Asia/Pacific

The Obama administration has sent more than 20 Defense and Homeland Security officials to Burma, London's Guardian newspaper reports, marking the strongest U.S. overture in decades to a military force that ruled the country until 2010 and prompting concerns from human-rights activists.

U.S. officials say the talks will have a strong focus on human-rights issues such as the protection of civilians in conflict zones as the United States continues to lift sanctions in response to recent democratic reforms. 

A spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Rangoon described it to The Guardian as "an exchange between U.S. department of defense representatives and their Burmese counterparts as part of a broad inter-agency discussion to support continued reform."

The United States is considering renewing ties with the Burmese military as part of an overall effort to reengage with the southeast Asian nation as it continues its transition from authoritarian rule. 

Vice President Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) got into a testy exchange Thursday over the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year, arguing over the wisdom of withdrawing 23,000 U.S. troops.

During the vice-presidential debate, Ryan questioned the U.S. decision to withdraw troops during this year’s fighting season in Afghanistan, saying that the troops left behind had to do the same job with less manpower, making it less safe.

"Yes, we drew 22,000 troops down last month, but the remaining troops that are there, who still have the same mission to prosecute counterinsurgency, are doing it with fewer people," Ryan said. "That makes them less safe."

The long-standing U.S. counterterrorism outpost in the Philippines will remain in place, in case a landmark peace deal between Manila and Muslim extremists in the southern part of the country falls apart. 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday named the deputy special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, James Warlick, to lead negotiations on a post-war troop deal.

Clinton announced Warlick's selection during the first meeting of the U.S.-Afghanistan Bilateral Commission. Her Afghan counterpart, Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, said the Afghan ambassador to the United States, Eklil Hakimi, will serve as Warlick's counterpart. 

The Strategic Partnership Agreement signed by Presidents Barack Obama and Hamid Karzai in May called for the establishment of a bilateral commission chaired by the two countries' top dignitaries. It also committed the United States and Afghanistan to initiate negotiations on a Bilateral Security Agreement to supersede the current Status of Forces Agreement, which will spell out the role of U.S. troops in the country after 2014.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Tuesday that Taiwanese travelers have been approved for visa-free travel to the United States.

The country joins 36 participants in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, which permits visa-free travel to the United States for eligible travelers visiting the United States for 90 days or fewer for business or tourism. Visitors traveling under the program accounted for 18.3 million visits to the United States last year, according to the Homeland Security Department, or more than 60 percent of tourist and business travelers entering the United States by air.

“Today’s announcement is a major step forward in our long-standing economic partnership with Taiwan,” Napolitano said in a statement. “Taiwan’s participation in the VWP will not only stimulate tourism in the United States, it will also enable us to work together to maintain the strictest security standards.”

Read more...

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was forced to cancel a high-level meeting with Pakistan's military leaders due to continued uproar within the Arab world over an anti-Islam video posted online earlier this month. 

The advice comes as the White House hits the halfway point in timeline to withdraw U.S. troops.

Pakistan's foreign minister on Friday thanked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for criticizing a U.S.-made anti-Islam film and said her words would go a long way toward calming tensions in the Muslim world.

The United States is spending $70,000 in TV ads in Pakistan featuring President Obama and Clinton distancing the U.S. government from the 14-minute trailer that sparked protests in 20 countries. At least 17 protesters were killed in Pakistan on Friday after the government called a national holiday so people could demonstrate against the film.

“Allow me to begin from where you began, Madam Secretary, and to say that we appreciate the very strong condemnation ... of this blasphemous video, which has certainly stroked the sensitivities of the Muslims in the wrong way,” Hina Rabbani Khar, who is on her first visit to the United States,  said while standing alongside Clinton at the State Department. 

The last of the 33,000 U.S. “surge” troops left Afghanistan on Thursday ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline, marking the end of a key phase in the 11-year war.

While in New Zealand on Friday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the withdrawal of surge troops had been completed.

“This week, the ongoing effort in Afghanistan marked an important milestone: The United States military has completed drawing down the surge forces President Obama committed in December of 2009, reducing our presence by 33,000 troops on schedule,” Panetta said in a statement.