US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the Taleban are "within hours
of Islamabad"

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused Pakistan of abdicating
to the Taleban by allowing them to control parts of the country.

Mrs Clinton told a congressional panel the situation in Pakistan posed a
"mortal threat" to world security.

She said extremists were being allowed to control territory such as the
Swat Valley, in north-western Pakistan.

She also called Pakistan's judicial system corrupt, adding that it has
only limited power in the countryside.

Earlier this month, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari signed a law
implementing Islamic law - or Sharia - in the Swat Valley region as part
of a deal to end a two-year Taleban insurgency there.

Once one of Pakistan's most popular holiday destinations, the Swat
Valley is now mostly under Taleban control.

Thousands of people have fled and hundreds of schools have been
destroyed as a result of a Taleban-led insurgency.

The Swat Valley is only about 100km (62 miles) from Islamabad, and
reports suggest the Taleban are trying to expand the area under their
control.

'Existential threat'

Giving evidence in Washington to the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
Mrs Clinton said the situation in Pakistan "poses a mortal threat to the
security and safety of our country and the world".
Tribal areas map

"I think the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taleban
and the extremists," she said.

She called on the Pakistani people to speak out "forcefully" against
their government's policy, in what the BBC's Richard Lister in
Washington called an unusual move.

The government's policy was conceding "more and more territory to the
insurgents , to the Taleban, to al-Qaeda, to the allies that are in this
terrorist syndicate", Mrs Clinton said.

US President Barack Obama has put new emphasis on trying to resolve the
security problems in Pakistan, our correspondent says, offering billions
of dollars in aid but demanding greater co-operation from the government.

Using stark language, Mrs Clinton said the situation in Pakistan needed
urgent attention.

"I think that we can not underscore the seriousness of the existential
threat posed to the state of Pakistan," she said, describing the rebels
as a "loosely-confederated group of terrorists and others seeking to
overthrow the Pakistani state".

The presidents of both Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan - where
international forces are battling the Taleban - are due to come to
Washington for talks next month.

During her hearing Mrs Clinton also answered questions on Cuba and Iran,
warning that Tehran faces "very tough sanctions" if it rejects offers of
engagement over its nuclear programme.

The US was "laying the groundwork" for such measures if Iran refused
dialogue or the process failed, said Mrs Clinton.

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