontrunner Abdullah Abdullah wants to improve ties with Afghanistan’s neighbours, including Pakistan, and will not make it his priority to ask India for military aid.

Iraq crisis worries Obama administration The Obama administration is reacting with alarm as Islamic militants overrun cities in Iraq and make a push for the capital Baghdad, laying to waste a US investment of billions of dollars and thousands of American and Iraqi lives during a nearly decade-long war.

Pak’s nuclear arsenal safe, says US The Obama Administration has publicly expressed confidence about the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. But in private, Western officials say this is a top concern as the Taliban carried out major attacks in Karachi this week.