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Interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about America’s foreign policy challenges, the War on Terror, and being the country’s top diplomat (may 07, 2010). Read what Clinton has to say about Pakistan’s lack of help against Islamic terror. For the full interview, go Here.

By Scott Pelly,

(CBS) After the car bomb was found in Times Square, we wanted to ask the secretary of state about the administration’s efforts against terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan. “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley spoke with Secretary Clinton at the State Department…

Pelly: “Is the Times Square bomber connected to a Pakistani-based terrorist group?”

H. Clinton: “There are connections. Exactly what they are, how deep they are, how long they’ve lasted, whether this was an operation encouraged or directed, those are questions that are still in the process of being sorted out.

The most likely connection is to a group called the Pakistani Taliban.

Pelly: “With the bomb in Times Square, I wonder what your message is to the Pakistani government?”

H. Clinton: “It’s very clear. This is a threat that we share, we have a common enemy. There is no time to waste in going after that common enemy as hard and fast as we can and we cannot tolerate having people encouraged, directed, trained and sent from Pakistan to attack us,”

Clinton was in Pakistan, ironically, at the same time the alleged Times Square bomber was being trained there. On her trip last October, away from the cameras, she said something remarkable about the Pakistani government, something she repeated to us.

H. Clinton: “I’m not saying that they’re at the highest levels but I believe that somewhere in this government are people who know where Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda is, where Mullah Omar and the leadership of the Afghan Taliban is and we expect more cooperation to help us bring to justice, capture or kill, those who attacked us on 9/11,”

Pelly: “But we’re not getting that cooperation,”

H. Clinton: “Well, we are,”

Pelly: “The question is why is this administration not pressuring Pakistan to give up Osama bin Laden [or] his deputy Ayman al Zawahiri…,”

H. Clinton: “I have to stand up for the efforts the Pakistani government is taking. They have done a very significant move toward going after the terrorists within their own country,”

Pelly: “Even in light of the Times Square bomber, you are comfortable with the cooperation you are getting from the Pakistani government?”

H. Clinton: “Well, now, I didn’t say that. I’ve said we’ve gotten more cooperation and it’s been a real sea change in the commitment we’ve seen from the Pakistani government. We want more; we expect more. We’ve made it very clear that, if, heaven forbid, that an attack like this, if we can trace back to Pakistan, were to have been successful, there would be very severe consequences,”

Asked what she meant exactly, Clinton said,

“I think I’ll let that speak for itself.”

Pelly: “Developments to come,”

H. Clinton: “Right.”

We met with Hillary Rodham Clinton at the State Department. If history had been President Obama’s guide, he wouldn’t have chosen her.

Or as Barry Rubin explaines in his post about Hillary Clinton and Pakistan:

Every week or so, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reminds us that the wrong Democrat was elected president in 2008. In these cases, she gets off-script, showing her skepticism about engagement with Iran before it became obvious even in the White House, or expressing the novel idea that U.S. policy should view Israel as a valuable ally.

Now she’s addressed legitimate frustration with Pakistan, a country which has received billions in U.S. aid yet barely lifts a finger to help U.S. policy. The Pakistani government pretends to fight terrorism but only the terrorists who directly challenge the regime. There is ample reason to believe that Pakistani intelligence helps the Taliban in Afghanistan, sponsors terrorists who attack India, and does little to help against al-Qaida forces operating within Pakistan and along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Remember the bloody attack by Pakistan-based and sponsored terrorists in Mumbai, India? What has the Pakistani regime done about that. People with access to intelligence information say that Chinese flights carrying military equipment–including things that can be used for weapons’ of mass destruction–to Iran pass through Pakistan, too.

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