Acknowledging that the United States has received more cooperation from Pakistan in the war on terror, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Washington wants and expects even more from the South Asian country.

At the same time, she warned of repercussions if a future successful attack in the United States is linked to Pakistan. “We’ve made it very clear that if, heaven-forbid, an attack like this that we can trace back to Pakistan were to have been successful, there would be very severe consequences,” the top US diplomat said in an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” news programme.

Her comments came as US and Pakistani officials are probing whether Faisal Shahzad, an American citizen of Pakistani origin, had connections to foreign militant groups that either funded or helped in the botched bombing of New York’s Times Square last Saturday. Clinton said in the interview, which will be telecast in full on Sunday, that Pakistan’s attitude toward fighting terrorists has changed remarkably.

“We’ve gotten more cooperation and it’s been a real sea change in the commitment we’ve seen from the Pakistan Government. [But] We want more. We expect more,” she said. Since the relationship with Pakistan turned around, the results are encouraging, she said.

“We also have a much better relationship, military to military, intelligence to intelligence, government to government than we had before,” Clinton told CBS. “I think that there was a double game going on in the previous years, where we got a lot of lip service but very little produced.

We’ve got a lot produced. We have seen the killing or capturing of a great number of the leadership of significant terrorist groups and we’re going continue that.

Beginning of a hectic week for US President Barack Obama’s nuclear agenda, the United States on Tuesday rolled out a strategy review that renounced US development of new atomic weapons and could herald further cuts in America’s stockpile.

We are enforcing our commitment to the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) by stating clearly for the first time that the United States will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states that are party to the NPT and in compliance of their non-proliferation obligations,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a news conference at the Pentagon.

The announcement, calling for reduced US reliance on its nuclear deterrent, could build momentum before Obama signs a landmark arms control treaty with Russia in Prague on Thursday and hosts a nuclear security summit in Washington next week.

This NPR determined that the United States will not develop new nuclear warheads. Programs to extend the life of warheads will only use nuclear components based on previously tested designs and will not support new military missions or provide for new military capability, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. But Obama’s revamped strategy is likely to draw criticism from conservatives who say his approach could compromise US national security and disappoint liberals who wanted the president to go further on arms control.

Under the revamped policy, the United States for the first time is forswearing use of atomic weapons against non-nuclear countries, a break with a Bush-era threat of nuclear retaliation in the event of a biological or chemical attack.

The administration also pledged to pursue further arms control with Russia beyond the New START pact Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will sign this week promising to slash nuclear arsenals by a third.

WASHINGTON: U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that unprecedented limits being placed on the U.S. nuclear arsenal will not weaken U.S. defenses and will send a “strong message” to Iran and North Korea to “play by the rules.”

Under the plan, the United States would narrow the circumstances under which a nuclear weapon would be used.

The new policy would not apply to states like North Korea and Iran because of their refusal to cooperate with the international community on nonproliferation standards.

“All options are on the table when it comes to countries in that category,” Gates said.

Obama also has stopped short of saying the United States never will be the first to launch a nuclear attack, as many arms control advocates want.

Gates said the administration decided against limiting U.S. options further because of the danger still being posed by the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

“This is obviously a weapon of last resort,” Gates told reporters at a press conference at the Pentagon. But “we also recognize the real world we continue to live in.”

Gates was joined by other cabinet members in announcing the plan, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

Gates said that a new policy restricting the use of nuclear weapons did not apply to countries such as Iran and North Korea, which he said are pursuing nuclear weapons in defiance of the international community.

He also said the United States is moving toward a policy of no first use of nuclear weapons but is not ready to devise one yet. Gates said he did not believe “we were far enough along the road” toward controlling nuclear weapons around the world to give up the right to pre-emptive strikes.

The United States is the only country to use nuclear weapons in wartime.

The United States and Russia have signed an agreement to eliminate a massive amount of nuclear material that could used to fuel about 17,000 atomic weapons.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sealed the deal on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in Washington.

Under the pact, the two countries have committed themselves to dispose of 68 metric tons of excess weapons-grade plutonium beginning in 2018.

The disposal would be inspected and monitored by experts and is aimed at ensuring that the stockpiles can never be used for weapons or other military purposes.

Rejecting American pressure, Russia announced the planned launch this summer of Iran’s first, Russian-built nuclear power plant.

Russian Premier Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow would start up Tehran’s first and only nuclear power plant this summer. Moscow has been helping Iran build the Bushehr facility since 1995, but work has been delayed several times.

The statement of Russian Premier came at a time when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is in Moscow for talks on the Middle East and a stalled US-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty. Russia’s foreign minister, gave Mrs Clinton short shrift and argued that making Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant operational would keep Tehran engaged with the international community.

MOSCOW : US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is in Moscow to meet with senior Russian officials and to join top international diplomats in assessing the stalled Mideast peace process.

Clinton arrived in the Russian capital Thursday morning after an overnight flight from Washington. She is to be joined later by the Obama administration’s special envoy for Mideast peace, George Mitchell.

Clinton aides said she will discuss a range of issues with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (SEHR’-gay LAHV’-rahf) on Thursday, including negotiations on a new U.S.-Russian nuclear weapons treaty.

On Friday Clinton will participate in a meeting of the so-called Quartet of Mideast peacemakers, comprising the U.S., Russia, the United Nations and the European Union.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday he must work to repair relations with Washington after a debacle over Jewish settlements that has undermined US efforts to mediate new peace talks with the Palestinians.
Clinton’s blunt language betrayed US frustration after a visit by Vice President Joe Biden was overshadowed by Israel’s approval of new Jewish building on occupied land. She reminded Netanyahu of the commitments the United States makes to protect Israel from hostile neighbors, her spokesman said. On a day when Israeli forces sealed off the West Bank and deployed riot squads around Jerusalem’s holy sites to contain Palestinian anger during weekly Muslim prayers, Clinton called the latest settlement approval a “deeply negative signal about Israel’s approach to the bilateral relationship and had undermined trust and confidence in the peace process.”

The CIA and its Pakistani counterpart, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence, have a long and often tormented relationship. And even now, they are moving warily toward conflicting goals, with each maneuvering to protect its influence after the shooting stops in Afghanistan, reported New York Times.
Yet interviews in recent days show how they are working together on tactical operations, and how far the CIA has extended its extraordinary secret war beyond the mountainous tribal belt and deep into Pakistan’s sprawling cities.
Beyond the capture of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, CIA operatives working with the ISI have carried out dozens of raids throughout Pakistan over the past year, working from bases in the cities of Quetta, Peshawar and elsewhere, according to Pakistani security officials.
The raids often come after electronic intercepts by American spy satellites, or tips from Pakistani informants — and the spies from the two countries then sometimes drive in the same car to pick up their quarry. Sometimes the teams go on lengthy reconnaissance missions, with the ISI operatives packing sunscreen and neon glow sticks that allow them to identify their positions at night.
The drone attack on Mehsud is part of a joint war against militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas, where CIA drones pound militants from the air as Pakistani troops fight them on the ground. Even as the ISI breaks up a number of Taliban cells, officials in Islamabad, Washington and Kabul hint that the ISI’s goal seems to be to weaken the Taliban just enough to bring them to the negotiating table, but leaving them strong enough to represent Pakistani interests in a future Afghan government. Besides Mullah Baradar, several Taliban shadow governors and other senior leaders have been arrested inside Pakistan in recent weeks.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that it had encouraged the two countries to resume direct talks at the highest political level.
“With respect to India and Pakistan, we’ve encouraged the resumption of the direct talks which were suspended when (Pakistan) President (Pervez) Musharraf left office,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Senate panel.
Those talks between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “had actually been quite productive particularly in producing results on the ground in Kashmir”, she said at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on her department’s budget for Fiscal Year 2011.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that it had encouraged the two countries to resume direct talks at the highest political level.
“With respect to India and Pakistan, we’ve encouraged the resumption of the direct talks which were suspended when (Pakistan) President (Pervez) Musharraf left office,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Senate panel.
Those talks between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh “had actually been quite productive particularly in producing results on the ground in Kashmir”, she said at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee on her department’s budget for Fiscal Year 2011.