Prime Minister Modi to Address U.S. Congress; Disciplinary Action Taken in U.S. Attack on Afghan Hospital; U.S. Withholding Funds for Pakistan F-16 Purchase

Event Notice: “Anderson Cooper 360 Special: We Got Him: President Obama, Bin Laden, and the Future of the War on Terror,” on Tuesday, May 2 at 8 PM (EST). CNN’s Peter Bergen sits down with President Barack Obama and current and former national security staff members to talk about the Bin Laden raid and the state of the war on terror five years later.

India

Prime Minister Modi to address U.S. Congress

United States House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement on Thursday that he had invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress in June which will be Modi’s fourth visit to the United States during his two years in office (WSJ). Speaker Ryan described India-U.S. ties as “a pillar of strength in an important region of the world.”

Every Indian full-term prime minister since 1984 has addressed the United States Congress. Rajiv Gandhi gave a speech to the Congress in 1985, followed by P.V. Narasimha Rao in 1994 and Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000.

Modi did not address Congress on his first visit to Washington as prime minister in 2014. That visit was seen as a turning point in Modi’s relations with the U.S., as the Indian leader had been denied a U.S. visa previously over his alleged role in the 2002 religious riots in the state of Gujarat when he was chief minister of the state. More than 1,000 people were killed in the violence, most of them Muslims.

India planning to introduce sex offenders’ registry

Junior minister of home affairs in India, Kiren Rijiju, said on Thursday that India’s government is drawing up plans to publish a register of convicted sex offenders (BBC). Rijiju said “guidelines are under preparation in consultation with various ministries.” There is a growing concern in India over the increasing sexual violence against women. Government data shows that there were 337,922 reports of violence against women, including rape, molestation, abduction and cruelty in 2014, a rise of 9% on the previous year’s figures. Three years ago the fatal rape of a student in Delhi led to protests and the introduction of tougher anti-rape laws, however incidents of sexual violence against women continue to be increasingly reported across the country.

Higher number of tigers poached in 2016 than 2015

The Wildlife Protection Society of India, a conservation charity, said on Friday that more tigers have been killed in India already this year than in the whole of 2015 (Guardian/AFP). The statement said that 28 tigers had been poached by April 26l, three more than last year. Tigers are an endangered animal and India is home to more than half of the world’s tiger population. Earlier this year, a report by the WWF and the Global Tiger Forum said the number of wild tigers in the world increased for the first time in more than a century to an estimated 3,890. The report cited improved conservation efforts, but its authors also cautioned that the rise could be partly attributed to improved data gathering.

Afghanistan

Bonus Read: “Afghan Women: What the West Gets Wrong,” by Bina Shah (NYT)

Bonus Read: “Don’t Abandon America’s Afghan Helpers,” by the New York Times editorial board (NYT)

Disciplinary action taken in U.S. attack on Afghan hospital

Administrative punishments were leveled against U.S. military personnel responsible for the October 2015 airstrike on a hospital in Afghanistan run by Medecins Sans Frontieres, according to a report by the Associated Press (NYT). A senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press that a two-star general was among “about 16 American military personnel disciplined because of the attack.” No one received criminal charges. This revelation comes ahead of the full report on the investigation into the airstrike, which is expected to be released in the coming weeks.

Australian aid worker believed to be kidnapped in Afghanistan

Katherine Jane Wilson, an Australian aid worker in Afghanistan, was kidnapped on Thursday, according to Afghan authorities (NYT, Reuters). Wilson, 60, was kidnapped early Thursday morning in the eastern city of Jalalabad, according to Ahmad Ali Herat, chief of the Nangarhar provincial council. However, Australian officials are still in the process of confirming the details. “The details of the reports are still being confirmed with the Afghan authorities but they certainly believe she has been kidnapped,” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said to reporters. It is unclear who authorities believe kidnapped Wilson.

Afghan prosecutor shot dead in Herat

The chief prosecutor for the western Herat province on Thursday was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen (NYT). Samiuddin Raheein was shot seven times close to his home in Herat by gunmen in a moving vehicle, according to Ghulam Jilani Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Raheein’s seven-year-old son was wounded in the attack. No one has been charged in the attack thus far.

Pakistan

U.S. withholding funds for Pakistan F-16 purchase

The United States is withdrawing funds intended to facilitate Pakistan’s purchase of eight F-16 fighter jets, according to a U.S. State Department official (Dawn). The U.S. official told BBC Urdu on condition of anonymity that while the United States is still willing to export the jets to Pakistan, the U.S. will not be contributing funds towards the deal. Pakistan would have paid $270 million per the original arrangement, while the US would grant the remaining $430 million for the purchase. However, only Congress has the authority to dispense funds, and due to attempts by U.S. lawmakers to derail the sale, Pakistan may have to pay the full $700 million for the fighter jets.

–Alyssa Sims and Shuja Malik

Edited by Peter Bergen

OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP/Getty Images