ONE NEWS

Thursday, December 03, 2009 WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that there is a lack of trust between Pakistan and United States. She lauded two major military offensives by Pakistan against militants. The Secretary of State warned that Taliban of Pakistan and Afghan were syndicate of al-Qaeda. The world must remember that Pakistan is a sovereign country, she commented.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009 WASHINGTON: Washington will press Pakistan to "do more" against all the militant groups threatening Pakistan, its neighbors and the United States, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday."It will be our continuing effort to make the case that the Pakistanis have to do more against all of the insurgent terrorist groups that are threatening them, that are threatening us in Afghanistan and the Afghan people and are threatening other neighbors in the region," Clinton told senators.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009 MARRAKECH: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that the nuclear offer to Iran, intended to restrain its potential for making a nuclear weapon, should be fully accepted by Iran and will not be changed."This is a pivotal moment for Iran," she said at a news conference after consulting with senior government officials from several Persian Gulf nations, plus Egypt, Morocco and Jordan."We continue to press the Iranians to accept fully the proposal that has been made, which they accepted in principle," Clinton said. "Acceptance fully of this proposal ... would be a good indication that Iran does not wish to be isolated and does wish to cooperate with the international community." She said Iran should accept it as it stands, "because we are not altering it."The head of the U.N. nuclear agency urged Iran on Monday to clarify its response to the proposal that would have Tehran ship most of its nuclear mat...

Monday, November 02, 2009 WASHINGTON: Calling Pakistan’s current anti militant campaign as ‘incredibly important,’ US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the Pakistani forces are making ‘real progress’ in the fight against Taliban in the northwestern valleys and tribal areas.She also recognized that the democratic government’s support and military sacrifices are making a “big difference” in Pakistan’s ongoing campaign in mountainous South Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan, where US led International forces are struggling to contain a fierce Taliban insurgency.“They’re making real progress. And I think that the sacrifice that the Pakistanis have undertaken, the loss of life that they are suffering, is the clearest evidence of their seriousness and their resolve,” Clinton told sources in an interview.Clinton also said the US will assist reconstruction efforts in Swat and South Waziristan.“And they’re very concerned about reconstruction in both Swat and Waziristan, som...

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 JERUSALEM: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will travel to the Middle East on Saturday in an attempt to help peacemaking efforts, Israeli and Palestinian radio stations reported on Wednesday.It will be Clinton's second visit to the region since U.S. President Barack Obama took office in January. A senior U.S. envoy, George Mitchell, has been shuttling between Israeli and Palestinian leaders every few weeks.Asked about the reports on Israel Radio and Voice of Palestine radio, an Israeli official would only say: "Israel is preparing to receive Secretary of State Clinton on the weekend."In the West Bank city of Ramallah, a Palestinian official said a schedule for a Clinton visit had not been received yet.The U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv had no immediate comment.Mitchell was expected to fly in on Thursday and stay on into next week, said an official involved in the planning.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009 MOSCOW: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the time to slap sanctions on Iran over its atomic programme has not yet come. Earlier, America’s top diplomat met President Dmitry Medvedev during a two-day mission to Moscow to reset US relations with Russia. At a media conference with Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov Clinton praised Russia’s help in tackling the issue. “We are aware that we might not be as successful as we need to be so we have always looked at the potential of sanctions in the event that we are not successful, that we cannot assure ourselves and others that Iran has decided not to pursue nuclear weapons,” Clinton said. The signing of a new arms reduction treaty also topped the agenda and Lavrov indicated significant progress had been made with the US.

Sunday, September 27, 2009 NEW YORK: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has given a cautious welcome to Iran's announcement that it will open a newly revealed nuclear plant to inspection. Speaking in New York, Mrs Clinton said it was always welcome when Iran decided to comply with international rules. The US, France and UK accused Tehran of deception after it admitted to the existence of the facility on Monday. Iran says the uranium enrichment plant, near the city of Qom, is in line with UN regulations. It maintains it wants atomic power only for the production of electricity. But the revelations have raised tension ahead of next Thursday's talks in Geneva between Iran and six global powers negotiating over Tehran's atomic programme. The Western powers are hoping to persuade Iran to freeze its uranium enrichment programme, but are threatening new sanctions if it fails to do so. Russia has also indicated that it may support new sanctions.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that the United States was impartial in Afghanistan's upcoming election and was ready to work with whomever voters pick.Afghanistan on Thursday heads to the polls in its second-ever presidential election, which comes as the new US administration pours more troops in the country in hopes of bringing stability and rooting out Islamic extremists."The United States of America remains impartial in this election," Clinton said in a statement."Like the Afghan people we want to see credible, secure and inclusive elections that all will judge legitimate," she said, adding: "We look forward to working with whomever the Afghan people select as their leaders for the next five years."While predicting challenges ahead, she said: "The Afghan people should be commended for their courage in conducting this election despite the stresses of wartime, and we and the international commu...

Friday, August 07, 2009 NAIROBI: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday pledged to "expand and extend" American support for Somalia's weak interim government as it struggles against Islamist extremists believed linked to al-Qaida.Accusing the extremists of trying to turn Somalia into a base to launch worldwide terrorist attacks, Clinton said the Obama administration would boost military supplies and other aid to the government and an African peacekeeping force supporting it. She did not detail the new aid."They see Somalia as a future haven for global terrorism," she said of the extremist Somali militia known as al-Shabab. To make her point, she noted the recent arrests of four men allegedly linked to the group who are suspected of plotting attacks there in Australia."Our information is that al-Shabab not only uses foreign fighters and foreign money but foreign ideas in its attack on the people of Somalia," she said."There is ...

Thursday, July 30, 2009 LONDON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the United States will restrict intelligence-sharing with the U.K. if a British court reveals secret details of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee's treatment, a British government lawyer said Wednesday.Karen Steyn, a lawyer acting on behalf of the British government, told Britain's High Court that Clinton had explained to her counterpart, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, that intelligence sharing between the two countries is at risk if a court makes public so far undisclosed sections of a 2008 ruling on the alleged torture of Binyam Mohamed.Mohamed, an Ethiopian who moved to Britain as a teenager, was arrested in 2002 in Pakistan. He alleges he was tortured there and in Morocco — where he says interrogators sliced his penis with a scalpel — before he was transferred to Afghanistan, and then to the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2004.He was accused of plotting to explode a "dirty bomb" in th...

Thursday, July 30, 2009 WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged Iran to release political prisoners held after protests over the disputed elections last month."We believe that it is imperative for the (Iranian) authorities to release political prisoners," Clinton told a press conference with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband

Sunday, July 19, 2009, MUMBAI: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Saturday said there had to be “justice” for the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, even as she noted that India’s contribution towards the fight against extremism in Afghanistan and Pakistan would be “very helpful”. “I believe that there has to be justice. There has to be a full vetting, thorough analysis of what happened, who was behind it - just as it would be with any terrorist attack,” Clinton said in an interview. Clinton who is on a five-day visit to India, arrived in Mumbai Friday night. After a day -and-a-half of appointments in India’s commercial capital, the highest ranking official of the Barack Obama administration to have visited this country will reach New Delhi Sunday. Clinton said that there had been an “evolving attitude” in Pakistan in the last six months, with both the government and society understanding the dangers of fighting terror groups. She said the Pakistan Army’s efforts against terror groups in ...

Friday, July 17, 2009 NEW DELHI: U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton urged India on Friday to join Washington in supporting Pakistan's fight against terrorism, but Delhi demanded results before it begins formal peace talks with its rival.Clinton is due to arrive in Mumbai late on Friday to start a five-day visit designed to cement ties and dispel any doubts about U.S. President Barack Obama's commitment to India's role as a rising global power.Although her trip has a wide agenda, including securing a deal to ensure U.S. arms technology does not leak to third countries, Clinton is expected to push for a smoothing of Indo-Pakistani ties frayed by last year's Mumbai attacks.Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani agreed on Thursday to fight terrorism jointly but Singh insisted Pakistan must punish those responsible for the Mumbai attacks if it wants formal talks.Clinton, in an opinion piece published in the Times of India n...

Thursday, July 16, 2009 WASHINGTON: Having launched a military operation against the Taliban militants in the Swat valley, Pakistan has come under intense pressure, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said, and announced she would be visiting the country "this fall". "Pakistan is itself under intense pressure from extremist groups," Ms. Clinton said in a major foreign policy speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank. Referring to the recent tri-lateral meetings initiated by her, Ms. Clinton said trilateral cooperation among Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the US has built confidence and yielded progress on a number of policy fronts. "Our national security as well as the future of Afghanistan depends on a stable, democratic, and economically viable Pakistan. We applaud the new Pakistani determination to deal with the militants to threaten their democracy and our shared security," Ms. Clinton said on Wednesday. In Afghanista...