The United States and Britain expressed confidence on Sunday in the security of Pakistani nuclear facilities after an attack by Taliban militants on the country's army headquarters. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a news conference in London Washington was confident that Pakistani authorities had control over the nation's nuclear weapons.
"We have confidence in the Pakistani government and military's control over nuclear weapons," she said. While noting the threats posed by extremists in the country, Clinton added: "We see no evidence that they are going to take over the state."
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who met with Clinton, said there was no evidence of any threat to Pakistan's nuclear facilities. "In respect of the nuclear issue, there is no evidence that has been shown publicly or privately of any threat to the Pakistani nuclear facilities," he said. "It is very important that alarmist talk is not allowed to gather pace.
Taliban militants have launched a series of increasingly bold attacks on military and political targets in Pakistan. On Saturday, militants dressed in military fatigues attacked the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, taking dozens of hostages.
The 22-hour siege ended Sunday when commandos stormed the building. At least 19 people died in the stand-off, including three captives and eight of the militants.
Clinton is on a five-day tour of Europe in which the conflict in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan and the crisis over Iran's nuclear program have been major topics.
Miliband said his talks with Clinton in London focused on Afghanistan. Britain has 9,000 troops in the country, but support for the mission has waned in recent months amid rising casualties and allegations of major fraud in August's Afghan national elections. Miliband said the US and Britain had a "shared strategy" that involved building Afghanistan's civilian and political institutions as well as defeating the Taliban.
Clinton also warned Iran that the world ``will not wait indefinitely'' for it to live up to international obligations regarding its nuclear programme. The US and its allies fear Iran wants to build an atomic bomb and is using what it calls a civilian nuclear energy program as cover. Iran is under UN penalties for refusing to stop enriching uranium, an important first step toward building a bomb.
Clinton later held talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat outside London. She said the trans-Atlantic ``special relationship'' remained strong.
``I have a special personal relationship with the prime minister and of course I think it can't be said often enough, we have a special relationship between our countries,'' she said. She was flying to Ireland later Sunday before travelling to Russia.
Clinton plans to use her trip to Moscow to press for backing for tough new sanctions against Iran, something Russia has long opposed.
Clinton said a recent meeting in Geneva in which Iran and six world powers resumed nuclear talks was ``a constructive beginning, but it must be followed by action.''
Miliband said Iran ``will never have a better opportunity to establish normal relations with the international community.'' In Dublin and Belfast, both of which she visited while she was first lady, Clinton will be pushing to break a deadlock between Northern Ireland's rival Catholic and Protestant leaders over transferring responsibility for Northern Ireland's justice system from British to local hands.
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