South Asia

Clinton says she thinks Pakistan's nuclear weapons are secure and protected. In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel on Monday, she said: "… the nuclear arsenal that Pakistan has, I believe is secure. I think that the government and the military have taken adequate steps to protect that."

I really hope Clinton is right, because the prospect of nukes getting into the hands of Islamist extremists is frightening. As Clinton herself acknowledged in the interview, "… the safe haven that al Qaeda has found in Pakistan is very troubling. They are still actively engaged with the elements of the Pakistani Taliban that are threatening the state of Pakistan."

If the state of Pakistan is indeed threatened, then it seems that doesn't bode well for the security of the nuclear arms.

While speaking today at a news conference in Singapore (where, as seen above, she's attending the APEC summit), Secretary Clinton urged Burma to plan for "free, fair, and credible" elections in 2010. She also pointed out that it's in other countries' interests to have a stable Burma, saying, "Any country that does business in Burma wants to be sure that their investments and their business are safe, and the best way to ensure that is to move toward democracy and the kind of stability that democracy creates."

At a news conference today, Clinton also said yesterday's naval skirmish between North and South Korea will not not affect U.S. plans to send an envoy to North Korea to try to restart nuclear talks. Clinton said, "This does not in any way affect the decision to send Ambassador [Stephen] Bosworth. We think that this is an important step that stands on its own."

A couple of other Clinton tidbits:

•Clinton has been urging Iran to accept a U.N. proposal that lets the country ship low-enriched uranium abroad (to Russia and France) to be further enriched for a Tehran reactor that makes medical isotopes. She also stated on The Charlie Rose Show that, "It is not in Iran's interest to have a nuclear arms race in the Gulf, where they would be less secure than they are today. It is not in Iran's interest, to the Iranian people's interest, to be subjected to very onerous sanctions."

•Clinton was a star guest at Starbucks today, though she didn't order anything to drink. She sat for about 30 minutes at a table outside the Starbucks in Singapore's Suntec convention center. She was joined by U.S. Congressman Sander Levin (D-Mich.) while four diplomatic security agents monitored from a distance. Three of the four ordered lattes and cappuccinos. The manager said, "They came by very quietly. … Suddenly, this branch has become historic, an icon. I feel lucky."

Photo: ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP/Getty Images

Secretary Clinton arrived in Pakistan today. Here's a photo summary of her day so far. (Also, posting will be light this week; I've been given some large projects that I have to prioritize.)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton receives flowers from Pakistani girls upon her arrival at the Chaklala military air base in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on Oct. 28. Clinton kicked off talks in Pakistan on a day when a car bomb ripped through a crowded market in the northwest city of Peshawar, killing at least 90 people. Clinton, promising new investments while fending off bitter criticism of Washington's policies, arrived within hours of the blast.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani speaks with Clinton during a meeting in Islamabad. The United States will stand shoulder to shoulder with Pakistan in its fight against "brutal extremist groups," Clinton said after the day's massive bomb blast.

Clinton stands next to the Pakistani flag at the prime minister's house in Islamabad.

Pakistani demonstrators with Hizbul Tahreer shout anti-U.S. slogans during a protest in Lahore. The car bomb in Peshawar underscored the gravity of the extremist threat destabilizing nuclear-armed Pakistan. The explosion, which brought down buildings in Peshawar, coincided with Clinton's arrival in Pakistan to bolster the troubled U.S.-Pakistan alliance against the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Photos, top to bottom: STR/AFP/Getty Images, AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images, AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images, Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images

Remember how Secretary Clinton got to preside over a session of the U.N. Security Council last week and led an effort to pass a resolution against wartime rape? Well this one sentence from Clinton has some people in Sri Lanka fuming:

We’ve seen rape used as a tactic of war before in Bosnia, Burma, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere.

Sri Lanka lodged gave a "note of protest" to the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, complaining about Clinton's suggestion that Sri Lankan security forces used rape as a weapon of war against Tamil LTTE rebels. "We vehemently reject and condemn the irresponsible statement made by US State Secretary Hillary Clinton," the country's defense spokesman was quoted as saying in the state newspaper.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said on a radio program that Clinton has apparently forgotten the Monica Lewinsky affair and should tend to her own backyard before alleging that women are being maltreated in other countries. There was also this rant in Sri Lanka's state-run newspaper.

The State Department's 2008 Human Rights Report had this to say about wartime sexual violence in Sri Lanka:

Civil society activists reported that the resumption of the conflict had led to an increase in gender-based violence perpetrated by the security forces. Statistics were unavailable because few, if any, charges were filed in such incidents. For example, human rights groups in northern districts alleged that the wives of men who had disappeared and who suffered economic deprivation as a result often fell prey to sexual exploitation by paramilitaries and members of the security forces."

A January 2002 Amnesty International report titled "Sri Lanka: Rape in Custody" said this:

In Sri Lanka, like in many other countries, incidents of rape in the context of armed conflict such as the above examples are reported on a regular basis. During 2001, Amnesty International has noted a marked rise in allegations of rape by police, army and navy personnel."

That's one of the tricky things about being a Western outsider to a developing country. No matter how true and legitimate one's criticisms of human rights violations may be, it rankles locals when it comes from someone perceived as a "neocolonialist" outsider. It's one thing when criticism comes from your fellow citizen; it's quite another thing when it comes from an outside "meddler." Hopefully Clinton will be able to use her star diplomacy skills to advance human rights while not coming across as a judgmental outsider -- which she, of course, isn't. Based on Sri Lanka's reaction, though, it can be a tough job.

Photo: STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images

A roundup of Clinton-related news:

•Former first lady Laura Bush expressed admiration for Secretary Clinton during a talk in Dallas on Monday:

Our [political] campaigns are so long and so brutal that the people who finally win are almost self-selected because they have emotional and physical stamina to run for office. As I watched Hillary Clinton during her run, I had and have a lot of admiration for her. It's tough every day. It's not just physical or emotional, but just the chance of saying one thing that gets blown up by the media."

•Clinton spoke with CBS' Katie Couric yesterday.

•In a video message, Clinton says she wants you to help girls and women through www.Oprah.com/forallwomen.

•"Criminality of the greatest degree" is how Clinton has described the rapes and killings by government forces in Guinea.

•Clinton met yesterday in Washington with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Medmood Qureshi, above, to discuss U.S. aid to the Pakistani government and the Afghanistan situation. Clinton stressed that the $7.5 billion Kerry-Lugar bill, which provides nonmilitary aid to Pakistan for five years and was approved by U.S. Congress last week, will not infringe on Pakistan's sovereignty.

Photo: TIM SLOAN/AFP/Getty Images

I just returned from the Brookings Institution, where I heard Secretary Clinton deliver a speech previewing the United States' priorities during next week's U.N. General Assembly session.

Before diving into her speech though, Clinton remarked on President Obama's announcement yesterday of changes in the U.S. missile defense program. She said the new system stemmed from a "lengthy and in-depth assessment" of the threats posed by Iran and is based on the United States' "best understanding of Iran's capability."

The new system will "deploy sooner," be "more comprehensive," and have a "better capacity to protect." Clinton said it will "deploy technology that's actually proven" to work and "does what missile defense is actually supposed to do." She added that criticisms of the new system are "not connected to the facts."

Then Clinton delved into her official remarks. Nonproliferation of nuclear weapons will be the main topic that the United States will address next week. Clinton will lead the U.S. delegation to a conference on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the first time that a U.S. secretary of state has attended such a conference.

Another key topic for the United States next week will be Iran. The issue isn't Iran's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, she said. Rather, she firmly stressed, the problem is that for years Iran has not lived up to its responsibilities to demonstrate that its program is "exclusively for peaceful purposes."

Clinton said that the United States' past refusal to engage Iran had yielded no progress and added, "We remain ready to engage." (Whether Iran is ready to engage on talking nukes, however, is an entirely different story.)

Some other tidbits:

•Clinton said the United States and Iraq have entered a new, "more mature partnership."

•Clinton will be chairing a session on women, peace, and security at the U.N. General Assembly session. She said, "If women are free from violence and afforded their rights," they can be "change agents."

•On corruption, Clinton said it was a "security problem," not just a "good government concern."

•Finally, at the end, Brookings Institution President Strobe Talbott asked Clinton about U.S. health-care reform. Clinton said, "We're going to be successful," but went on to say it "won't be pretty."

Photo: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

LifeNews.com, which describes itself as a news agency that brings "pro-life news to the pro-life community," has highlighted an important comment that Secretary Clinton made in her recent interview with the New York Times. In discussing women's rights, she said:

Obviously, there’s work to be done in both India and China, because the infanticide rate of girl babies is still overwhelmingly high, and unfortunately with technology, parents are able to use sonograms to determine the sex of a baby, and to abort girl children simply because they’d rather have a boy. And those are deeply set attitudes. But at the governmental level, there is a great deal of openness and commitment that I am seeing."

Clinton's comments on this deplorable practice are commendable, though she left out some nuance when she said parents do it "simply because they'd rather have a boy." Often, it's a matter of economics: Boys bring wealth into a family, and girls drain tons of money out. Sons earn more money and financially support their elderly parents in communities where nothing like Social Security exists. Meanwhile, in India, parents must pay enormous, financially crippling dowries when their daughters get married. Absolutely none of this morally justifies sex-selective abortion, but these are issues that must be addressed in order to eradicate this shameful practice.

(Obviously, other factors -- such as family and social pressure -- are at play, too. Sex-selective abortion in India has been found to occur at higher rates among more educated people, presumably because they're more likely to be able to afford an ultrasound exam and abortion.)

Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Above: Secretary Clinton poses with a Liberian newspaper as she meets with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on Aug. 13 in Monrovia, the Liberian capital.

For a photo summary of Secretary Clinton's 11-day, seven-country visit to Africa, please check out FP's latest photo essay: "Hillary in Africa"

And check out the photo essay "The Obamans Abroad" for a summary of Clinton's July trip to Asia and Vice President Joe Biden's trip to Eastern Europe.

Below: Clinton shakes hands with the prime minister of Cape Verde, José Maria Neves, on Aug. 14.

Photos, top to bottom: GLENNA GORDON/AFP/Getty Images, STR/AFP/Getty Images