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Visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has urged Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to seize the moment of his second term as head of state to end government corruption.

“President Karzai should seize this moment, and so should we. That is why President Obama is engaged in a careful and thorough review of our Afghanistan policy, evaluating the progress we”ve made, the challenges we still face and the best way forward to achieve our goals,” the Washington Times quoted Clinton, as saying.

“There is now a clear window of opportunity for President Karzai to make a new compact with the people of Afghanistan – based on accountability and tangible results – and to forge a stronger partnership with the international community,” she added while ona visit to the U.S. Embassy here.

Transparency International, an organization that rates countries according to business practices, this week labeled Afghanistan the second most corrupt nation in the world after Somalia, a failed state.

Karzai has announced the creation of an anti-corruption unit and is expected to address the issue in his inaugural address today.

President Obama has said that he wants to end the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan by the time he leaves the White House, presumably after two terms. He did not say whether he planned to withdraw all U.S. forces by then.

“My preference would be not to hand off anything to the next president. One of the things I”d like is the next president to be able to come in and say, ”I”ve got a clean slate”,” he said shortly before leaving Beijing for Seoul.

Clinton has met with General Stanley A. McChrystal, the commanding U.S. general here, and Karl Eikenberry, a former commander and current U.S. ambassador to Kabul.

Gen. McChrystal reportedly is pushing for as many as 40,000 additional troops to be deployed, on top of 68,000 Americans already in Afghanistan, while Eikenberry has argued that more forces would only prop up a corrupt and weak government.

Clinton is expected to meet with officials from other NATO countries providing about 40,000 troops to Afghanistan.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has confessed that she has a ‘crush’ on Britain’’s foreign minister, David Miliband.

Hillary, who is married to former US president Bill Clinton, gushed over youthful-looking, 44-year-old Miliband in the latest issue of US Vogue magazine.

“Oh my God! If you saw him it would be a big crush,” Herald Sun quoted her as telling the mag in its December issue.

Hillary described Miliband as ‘vibrant, vital, attractive, smart. He’’s a really good guy – and he is so young!’

As per Britain’’s Sun newspaper, Miliband reciprocated the warm feelings, calling the 62-year-old ‘delightful’ and a ‘tease.’

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has revealed her crush on British Foreign Secretary David Miliband who, according to her, is “vibrant, vital, attractive and smart.”

Clinton gushed her appraisal during an interview with Vogue magazine.

The interviewer added for good measure: “I got a crush over the phone in about five seconds partly because of his accent.”

But he was quickly outdone by Clinton, who responded: “Well, if you saw him it would be a big crush. I mean, he is so vibrant, vital, attractive, smart. He’’s really a good guy. And he’’s so young!”

Miliband too seemed smitten by Clinton’s persona.

“She applies intellect but also psychology to the dossiers that she’’s studying. She’’s delightful to deal with one on one. She’’s someone who laughs and can tease, and she’’s got perspective as well,” The Guardian quoted Miliband, as saying.

Miliband and Clinton are not the first transatlantic pair to hit it off.

Clinton’s predecessor Condoleezza Rice took Jack Straw to an American football game.

The United States Monday assured representatives from 16 other major world economies, including India, that Washington no longer doubts the urgency or magnitude of the climate change problem.

The US is fully engaged and moving quickly to address global warming, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opening the first preparatory session of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change announced in March by President Barack Obama.

She cited the recent finding by the US Environmental Protection Agency that six greenhouse gases pose threats to human health and welfare as a sign that the Obama administration was taking action.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s special envoy on climate change issues, Shyam Saran is leading the Indian delegation to the gathering.

This is expected to be the first of three preparatory sessions that will support a Major Economies Forum leaders’ meeting hosted by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in LaMaddalena, Italy, in July 2009.

The aim is to work towards a successful new international agreement to curb climate-changing pollution. It would also advance the exploration of concrete initiatives and joint ventures that increase the supply of clean energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Besides India the other 16 major economies participating in the forum are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in the Iraqi capital on an unannounced visit, Voices of Iraq news agency reported Saturday.

The visit comes at a time as the new US ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, is taking up his office.

The trip – Clinton’s first to Iraq as secretary of state – also comes after 48 hours of suicide bombings in Baghdad and other cities which have killed at least 155.

President Barack Obama vowed to withdraw US combat troops from Iraqi cities by summer during a recent visit to Iraq.

Before heading to Baghdad, Clinton said that the recent escalation in violence in Iraq is a tragic indicator that Iraq is on the right path.

Clinton is expected to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, her counterpart Hoshyar Zebari, and the top US commander in Iraq General Raymond Odierno.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has acknowledged that the US too had a share in creating the problem that plagues Pakistan today, a media report said Saturday.

In an appearance before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee Thursday, Clinton explained how the militancy in Pakistan was linked to the US-backed proxy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, Geo TV reported.

“We can point fingers at the Pakistanis. I did some yesterday frankly. And it’s merited because we are wondering why they just don’t go out there and deal with these people,” said Clinton while referring to an earlier hearing in which she said Pakistan posed a ‘mortal threat’ to the world.

“But the problems we face now to some extent we have to take responsibility for, having contributed to it. We also have a history of kind of moving in and out of Pakistan,” she said.

“Let’s remember here… the people we are fighting today we funded them twenty years ago… and we did it because we were locked in a struggle with the Soviet Union.”

“They invaded Afghanistan… and we did not want to see them control Central Asia and we went to work… and it was President Reagan in partnership with Congress led by Democrats who said you know what it sounds like a pretty good idea… let’s deal with the ISI (Inter-Services Intelligence) and the Pakistan military and let’s go recruit these mujahideen.”

“And great, let them come from Saudi Arabia and other countries, importing their Wahabi brand of Islam so that we can go beat the Soviet Union.”

“And guess what… they (Soviets) retreated. they lost billions of dollars and it led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.”

“So there is a very strong argument which is… it wasn’t a bad investment in terms of Soviet Union but let’s be careful with what we sow… because we will harvest.”

“So we then left Pakistan… We said okay fine you deal with the Stingers that we left all over your country… you deal with the mines that are along the border and… by the way we don’t want to have anything to do with you… in fact we’re sanctioning you… So we stopped dealing with the Pakistani military and with ISI and we now are making up for a lot of lost time.”

It was question from Congressman Adam Shciff, a California Democrat that spurred Secretary Clinton to delve into history and come out with an answer that other US politicians have avoided in the past.

The congressman noted that while the US had provided “a phenomenal amount of military support for Pakistan”, they had not changed the paradigm.

“And more pernicious, there are elements within the Pakistani intelligence services, the ISI that may be working at cross-purposes with us.”

“How we can possibly be funding the Pakistani military if elements of the military or intelligence services are actually working against us and having the effect of killing our troops next door…” he asked.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is impressed by the “pretty good job” the Indians do of running their elections even if it means keeping efforts to reduce India-Pakistan tensions on hold.

“It’s a very profound question,” she told a House panel Wednesday, “…because there has to be effort to enhance confidence between India and Pakistan. (But) Those are not likely to be undertaken until the Indian elections are over.

“As you know, the Indian elections take a long time, because they’re the biggest democracy in the world. And they do a pretty good job frankly running their elections. But we’re not going to have a government for weeks,” Clinton said.

Clinton was responding to a question by Republican Representative Jerry Lewis concerned over India-Pakistan tensions about efforts being made by US to shift Pakistan’s focus from India to a more robust fight against extremists.

“If, indeed, just a little more militancy causes a spark that causes India to react, something were to happen in Kashmir, we could have an explosion that involves two nuclear powers faced off against one another,” Lewis said.

The United States has branded disgraced Pakistani nuclear scientist as “probably the world’s greatest proliferator” but appears reluctant to link aid to Islamabad with getting information from him about his activities.

“We do think that there need to be the right kind of conditions,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee responding to a question from Republican Michael McCaul.

“You know, it’s a little bit like the Goldilocks story. I mean, if they’re too weak, we don’t get changes. If they’re too strong, we get a backlash. So we’re trying to figure out sort of what is the area that will influence behaviour and produce results,” she said.

The US, she said was “creating measures of performance that we will share with the Congress so that you and we can follow whether or not we’re getting the kind of positive outcomes that we’re attempting to achieve.”

Clinton said there’s no doubt that A.Q. Khan “is probably the world’s greatest proliferator, and the damage that he’s done around the world has been incalculable. We have made it very clear that the network had to be dismantled, and it was.”

“There are people who were connected with A.Q. Khan who are out of business or who were in prison. And there are ongoing efforts to continue to obtain useful information,” she contended.

“As we develop with the Congress the kind of conditional statements that we want, we have to just be careful that what we put into legislation doesn’t stop cooperation instead of further cooperation,” Clinton said.

“And so let us work with you and others to try to figure out exactly sort of what’s the sweet spot here. How do we get results?” she told McCaul who wanted non-military assistance to Pakistan linked to US ability to get information from Khan about “one of the largest proliferations of nuclear armament in history.”

“We’re not interested in putting money into doing what hasn’t worked. And we’ve seen the situation deteriorate over the last eight years in Pakistan and even before,” Clinton said. “It’s been a very difficult country for us to get our arms around and figure out what our ongoing relationship would be like.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that Cuba’s current communist regime “is ending” and that the US must prepare to deal with a new reality on the island.

“You can see there is beginning to be a debate (in Cuba), I mean this is a regime that is ending. It will end at some point,” she said in her first appearance as secretary of state before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

She also added that if Congress decides that the best thing for US interests is to lift the economic embargo Washington imposed on Cuba in 1962, “obviously, the administration will abide by that”.

By law, any attempt to end the embargo is subject to congressional approval.

Clinton reiterated President Barack Obama’s position that Havana must take steps toward democratisation and that Washington is prepared to enter into a wide-ranging dialogue that includes human rights and the release of Cuba’s estimated 205 political prisoners.

“We’re going to proceed very carefully in this process,” she said.

“Our goal is for a free, independent democracy that gives the people of Cuba a chance to have the same opportunities that their sisters and brothers and cousins that they have in our country,” the secretary told lawmakers.

According to Clinton, Obama’s recent move to lift restrictions on Cuban Americans’ travel and remittances to the communist-ruled island has sparked an internal debate in Cuba.

She referred in particular to the apparent differences between President Raul Castro and elder brother Fidel on the issues to be included in possible talks with Washington.

Fidel Castro said Tuesday that Havana would order the release of dozens of dissidents jailed in a 2003 crackdown only if, in exchange, Washington frees five Cuban agents serving sentences for espionage in the US.

Havana sent the five agents to South Florida to spy on the Cuban exile community. The espionage operation followed several terrorist bombings on the communist island that were allegedly masterminded by Miami-based anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles.

Bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate that would end restrictions on travel to Cuba for all US residents and reduce some of the encumbrances to the small amount of trade permitted under the embargo.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the US is advancing its relationship with India as part of a wide-ranging diplomatic agenda to meet today’s “daunting challenges” topped by the situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“As daunting as they are, these challenges also offer new arenas for global cooperation. And we are taking steps to seize these opportunities,” she said appearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday at a hearing on “New Beginnings: Foreign Policy Priorities in the Obama Administration”.

“In today’s world, we face new challenges that have no respect for borders. Not one of them can be dealt with by the United States alone,” Clinton said.

“None can be solved without us. All will have a profound impact on the security of our citizens.”

Thus, the US was pursuing a wide-ranging diplomatic agenda “premised on strengthening its alliances with democratic partners in Europe, Asia, Africa and our hemisphere, cultivating partnerships with key regional powers, and building constructive relationships with China and Russia”.

“And we are advancing our relationship with India, the world’s largest democracy,” Clinton said noting she made her first overseas trip as secretary of state to Asia, “to signal that we are not just a trans-Atlantic power, but a transpacific power, and that Asia will be an indispensable partner in years to come.”

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, President Barack Obama, she said, “has outlined a strategy centred on a core goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al Qaeda, and to prevent their return to safe havens in Afghanistan or Pakistan”.

“We combined our strategic review with intensive diplomacy, and nations from around the world are joining together to address this urgent challenge,” Clinton said.

Earlier in his opening statement, the committee’s Democratic chairman Howard L. Berman said that he and several other Congressional colleagues who had just returned from a trip to India and Pakistan were happy at the dramatically improved ties with India, but deeply concerned about the security situation in Pakistan.

“I think I can speak for all of them in saying that we were encouraged by the dramatically improved US ties with India, but deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Pakistan.”

As the US has an enormous stake in the stability and security of Pakistan, Berman said: “We cannot allow Al Qaeda or any other terrorist group that threatens our national security to operate with impunity in the tribal regions (of Pakistan).

“Nor can we permit the Pakistani state – and its nuclear arsenal – to be taken over by the Taliban or any other radical groups, or otherwise be destabilised in a manner that could lead to renewed conflict with India,” he said.

“So it is very alarming that we are now hearing predictions from a number of leading experts that Pakistan could collapse in as little as six months, he said.