NEW YORK, Jan 27: The possibility of a complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan has raised concerns that the US will lose strategic air bases meant for drone strikes against the al Qaeda in Pakistan and for responding to a nuclear crisis in the region, a media report said.
In the event of President Barack Obama ultimately withdrawing all American troops from Afghanistan, the CIA’s drone bases in the war-torn country would have to be closed because they could no longer be protected, a report in the New York Times quoted US administration officials as saying.
The concern of American intelligence agencies also reflect how troop levels in Afghanistan directly affect long-term American security interests in neighbouring Pakistan, it said.
The concern of American intelligence agencies is that the “nearest alternative bases are too far away for drones to reach the mountainous territory in Pakistan where the remnants of al Qaeda’s central command are hiding. Those bases would also be too distant to monitor and respond as quickly as American forces can today if there were a crisis in the region, such as missing nuclear material or weapons in Pakistan and India,” the NYT report said.
It said Pakistan has in recent years accelerated its drive to build small tactical nuclear weapons that could be used to “repel an invasion from India.”
Those weapons are considered more vulnerable to theft or use by a rogue commander, and are the one reason that American intelligence agencies have invested heavily in monitoring the Pakistani arsenal, the report added.
The concern is so serious that the Obama administration has organised a team of intelligence, military and policy specialists to come up with alternatives to mitigate the damage if a final security deal cannot be struck with Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who has declined to enact an agreement that American officials thought was completed last year.
The sense of urgency among US intelligence agencies is mainly due to the Pentagon’s two proposals to Obama regarding the Afghan pullout.
One option calls for a presence through the end of Obama’s term of 10,000 American troops who could train Afghan troops, conduct counter-terrorism raids and protect the American facilities, including those in eastern Afghanistan where drones and nuclear monitoring are based. (AGENCIES)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 27: French electronic music duo Daft Punk dominated the 56th annual Grammy awards with ‘Random Access Memories’ winning album of the year award while their hit track ‘Get Lucky’, featuring Pharrell Williams, walked away with best record of the year trophy.
“I suppose, the robots would like to thank… I bet France is really proud of these guys right now,” Williams said about his helmet-clad collaborators.
Late Pandit Ravi Shankar, who received a posthumous nomination for his album ‘The Living Room Sessions Part 2’ in the World Music section, missed the opportunity this year. He had won the award in the same category for the first part of the album. Shankar was also paid a tribute at the mega music award show last year.
Daft Punk, whose real names are Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, won album of the year for ‘Random Access Memories’, record of the year for ‘Get Lucky’, best pop duo/group performance and best dance/ electronica album and the best engineered album, non- classical category for ‘Random Access Memories’.
The highlight of the music gala, however, was not the dominion of the helmet-wearing artistes but several gay, straight and multi-racial weddings. Queen Latifah officiated the weddings and Madonna performed on best new artist winners Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s hit track ‘Same Love’.
The Seattle-based rapper duo won four awards, including best new artist, best rap album for ‘The Heist’, best rap song and best rap performance for ‘Thrift Shop’.
Songstress Lorde, the 17-year-old sensation from New Zealand, won two grammy awards: song of the year and best pop solo performance, both for ‘Royals’.
The music’s biggest night was kicked off with a scintillating performance by Beyonce and Jay Z. The couple selected a duet-track from Beyonce’s last album, ‘Drunk in Love’ for their performance. (AGENCIES)