Article Posted on : - Sep 08, 2009

A File Photo of American Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

WASHINGTON (PTI): As fresh fears are being voiced about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, the United States has said it feels that the security arrangement are "sufficient and adequate."

The American Defence Secretary Robert Gates also said that Islamabad had given "insurances" about the safety net for its nuclear arsenal.

Washington is "quite comfortable that the security arrangements for the Pakistani nuclear capabilities are sufficient and adequate," Gates said in an interview to the Qatar-based Al Jazzera news agency.

Asked if the Americans have guarantees to cover the safety of Pakistani nuclear weapons, the US Defence Secretary said "it's based both on our own understanding of the security arrangements that the Pakistanis have for their weapons and their capabilities, their laboratories and so on."

"We have also been given insurances by the Pakistanis on this," he said.

Asked about whether he was 100 per cent satisfied that the Pakistani intelligence had stopped lending a hand of support to Taliban, Gates sought to side-step the issue by merely saying that Washington and Islamabad were working for the same goals.

In the interview, Gates admitted that there had been sharp rise in Taliban attacks in Afghanistan, but attributed this to what he called as 'new alliances of convenience' between the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Haqqani network, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and his group and al-Qaeda.

But he made it clear that the United States would not turn its back on Afghanistan saying "our interest is in giving the Afghan people a capacity to protect its own people and to prevent the country from being a centre for violent extremists again. And then we'll leave."

He said Americans had no interest in permanent presence in Afghanistan or having bases there.

Referring to concern over rising civilian casualties, the American Defence Secretary conceded "civilian casualties are a problem for us and we are doing everything conceivable to try and avoid that.