WASHINGTON - The last time the Obama administration arrived at a moment of truth in the debate over what to do about Afghanistan, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Robert M. gates delivered a one-two punch in favor of a more ambitious approach.

Now, as President Obama leads yet another debate on whether to deploy tens of thousands of additional troops there, the secretary of state and the secretary of defense will once again constitute a critical voting bloc, the likely leaders of an argument for a middle ground between a huge influx of soldiers and a narrow focus aimed at killing terrorists from Al Qaeda, according to several administration officials.

That swing vote would put them at odds with the bare-bones approach still being pushed by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., as well as the most aggressive military buildup recommended by the American commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal.

All of them have chosen to play their cards close to the vest, even holding back in the marathon meetings of recent weeks of the National Security Council, according to officials who attended the sessions.

But as the Afghanistan assessment moves from a broad strategy review to a detailed and potentially contentious debate on how exactly to proceed, the two secretaries are expected to carry great weight as they begin to express specific advice.

In fact, given that the president puts particular stock in Mr. Gates's view on military matters, the alliance between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Gates, two moderate pragmatists, may be the deciding factor in a remarkably public debate that will determine the future course of the war.

It is a surprising evolution for two very different - and effective - bureaucratic players who started out wary of each other.

Their most visible public encounter came in July 2007 when, as a senator, Mrs. Clinton lashed out over what she viewed as a dismissive letter sent to her by one of Mr. Gates's deputies; she had asked whether the Pentagon planned to brief Congress about its plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. Mr. Gates's effort to mollify Mrs. Clinton came in a letter rushed by messenger to her office, and the defense secretary later said to aides that he regarded Mrs. Clinton as very tough. But their relationship had already warmed up by the time of the Obama administration's first debate over sending troops to Afghanistan.

At a White House meeting in mid-March, in which the counterinsurgency policy was initially presented, Mr. Biden famously began to stake out his position that a larger military presence in Afghanistan could breed resentment among Afghans and would be politically untenable at home.

Mrs. Clinton, who weighed in next, disagreed, according to people who took part in the session. She threw her support behind the counterinsurgency policy and more troops, saying she believed the American people could be won over. Mr. Gates, immediately following her, also endorsed it, though he granted Mr. Biden's point that there were risks of a backlash among the Afghan people.

"There is a very close meeting of minds between them," said Bruce Riedel, now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, who led the policy review on Afghanistan and Pakistan. "They both believe there is a threat, the threat is serious, and that we need to take the appropriate steps to respond."

Though their backgrounds are very different - Mrs. Clinton a product of electoral politics who is still looking to her future, and Mr. Gates from the world of intelligence at the end of a long government career - they have found common cause on issues well beyond Afghanistan.

Last spring, several administration officials said, Mrs. Clinton backed Mr. Gates when he appealed to the president to fight the release of trove of photographs documenting the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan by military personnel.

The White House initially did not oppose the release of the photos. But after top military commanders and local leaders in Iraq and Afghanistan objected, Mr. Gates asked Mr. Obama to reconsider. Mrs. Clinton added her voice to the effort, these officials said, having just returned from a visit to Baghdad, during which the commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, warned her that a fresh uproar over photos would subject the troops to reprisal and endanger the mission.

Mr. Obama changed his mind and has appealed to the Supreme Court to keep the photos from being released.

Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Gates are also in tune on Iran, sometimes to an uncanny degree. On Sept. 27, they appeared on rival Sunday morning talk shows, both warning Tehran that if it did not negotiate over its nuclear program, it would face harsh sanctions. In their hard line toward Iran, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Gates differed from senior National Security Council officials, who were initially more optimistic about the prospects for engagement, according to a senior official.

Richard L. Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state who witnessed the caustic relations between his boss, Colin L. Powell, and the former Pentagon chief, Donald H. Rumsfeld, during the Bush administration, said Mr. Gates had told him he found Mrs. Clinton "tough-minded, clear and focused."

"I wouldn't suggest that they agree on every issue," Mr. Armitage said. "But what it does do is eliminate some of the intramural tensions between the secretary of defense and the secretary of state."

Those tensions have often been epic, whether it was the feuding between Caspar W. Weinberger and George P. Shultz during the Reagan administration or the sniping between Mr. Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice in the latter part of the Bush administration.

For all the solidarity, the partnership between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Gates is based on pragmatism rather than personal affection. "Secretary Gates is very businesslike and in Secretary Clinton he has found someone he can do business with," said Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary.

Mr. Gates has called for a reinvigorated, better-financed State Department, so that diplomats can pick up some of the nation-building tasks that have fallen to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is consistent with Mrs. Clinton's vision of a more muscular American diplomacy, not to mention her own ambitions as the chief diplomat.

Mr. Gates, officials note, is in a position to be magnanimous with little left to prove. And he is the indispensable man, since his department controls so much money and so many troops. Mrs. Clinton, by contrast, runs a department that is fighting to regain its stature after years in eclipse. She may also hope for a political future.

Seated next to each other on a stage at George Washington University last week, the two looked like comrades-in-arms as they discussed the Iranian nuclear threat, the war in Afghanistan and the blossoming ties between the State Department and the Pentagon.

"Bob has a lot of experience, which I certainly appreciate, and also a good sense of humor, which makes everything a little bit better," Mrs. Clinton said of their frequent meetings.

Nobody seemed more pleased than Mr. Gates, a survivor of decades of Washington's bureaucratic battling. "Most of my career, secretaries of state and defense weren't speaking to each other," he said. "And it could get pretty ugly, actually."

After their very public joint appearance, the two decamped secretly to the Blue Duck Tavern, a sleek restaurant nearby, where, according to people close to both, they kicked around policy options on Afghanistan over a long private dinner.




By Mark Landler and Thom Shanker, The New York Times, October 12, 2009

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Fourteen years ago, Hillary Rodham Clinton stood next to her husband in this weary, strife-torn city as a crowd of 70,000 gathered to watch President Bill Clinton light a Christmas tree.

On Monday, Mrs. Clinton, now the secretary of state, addressed a more select audience, 100 lawmakers, in the imposing chamber of Northern Ireland's Stormont assembly - exhorting them to stick with a peace process that the Clintons have made something of a family project.

It is a project in need of repair, with the historic power-sharing arrangement between Protestants and Catholics showing signs of strain because of a dispute over local control of the police and the courts.

"No one ever said it was going to be easy," Mrs. Clinton said in a speech that was both a pep talk and a personal intervention. "It is not easy in any legislature, as I know from experience, under the best of circumstances."

Mrs. Clinton is one of the first senior foreign government officials invited to speak at Stormont, and she recalled the role of Mr. Clinton in championing the negotiations that resulted in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, opening the way for the restoration of this legislature.

Sitting at the horseshoe-shaped table before her were two of the most implacable foes from the era known as the Troubles: Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, a party once closely linked to the Irish Republican Army; and the Rev. Ian Paisley, the strident loyalist who rallied the unionists.

"I know the divisions within Northern Ireland are not fully healed," Mrs. Clinton said, citing Belfast’s still-segregated neighborhoods. "But given time, and given the leadership that each of you can provide, the torn fabric of society will be woven together, stitch by stitch, choice by choice."

Northern Ireland, she said, serves as a model for peacemaking everywhere in the world, and indeed, George J. Mitchell, now the Obama administration's Middle East envoy, helped broker the Good Friday Agreement.

Some of those gains, however, are now at risk. The standoff between Catholic and Protestant leaders over transferring authority over the police and the courts to Belfast from London - which is partly about money and partly about politics - could stall the process of devolving power to Northern Ireland.

Security is an issue, too. Last March, two British soldiers and a policeman were killed in politically motivated shootings that spooked a country where sectarian violence had seemed a relic of a darker time.

Mrs. Clinton said the United States did not want to meddle - a line that drew a chorus of "hear, hear" from the unionist side of the chamber - but she gently prodded both sides to settle their differences.

"My hope is that you will achieve what you set out to do, to complete the process of devolution," she said.

The speech was one of the most heartfelt Mrs. Clinton has delivered as secretary of state, peppered with reminiscences about the 1995 tree-lighting ceremony and five subsequent trips to Belfast.

Mrs. Clinton received thumping applause from the Catholic side of the chamber but a more restrained reception from the Protestant side. The Democratic Unionist Party, worried about weakening links to Britain, is resisting the plan to transfer authority for the police and the courts.

Martin McGuinness, the Catholic deputy first minister, who supports the transfer, hailed the speech. "Quite clearly, Secretary Clinton is intellectually, emotionally and politically engaged in the process," said Mr. McGuinness, who was once an I.R.A. commander.

Peter Robinson, the Protestant first minister and a former deputy to Mr. Paisley, said, "To make any speech in the Northern Ireland assembly and no one walks out - that-s an achievement." In fact, a few unionists slipped out just after the address, skipping the standing ovation.

Later, Mrs. Clinton met with businesspeople to discuss ways to increase American investment in Northern Ireland. She announced that NaviNet, a health care communications company based in Cambridge, Mass., would open a research and development center in Belfast, creating 60 jobs.

The State Department has named an economic envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly, and he was on hand to drum up more business. Mrs. Clinton said the political tensions should not deter investors, though she noted that peace and economic prosperity went "hand in hand."

After a stop at Belfast's Victorian city hall, where the tree-lighting occurred, Mrs. Clinton left for a two-day visit to Moscow.

The United States is still trying to corral Russian support for tougher sanctions against Iran if it refuses to negotiate over its nuclear program. And it wants to work out details of a new agreement that will allow American planes carrying combat-related material for Afghanistan to fly over Russian territory.

On Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton is to meet President Dmitri A. Medvedev, who has invited her to his dacha outside Moscow. The United States hopes the "more relaxed setting" will help the conversation, said Philip H. Gordon, the assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasian affairs.




By Mark Landler, The New York Times, October 12, 2009

Lawmakers Applaud Personal Speech

BELFAST, Oct. 12 -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tried on Monday to shore up the peace process that her husband helped launch in Northern Ireland, urging its politicians to have the courage to tackle remaining disagreements.

Clinton brought her star power to a country she came to know well in the 1990s, as President Bill Clinton helped broker the Good Friday peace accords. The pact is credited with ending the religious violence that had caused more than 3,600 deaths since 1969.

But the peace is fragile. Lately, members of the country's power-sharing government have been feuding over a key step in the process -- transferring control of the justice system from Britain to Northern Ireland.

Clinton urged Northern Ireland legislators to work together, pointing to the assassinations of three security officials in March as evidence of the lingering threat of dissident paramilitary groups.

"There are still those looking to seize any opportunity to undermine the process and destabilize this government," Clinton said in her speech in the hilltop legislature.

"They want to derail your confidence. And though they are small in number, their thuggish tactics and destructive ambitions threaten the security of every family in Northern Ireland," she said. "Moving ahead together with the process will leave them stranded on the wrong side of history."

Clinton spoke from a podium in the well of the 108-member assembly, surrounded by people who played major roles during "the troubles."

On one side of the wood-paneled hall sat Catholic lawmakers including Gerry Adams, the bearded leader of the Sinn Fein party, the political arm of the now-disarmed Irish Republican Army. On the other side, amid Protestant legislators, sat Ian Paisley, the stooped, white-haired longtime leader of the Protestant-dominated Democratic Unionist Party.

Clinton told the legislators that her concern about Northern Ireland was "deeply personal," recalling her first visit to Belfast in 1995, when sections of her hotel were boarded up because of bomb blasts. She reminisced about how she and her husband were greeted at a rally by tens of thousands of residents.

"There were people stretched in all directions as far as I could see . . . all with upraised faces," she told the legislators. "I have carried that image in my mind over the last 14 years."

During the Democratic presidential primaries last year, Clinton touted her involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process as evidence of her foreign policy qualifications.

But the Barack Obama's campaign called those assertions wild exaggerations, and former Northern Ireland leader David Trimble said her main contribution was as a "cheerleader." Other Irish political leaders have praised her actions in bringing women into the peace process.

Now that she works for Obama, Clinton seems to have taken control of the Northern Ireland issue. After meeting with her Sunday, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband praised her "determination to be her own envoy" on the issue.

Clinton has named Declan Kelly, who headed Irish Americans for Hillary during her campaign, as the U.S. envoy for economic development in Northern Ireland.

Bill Clinton also remains involved with Northern Ireland. He hosted its two top leaders at his charitable foundation in September, in the same week that his wife met them during the U.N. General Assembly.

Both Clintons remain immensely popular in Ireland, and reactions from politicians to the secretary of state's speech on Monday were mainly positive.

Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, a co-leader of the power-sharing government, called Clinton's talk "inspirational" and said she is an "invaluable resource."

Peter Robinson, the Protestant co-leader, also praised the speech, joking that it is "a bit of a triumph" whenever anyone makes a speech in the assembly "and nobody walks out."

At the end of her address, legislators rose in a standing ovation for Clinton, the highest-ranking politician to address the body since it was created two years ago.

Clinton held private meetings with McGuinness and Robinson and said she felt "encouraged." She offered no details. She also discussed economic development with a group of business executives from the United States and Northern Ireland.

By Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post, October 13, 2009

A year and a half after the end of her historic presidential campaign, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday for the first time that she will not run for the job again, firmly setting aside a question that has followed her for most of the past decade.

She has dismissed the notion of a future presidential bid before, and even her most hopeful supporters have long conceded that a 2016 Clinton campaign would be unlikely.

But until this week, there always seemed to be a way to interpret her response as a "maybe." That was not the case in her interview with NBC's Ann Curry, who asked whether she had any regrets about not winning the presidency -- or any interest in seeking it again.

"Will you ever run for president again? Yes or no?" Curry asked.

"No," Clinton said.

"No?" Curry asked.

"No. No," Clinton replied. "I mean, this is a great job. It is a 24/7 job. And I'm looking forward to retirement at some point."

Clinton will turn 65 in October 2012, putting her at the older end of the range of typical White House seekers. Yet she remains the most viable female potential candidate in either party, after winning 18 million votes, raising more than $220 million and becoming the first woman in history to win a primary.

It is unlikely that any Democrat would challenge President Obama in 2012, when he is all but certain to run for reelection. If he were to win another term, it is unclear who would succeed him as the leader of the Democratic Party in 2016: Vice President Biden will turn 74 that year, making him older than Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was during his presidential campaign in 2008 -- and leading to speculation that Clinton, or perhaps another woman, could emerge as a more viable candidate.

It remains to be seen whether Clinton's flat denial is enough to permanently put to rest questions about her future. Other political figures have ruled out a campaign only to reverse themselves, as Obama did after declaring in 2006 that he would not run for president in 2008.

In the interview, Curry asked Clinton if she ever wished she were president so she could make big decisions for herself. "I have to tell you, it never crosses my mind," Clinton said, adding that she is "part of the team that makes the decisions."

She also called "absurd" what Curry described as a concern by some "that you have been marginalized, that you -- that the highest-ranking woman in the United States [is] having to fight against being marginalized."

"I think there is such a -- you know, maybe there is some misunderstanding which needs to be clarified. I believe in delegating power. You know, I'm not one of these people who feels like I have to have my face in the, you know, front of the newspaper or on the TV every moment of the day," Clinton said. "I would be irresponsible and negligent were I to say, 'Oh, no, everything must come to me.' Now, maybe that is a woman's thing. Maybe I'm totally secure and feel absolutely no need to go running around in order for people to see what I'm doing. It's just the way I am. My goal is to be a very positive force to implement the kind of changes that the president and I believe are in the best interest of our country. But that doesn't mean that it all has to be me, me, me all the time. I like lifting people up."

By Anne E. Kornblut, The Washington Post, October 13, 2009

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- In a passionate address to Northern Ireland's legislature, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday pledged Washington's commitment to the Northern Ireland peace process.

There still are those who want to undermine that process, she warned, trying to derail it with "thuggish tactics."

In the Stormont Assembly were members of at least six political parties -- men and women, she said, "who once were sworn enemies who now work side by side."

"Please know that the Obama administration and the United States is committed to helping you finish your journey -- to put far behind you the long years of division and conflict, to build confidence and trust across all communities and political parties, and to honor the hopes and sacrifices of your people by making whole and permanent Nothern Ireland's emerging peace," she said, promising the United States would be supportive without meddling.

Clinton cited the worldwide economic crisis as a major challenge to the peace process.

"Northern Ireland is now facing a new challenge with the global economic downturn, which threatens some of the gains you have made in the past decade," she said.

After the speech, she met with a large group of American and Northern Ireland business leaders who discussed investment possibilities in the province.

Clinton recently named Declan Kelly as economic envoy to Northern Ireland.

Clinton recalled her previous visits to the province and the engagement of her husband, former President Clinton, in pushing for peace.

In the 14 years since their first trip, she said, "I have often wondered about the children whose lives were saved because of what you do."

Clinton also mentioned the March killings of Police Constable Stephen Carroll and soldiers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar.

The shootings raised fears that Northern Ireland could be plunged back into the sectarian violence that left about 3,600 people dead over the course of three decades. But political leaders from across the spectrum condemned the killings, and the violence did not escalate.

Clinton is in Belfast as part of a six-day trip to Europe and Russia. The centerpiece of the trip will be her visit to Moscow, Russia.

At the top of the agenda is working toward an agreement to take the place of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty II arms control pact, which expires December 5, as well as the newly created bilateral presidential commission that is working on a broad range of issues, from arms control to health.




By Jill Dougherty, CNN, October 12, 2009

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is delivering a speech to the Northern Ireland Assembly appealing to rival Catholic and Protestant leaders to strengthen their power-sharing government.

Clinton told the lawmakers - the Irish Catholic bloc to her left, the British Protestants to her right - that their 2-year-old partnership is an inspiration to the world and demonstrates that even the most bitter conflicts can be resolved through patient, painful compromise.

She urged the lawmakers to take the next step in power-sharing by accepting control of Northern Ireland's police and justice system from Britain.

Earlier Monday she held talks with First Minister Peter Robinson, the Protestant leader who opposes early transfer of those powers.

The Associated Press, October 12, 2009

DUBLIN - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to buck up a pair of stalwart American allies on Sunday, assuring the British that they still had a special relationship with the United States, and telling the Irish that she would help them keep Northern Ireland's peace process on track.

Northern Ireland, while mostly tranquil, has flared up in recent months, with a few violent episodes, including the shooting of two British soldiers, and a dispute within the Northern Irish coalition government over the transfer of the police and justice functions from London to Belfast.

"Clearly there are questions and some apprehensions," Mrs. Clinton said before meeting with Prime Minister Brian Cowen of Ireland at his residence here. "But I believe that due to the concerted effort of the British government, the Irish government, the support of friends like us in the United States, that the parties understand that this is a step they must take together."

The cause of peace got a lift from another source on Sunday, when the Irish National Liberation Army, a once-feared splinter group of the Irish Republican Army, said it would renounce violence and suggested it might soon relinquish its weapons to disarmament officials.

The group, founded in 1974, had receded into obscurity in recent years after having declared a cease-fire in 1998. But it has been involved in sporadic killings of members of rival criminal gangs. In its heyday during the violent era known as the Troubles, officials said it was responsible for more than 110 deaths.

The decision, announced at the group's annual parade in Dublin, was not linked to Mrs. Clinton's visit to Ireland. Yet it offered a hopeful backdrop at a time when Northern Ireland seems once again on edge. Last March, two British soldiers were shot to death in their barracks in the town of Antrim; a few days later, a Northern Ireland police constable was killed while on duty in Craigavon, in County Armagh.

Mrs. Clinton said these crimes were a throwback to a darker time and would not get in the way of the peace process. "To me, terrorism is terrorism," she said in London. "Those who would try to disrupt the peace of people going about their daily lives are out of step and out of time."

She planned to spend Monday in Belfast, where she will be the first high-ranking foreign government official invited to speak before Northern Ireland's assembly. Mrs. Clinton is accompanied on the trip by the Obama administration's economic envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly, who will seek to drum up business for American companies there.

Earlier, in London, Mrs. Clinton took pains to reaffirm the "special relationship" between the United States and Britain. Relations have been strained by Scotland's decision to release the only person convicted in the Lockerbie bombing, and British papers were full of stories that Prime Minister Gordon Brown could not get a one-on-one meeting last month with President Obama at the United Nations and at an economic summit meeting in Pittsburgh.

Giving Mr. Brown a warm hug before a meeting at Chequers, his country retreat, Mrs. Clinton said, "I have a special personal relationship with the prime minister, and of course, I don't think it can be said often enough, we have a special relationship between our two countries."

Mrs. Clinton briefed the foreign secretary, David Miliband, about the Obama administration's debate over Afghanistan policy. He said that for all the discussion over sending additional troops, both in Britain and in the United States, the civilian rebuilding effort needed just as much focus.

Mrs. Clinton reiterated that Britain was a critical partner in Afghanistan and on negotiations with Iran, where Mr. Miliband has taken a prominent role.

While the message was warm, Mrs. Clinton saved her charm offensive for the streets of Dublin. She took a stroll on the city's famous shopping thoroughfare, Grafton Street, stopping for a coffee at Bewley's and a half-pint of Harp lager at a pub, McDaids. She was accompanied by the new United States ambassador to Ireland, Daniel Rooney.

"You're looking good," said a patron, Flan Neylon, without missing a beat, as Mrs. Clinton walked up to the pub. "You look better in the flesh," said Anne Hanrahan, sitting on the next barstool.




By Mark Landler, The New York Times, October 11, 2009

ZURICH, Switzerland, Oct. 10 -- Armenia and Turkey signed a landmark agreement Saturday to establish diplomatic ties, after a dramatic last-minute intervention by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to keep the event from falling apart.

The accord, aimed at ending a century of hostility stemming from Ottoman Era massacres, was brokered by the Swiss over the past two years, with the help of French, Russian and U.S. officials. Clinton had been in frequent contact with the two sides in recent months to help seal the deal.

But just as she arrived at the University of Zurich for the signing at about 5 p.m. Saturday, Clinton heard that the Armenian side was objecting to a Turkish statement prepared for the ceremony, officials said. Clinton's motorcade made a U-turn and raced back to the hotel, where a U.S. diplomat was talking to the Armenians.

In the hotel parking lot, Clinton sat in her black BMW sedan in a soft rain for about an hour, talking on one phone to the Armenian foreign minister and on another to the Turkish foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. Finally, she went into the hotel to invite the Armenian foreign minister, Edward Nalbandian, to drive with her to the university, where his Turkish counterpart was waiting.

Once there, further hours of negotiating ensued with a broader group of international diplomats, including Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, before the documents were signed. In an apparent compromise, neither the Turks nor the Armenians made a statement at the ceremony.

The drama was a sign of the enduring suspicion between the two countries and of the difficulties that could lie ahead as their parliaments decide whether to ratify them.

Muslim Turkey and Christian Armenia have had bitter relations since a wave of bloodshed starting in 1915 left hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians dead.

Many historians call the killings genocide, but Turkey strongly rejects that label, saying people died in forced relocations and fighting.

If ratified, the accord could have implications well beyond Turkey and Armenia. It may ease tensions in other parts of southeastern Europe and provide new opportunities for oil pipelines to the West, U.S. officials said.

Clinton said that as the hours of negotiations ticked on, she repeatedly urged the participants to look at the bigger picture.

"There were several times when I said to all of the parties involved, that 'This is too important. This has to be seen through. You've gone too far. All of the work that has gone into the protocols should not be walked away from,' " she told reporters traveling with her.

The Armenian-Turkish dispute has echoed far beyond the region, prompting battles in Washington between the White House and lawmakers pushing to recognize the killings as genocide.

Both Republican and Democratic presidents have resisted such resolutions, worried that they would damage U.S. relations with Turkey, a NATO member that has provided critical support for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The two protocols signed Saturday would establish diplomatic relations, open the border between Turkey and Armenia that was closed in 1993 and establish committees to work on economic affairs, the environment and other bilateral issues.

The protocols do not explicitly mention the genocide controversy, which would go to a committee of historical experts for study.

Clinton declined to characterize the last-minute objections to the statements planned for the signing ceremony.

The rapprochement between the countries is so sensitive that officials were unsure until almost the last minute whether the Armenians would even show up in Zurich for the ceremony.

Clinton did not add the stop to her official itinerary until Thursday. A day earlier, Obama called Armenian President Serge Sarkisian to "commend him for his courageous leadership" on the issue, according to a White House statement -- yet another gentle push.

Clinton has made 29 calls to the parties involved this year in her efforts to promote a settlement.

The Armenian president has faced angry protests in his own country and from Armenian communities in France and Lebanon over the plan to normalize relations.

The politically powerful Armenian-American community, which Obama courted during his campaign, appeared split over Saturday's accord.

"If Turkey normalizes relations with Armenia and ends its blockade of that landlocked country, it would be a very positive step for the region," said Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), a leading supporter of Armenian genocide resolutions in Congress, in a statement.

He added, however, "Turkey must not be allowed to rewrite the history of the Armenian Genocide as a price of diplomatic relations."

The Armenian National Committee of America blasted the accord, saying, "The Obama administration's attempts to force Armenia into one-sided concessions is short-sighted and will, in the long term, create more problems than it serves."

In pursuing the accord, Turkey won a commitment from Washington to step up its efforts to settle the dispute over the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian enclave in the Azerbaijan, officials said. Azerbaijan is an ally of Turkey's.

About 30,000 people have been killed in fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh.

By Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post, October 11, 2009

LONDON - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton basked in the glow of praise from her Nobel laureate boss on Saturday after spearheading successful efforts to salvage historic accords between longtime bitter foes Turkey and Armenia.

President Barack Obama, who a day earlier was the surprise winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, telephoned Clinton in Switzerland to congratulate her on overcoming a last minute-hitch that threatened to scuttle the Turkish-Armenian deals, a senior State Department official said.

Clinton was headed to the airport in the Swiss city of Zurich following an intense and frantic day of negotiations when she got the call from Obama, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was private.

"He was very excited, he felt like this was a big step forward and wanted to check in," the official told reporters aboard Clinton's plane as she flew from Zurich to London, the second leg of a five-day tour of Europe and Russia. "He called to congratulate her and the team."

"We had a good night in Zurich," Clinton said on the plane.

For several tense hours in overcast Zurich, however, that was anything but a sure thing.

Having come merely to witness Saturday's signing, Clinton instead became embroiled in a dramatic turn of events that began when both sides balked at signing agreements on establishing diplomatic relations and opening their sealed border after a century of enmity.

Both had objections to language in statements the side wanted to read after signing the deals, concerns that burst into the open just minutes before the ceremony was to begin at the University of Zurich in the shadow of Switzerland's snowcapped Alps.

Clinton's motorcade had just arrived at the venue when it abruptly turned around and returned to the luxury hotel where she had met separately earlier with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian.

There she spoke by phone from the sedan in the parking lot, three times with the Armenians and four times with the Turks. At one point, a Swiss police car, lights and siren blazing, brought a new draft of the Turkish statement from the university to the hotel for review.

After nearly two hours, Clinton and Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian met in person at the hotel and drove back to the university where negotiations continued in the presence of Swiss and European mediators and the foreign ministers of Russia and France.

About an hour later, Clinton and the others brokered a compromise under which no statements would be read at the ceremony.

She said she had repeatedly impressed on the Turks and the Armenians that the agreements, known as protocols, that had been negotiated over months were too important not to be signed now. The protocols, she said, should speak for themselves without additional statements.

"We just kept making our points," she said, referring to herself and the top U.S. diplomat for Europe, Philip Gordon. "This needed to be done."

"It's just what you sign up for," Clinton said of her role."When you are trying to help people resolve long-standing problems between themselves, it is a very challenging process."

To take effect the agreements must be ratified by the Turkish and Armenian parliaments and face stiff opposition in both countries, which have a particularly bloody history.

The contentious issue of whether the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians during the final days of the Ottoman Empire amounts to genocide is only hinted at in the agreement as is the matter of the disputed Armenian-occupied enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.

Turks have close cultural and linguistic ties with Azerbaijan, which is pressing Turkey for help in recovering its land. Turkey shut its border with Armenia to protest Armenia's 1993 invasion of the territory.

By Matthew Lee, The Associated Press, October 10, 2009

LONDON - An audacious Taliban attack on Pakistan's army headquarters shows there is a growing terrorist threat to the nuclear-armed U.S. ally, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday.

But Clinton and her British counterpart said there was no risk of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into terrorist hands.

Clinton said extremists were "increasingly threatening the authority of the state, but we see no evidence that they are going to take over the state."

"We have confidence in the Pakistani government and military's control over nuclear weapons," she said.

At a joint news conference, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Pakistan faced a "mortal threat," but there was no danger of Pakistan's nuclear weapons being seized by terrorists.

"I think it's very important that alarmist talk is not allowed to gather pace," he said.

Taliban militants have launched a series of increasingly bold attacks on military and political targets in Pakistan. On Saturday, militants dressed in military fatigues attacked the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, taking dozens of hostages.

The 22-hour siege ended Sunday when commandos stormed the building. At least 19 people died in the standoff, including three captives and eight of the militants.

Clinton is on a five-day tour of Europe in which the conflict in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan and the crisis over Iran's nuclear program have been major topics. She was meeting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Sunday before traveling to Ireland and Russia.

Miliband said his talks with Clinton in London focused on Afghanistan. Britain has 9,000 troops in the country, but support for the mission has waned in recent months amid rising casualties and allegations of major fraud in August's Afghan national elections.

Miliband said the U.S. and Britain had a "shared strategy" that involved building Afghanistan's civilian and political institutions as well as defeating the Taliban.

Clinton also warned Iran that the world "will not wait indefinitely" for it to live up to international obligations regarding its nuclear program.

The U.S. and its allies fear Iran wants to build an atomic bomb and is using what it calls a civilian nuclear energy program as cover. Iran is under U.N. penalties for refusing to stop enriching uranium, an important first step toward building a bomb.

Clinton plans to use her trip to Moscow to press for backing for tough new sanctions against Iran, something Russia has long opposed.

Clinton said a recent meeting in Geneva in which Iran and six world powers resumed nuclear talks was "a constructive beginning, but it must be followed by action."

Miliband said Iran "will never have a better opportunity to establish normal relations with the international community."

In Dublin and Belfast, both of which she visited while she was first lady, Clinton will be pushing to break a deadlock between Northern Ireland's rival Catholic and Protestant leaders over transferring responsibility for Northern Ireland's justice system from British to local hands.

By Jill Lawless, The Associated Press, October 11, 2009