30,000 US troops are likely to be withdrawn from Afghanistan….

President Obama is expected to outline his plans for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. According to reports, 30,000 US troops are likely to be withdrawn.

 President Obama has been under pressure from Pentagon that he should announce withdrawal only 5,000 troops from Afghanistan this year.

PRESIDENT OBAMA SAYS REPEAT OPERATION IN PAKISTAN......

US President Barack Obama has said he would order a similar operation to that which killed Osama Bin Laden if another militant leader was found in Pakistan.

He said the US was mindful of Pakistani sovereignty but said the US could not allow "active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action".

United States has stepped up direct talks with the Afghan Taliban....

The United States has stepped up direct talks with the Afghan Taliban for a political settlement. A US newspaper reported that the Obama administration was directly engaged in negotiating with Taliban and discarded the option of Pakistan’s mediation by calling it “unnecessary.” A US representative attended three meetings in Qatar and Germany, with a Taliban official considered close to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the report said.

            It said that Washington was hoping to make progress in these talks before July, when President BarackObama announces the first troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, part of a process of handing over responsibilities to Afghan forces by 2014.