No change in nuclear policy: Pak on Imran's 'no first from our side' remark

Current Affairs

There is no change in Pakistan's nuclear policy, the Foreign Office has said, hours after Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed that his country will never ever start a war with India, amid escalating tensions between the nuclear powers over the Kashmir issue.
Addressing a gathering of the Sikh community at the Governor's House in Lahore on Monday evening, Khan said both India and Pakistan are nuclear-armed countries and if tension escalates, the world will face danger.
"There will be no first from our side ever," he said, without explaining further.
However, Khan has been repeatedly threatening the possibility of a nuclear war with India over Kashmir after his efforts to internationalise the matter failed to gain any traction.
Khan also said conflict create more problems than resolving them.
"I want to tell India that war is not a solution to any problem. The winner in war is also a loser. War gives birth to host of other issues," he said.
However, Pakistan Foreign Office said Khan's comments were being taken out of context and did not represent a change in Islamabad's nuclear policy.
"Prime Minister's comments on Pakistan's approach towards conflict between two nuclear armed states are being taken out of context," Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said in a late night tweet on Monday.

 "While conflict should not take place between two nuclear states, there's no change in Pakistan's nuclear policy," he said...Read More

South Korea war games too expensive for US: Trump on ending military drill

International News

US President Donald Trump denied that he ordered an end to major US-South Korean military exercises as a concession to North Korea's totalitarian leader Kim Jong Un.
The previously annual, large-scale manoeuvers -- meant to keep troops ready in case of conflict with North Korea -- were shelved shortly after Trump's summit last week with Kim in Hanoi.
Trump denied there was any link.
"The military drills, or war games as I call them, were never even discussed in my mtg w/ Kim Jong Un," he tweeted.
"I made that decision long ago because it costs the U.S. far too much money to have those 'games', especially since we are not reimbursed for the tremendous cost!" he said in the tweet.
There are close to 30,000 US troops stationed in South Korea, and their annual drills with tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers have angered North Korea, which claims they are rehearsals for invasion.
While Trump has ruled out withdrawing US troops, he has repeatedly complained about the cost of the exercises, describing them at a press conference in Hanoi as "very, very expensive".

 Trump's summit with Kim ended with no progress toward Washington's goal of getting the isolated country to give up its nuclear weapons...Read More