Hillary Clinton and David Miliband
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said on Sunday that they believed Pakistan’s nuclear weapons were secure, after a brazen insurgent attack on the Pakistani military headquarters.
“We have confidence in the Pakistani government and the military’s control over nuclear weapons,” Clinton said at a press conference in London with Miliband.
She said that the attack was another reminder that extremists in Pakistan “are increasingly threatening the authority of the state”, but that there was no evidence that they were going to take over the state.
Miliband also said that there was “no evidence” of any threat to Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
He said that the militants represent a “moral threat” to Pakistan, but that it’s a threat that the Pakistani military and people “have shown enormous resolve and determination” in fighting back.
On Monday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, in which gunmen raided the army’s headquarters near Islamabad and seized 42 hostages.
The standoff lasted 20 hours, when a commando raid rescued all but three of the hostages. The military said 11 soldiers were also killed and nine militants, reports Reuters.
Sources: US State Department website, Reuters