Washington, Mar. 18: The United States may expand its military operation beyond the ungoverned tribal areas of Pakistan, particularly in Baluchistan, where top Taliban operatives are reportedly hiding and initiating attacks on the allied forces in the southern Afghanistan.

Sydney, Mar. 17: Australian Government has urged Pakistan’s main opposition party, the PML-N, to forget political differences and combat the “common enemy of terrorism.

“It''s quite clear that whatever political differences the political parties may have in Pakistan the common enemy is terrorism ... it is a threat to Pakistan''s very existence,” The News quoted Australia’s Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, as saying.

Smith said that Australia would do everything to root-out terrorism from Afghanistan- Pakistan border area, as a ninth Australian soldier was killed fighting insurgents in Afghanistan.

Islamabad, Mar. 17: The US and UK have clearly told the PPP-led federal government and the PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif that future military and financial aid to Pakistan will depend on political stability of the nation.

So far, the US, UK and the Pakistani military have been able to avert a political crisis.

“In the backdrop of all these concerns and fears, the US and UK have conveyed plainly to the main political players in Pakistan as well as the lawyers’ leadership their intense desire for the continuity of political process,” The Nation quoted a senior official source, as saying.

Washington, Mar. 14: The new United States strategy for Pakistan and Afghanistan would revolve around reconciliation with militants operating in tribal areas, because the US regards that at least seventy per cent insurgents in the region are reconcilable.

Dawn sources claimed that the Commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, General David Petraeus and special envoy Richard Holbrooke, met on Friday at Capitol Hill, and spent two hours explaining salient features of the new strategy to lawmakers.

Islamabad, Mar. 14: After the US and the UK advised their citizens against visiting Pakistan due to security threats, Western embassies may request the Pakistan Government to allow them to import armoured personnel carriers (APCs) for the protection of their senior staff.

Particularly, High Commissions of Commonwealth member countries in Islamabad are so anxious, that some of them have already acquired such vehicles for their senior officials.

“I am not aware of such measures, but our security staff does take measures from time-to-time, according to fresh advisory and threats,” The News quoted British High Commission spokesperson Jennifer Wilkes, as saying.