Pakistan PM authorizes military response if India attacks
Pakistan’s prime minister on Feb. 21 authorized the armed forces to “respond decisively and comprehensively to any aggression or misadventure” by neighboring India, as tensions soared between the nuclear-armed rivals.
India has vowed a “jaw-breaking response” to a suicide bombing in the disputed Kashmir region last week that killed 40 Indian soldiers. It was the worst attack on Indian forces since the start of the Kashmir insurgency in 1989.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the order in a government statement released after a meeting of his National Security Committee. It said Pakistan was “not involved in any way, means or form” in the attack, which it said was “conceived, planned and executed indigenously.”
In the statement, Pakistan reiterated its offer to help investigate the attack and to take action against anyone found to be using Pakistani soil for attacks on India. It also offered to hold a “dialogue” with India on all issues, including terrorism.
India has long accused Pakistan of harboring and aiding Islamic militants who target its forces in Kashmir. The Himalayan territory is split between Pakistani and Indian zones of control, but both countries claim it in its entirety, and they have fought two wars over it. An insurgency erupted in Kashmir in 1989, demanding independence or union with Pakistan.
Pakistan denies supporting militants, and has blamed the violence in Kashmir on what it views as India’s military occupation of the territory.
Following last week’s attack, India halted trade and a key bus service with the Pakistani-controlled part of Kashmir.
A train service still operates between the two countries. In recent days, at the Lahore station, Pakistani families have bid tearful farewells to relatives returning to their homes across the border, fearing that India could cut off the service and leave them stranded. AP
Worry about U.S.-South Korea alliance grows before Trump-Kim summit
Ahead of the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this week in Vietnam, some observers say there is an uncertainty over the future of the decades-long military alliance between Washington and Seoul.
Trump’s recent pressure for Seoul to increase its financial contribution to the U.S. military deployment triggered security jitters in South Korea about a possible U.S. troop cut. At the same time, South Korea’s liberal President Moon Jae-in is under fire at home for prioritizing inter-Korean unity over the U.S. alliance.
U.S. defense officials are not planning any troop reductions but some have indicated that they would not be surprised if Trump puts reductions on the table as part of his negotiations with Kim. AP
Iran launches cruise missile from submarine during drill
Iran has launched a cruise missile from a submarine for the first time during an ongoing annual military drill in the Strait of Hormuz, local media reported Feb. 24.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported the launch and released an image showing a green submarine on the surface of the water launching an orange missile. It said other submarines have the same capability. It did not detail the missile’s range.
Iran frequently touts its military arsenal, much of which is manufactured locally because of international sanctions. The Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, is a crucial bottleneck for global energy supplies, with about a third of all oil traded by sea passing through it.
Tensions have risen since the U.S. withdrew from Iran’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers last year and restored wide-ranging sanctions.
Submarines, warships, helicopters and surveillance planes participated in the three-day drill, dubbed “Velayat-97,” which concluded later Feb. 24. On Feb. 23, Iran launched surface-to-surface missiles. AP