بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Headline News 10/06/2017
Headlines:
Islam Set to Dominate the World by 2070
Mattis: Afghanistan Pullout Would Be To Our Ultimate Peril
US Will Try to Work with Pakistan One More Time
Details:
Islam Set to Dominate the World by 2070
Islam is the most common state-endorsed religion, research reveals after it emerged it is set to overcome Christianity as the world's most popular faith by 2070. Islam is the most common state-endorsed religion as most Christian nations support their faith unofficially instead, research shows. Some 27 governments around the world officially endorse Islam while Christianity is the state religion in only 13 countries including the UK. But out of 40 governments which unofficially favour a particular religion, 28 legally or financially support Christianity. The Pew Research Centre in Washington DC analysed 199 countries and found that 43 have an official religion, 40 have a preferred religion, 106 including the US have no preferred religion and ten are actively hostile to religious institutions. These are former or currently communist countries such as China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and several former Soviet republics. The report reads: 'In some cases, state religions have roles that are largely ceremonial. But often the distinction comes with tangible advantages in terms of legal or tax status, ownership of real estate or other property, and access to financial support from the state. 'In addition, countries with state-endorsed (or "established") faiths tend to more severely regulate religious practice, including placing restrictions or bans on minority religious groups.' 'Most governments around the globe, however, are generally neutral toward religion,' the reports concludes. The Pew Research Centre released the figures after it said Muslims would outnumber Christians by 2070.The religion's share of the world's population will equal the Christian share - at roughly 32 per cent each by 2070, the centre claimed. By 2100 around one per cent more of the world's population will be Muslim than Christian, its 2014 report said. Researchers said migration is among factors helping to increase the Muslim population in some regions, including North America and Europe. Pew analysis revealed Muslims are the fastest-growing religious group in the world and in 2010 there were 1.6billion in the world - about 23 per cent of the global population. But the figure is short of the 2.2 billion Christians which made up 31 percent of the population. The research claimed Muslims are having more children than members of other religious groups with each woman having an average of 3.1 offspring compared to 2.3 for all other groups combined. In 2010 the median age of all Muslims was 23 - seven years younger than non-Muslims. The report added: 'While it does not change the global population, migration is helping to increase the Muslim population in some regions, including North America and Europe.' Some 62 per cent of Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region with large populations in Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran and Turkey, Pew researchers said. In 2050, India is set to take over from Indonesia as the country with the world's largest Muslim population, according to the study. Last year there were 3.3 million Muslims of all ages in the US - about 1 per cent of the population. By 2050, the share is predicted to climb to 2.1 per cent. [Source: Daily Mail].
[هُوَ الَّذِي أَرْسَلَ رَسُولَهُ بِالْهُدَى وَدِينِ الْحَقِّ لِيُظْهِرَهُ عَلَى الدِّينِ كُلِّهِ وَلَوْ كَرِهَ الْمُشْرِكُونَ]
“He (is) the One Who has sent His Messenger with the guidance and the religion (of) [the] truth, to manifest it over all religions. Even if dislike (it) the polytheists.” [TMQ: Al Tawba: 33].
Mattis: Afghanistan Pullout Would Be To Our Ultimate Peril
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis warned on Tuesday that an American withdrawal from Afghanistan would be “to our ultimate peril,” as he briefed Congress on plans to increase US troop levels. “Based on intelligence community analysis and my own evaluation, I am convinced we would absent ourselves from this region at our peril,” he said, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee. The administration of President Donald Trump recently announced plans to send an additional 3,000 troops to Afghanistan to train and advise the country’s security forces. There are already 11,000 US troops there. Mattis visited Afghanistan last week with Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to reaffirm US commitment as government forces struggle to beat back the Taliban, which has been on the offensive since US-led combat forces withdrew at the end of 2014. General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, “is holding the line,” Mattis assured the senators. “We must always remember we are in Afghanistan to make America safer and to ensure South Asia cannot be used to plot transnational attacks against the US homeland or our partners and allies,” he said. The September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States was set in motion from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan by Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. [Source: Dawn].
Mattis’s remarks fail to conceal the absence of a long-term strategy for American forces in the region. The world’s only super power is currently forcing Britain to send more troops to Afghanistan to bolster efforts to counter the Pushtun resistance. It is evident now, that America’s primacy is in demise, as it struggles to find stable solutions to a multitude of problems.
US Will Try to Work with Pakistan One More Time
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis has said that the United States would try “one more time” to work with Pakistan in Afghanistan before President Donald Trump would turn to options to address Islamabad’s alleged support for militant groups. Relations between the two countries have been frayed over the past decade. While officials have long questioned the role Pakistan has played in Afghanistan, the comments by Mattis are likely to cause concern in Islamabad and within the Pakistan military. “We need to try one more time to make this strategy work with them, by, with and through the Pakistanis, and if our best efforts fail, the president is prepared to take whatever steps are necessary,” Mattis said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing. Mattis added that he would be travelling to Islamabad soon, but did not give more details. Reuters first reported that possible Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding US drone strikes and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan’s status as a major non-Nato ally. When asked by a lawmaker whether revoking Pakistan’s major non-Nato ally status was amongst the options being considered to deal with Islamabad, Mattis said: “I am sure it will be.” In a separate Senate hearing on Tuesday, the top US military officer said he believed Pakistan’s main spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, had ties to militant groups. “It is clear to me that the ISI has connections with terrorist groups,” Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. The Pakistan embassy in Washington said Islamabad had achieved success in counter-terrorism operations in its country. “However, unless the same level of success is achieved in (Afghanistan), long lasting peace in the region will remain out of reach,” the embassy said in a statement. The United States in 2012 designated the Pakistan-based Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation. The year before, US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top US military officer, caused a stir when he told Congress that the Haqqani network was a “veritable arm” of the ISI directorate. US officials have told Reuters that the United States will send about 3,500 additional troops to Afghanistan. Dunford said that the current cost for the United States in Afghanistan was about $12.5bn a year, and the new strategy would cost an additional $1.1bn. [Source: Gulf Times]
Instead of groveling and looking for opportunities to work with America, the time has come to sever ties. If North Korea with a handful of nuclear weapons can give America such a headache then think what Pakistan can do with 200 nukes and proven means to deliver them.