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Afghanistan dominates Clinton talks

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 11 October 2009

As Secretary of State Hiliary Clinton arrived in the UK on her whistle-stop tour of Europe, Pakistan declared an attack on south Waziristan is "imminent".

Hillary Clinton and Gordon Brown (picture: Reuters)

In London, talks with Gordon Brown and David Miliband included nuclear proliferation in Iran, peace in Ireland and climate change.

But the war in Afghanistan and its links with a deteriorating security situation in Pakistan dominated discussions.

Britain and America are working closely to ensure their Afghanistan strategy is as "clear, as effective and as decisive as possible", David Miliband has stressed.

Mr Miliband said the pair had held a "detailed, intensive and productive" meeting with Mrs Clinton in which Afghanistan and Pakistan topped the agenda.

He hailed the "shared strategy" on Afghanistan and said the two countries were working closely together to ensure the coalition effort was "as clear, as effective and as decisive as possible".

Mr Miliband said critics of the Afghanistan campaign were in danger of "misunderstanding" the discussions taking place between the coalition allies.

President Obama had made it "absolutely clear" that it would aways be appropriate to "review the civil and military components of the strategy". This was a strategy that was "at one" with what the Prime Minister had announced."

Mrs Clinton added: "We have been in office about nine months, we obviously believe the prior eight years were not as effective or as focused as they might have been."

The two were asked about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in the face increasing Taliban attacks on its military and security apparatus.

They said that while the country faced a serious threat from terrorism the arsenal was not at risk.

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