Friday, November 27, 2009 NEW DELHI: India on Friday voiced "serious concern" over what it termed a military nexus between its neighbours China and Pakistan, warning that New Delhi would try and match Beijing's growing firepower.Defence Minister A.K. Antony said India hoped to improve fractious relations with regional countries but that it must remain vigilant about ties between Pakistan and China."The increasing nexus between China and Pakistan in the military sphere remains an area of serious concern," Antony told a seminar in New Delhi."We have to carry out continuous appraisals of Chinese military capabilities and shape our responses accordingly."In the latest cross-border spat, China recently conveyed its "strong dissatisfaction" over the Dalai Lama's trip to the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh which is claimed in full by Beijing.Antony repeated Indian criticism of arch-rival Pakistan, accusing it of failing to take responsibility for the attacks in Mumbai last year that left 166 people dead.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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