US ready to take lead in facing global challenges: Clinton

Washington, Sept.9 (ANI): U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday said that the United States faced a number of challenges in the global context, none of which could be viewed or could exist in isolation.

Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) here, Clinton said that Washington is working to support direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

"Next week, I will travel to Egypt and Jerusalem for the second round of these negotiations. In Iraq, where our combat mission has ended, we are transferring and transitioning to an unprecedented civilian-led partnership. We are stepping up international pressure on Iran to negotiate seriously on its nuclear program. We are working with Pakistan as it recovers from devastating floods and continues to combat violent extremism. And of course, the war in Afghanistan is always at the top of our minds as well as our agenda," Clinton said.

Referring to the Middle East peace talks, Clinton said that at one level, it was a bilateral negotiation involving two peoples and a relatively small strip of land, but at another level, the issue had a regional and an even global dimension.

"Solving foreign policy problems today requires us to think both regionally and globally, to see the intersections and connections linking nations and regions and interests, to bring people together as only America can. I think the world is counting on us today as it has in the past," Clinton said.

"Nothing makes me prouder than to represent this great nation in the far corners of the world. I am the daughter of a man who grew up in the Depression and trained young sailors to fight in the Pacific. And I am the mother of a young woman who is part of a generation of Americans who are engaging the world in new and exciting ways. And in both those stories, I see the promise and the progress of America, and I have the most profound faith in our people. It has never been stronger," she added.

Acknowledging that Americans could face difficult days ahead, Clinton said Americans have always risen to challenges.

"That is who we are. It is in our DNA. We do believe there are no limits on what is possible or what can be achieved. So, let me say it clearly: The United States can, must, and will lead in this new century," the Secretary of State said.

"This is a moment that must be seized through hard work and bold decisions to lay the foundations for lasting American leadership for decades to come," she added.

"For the United States, global leadership is both a responsibility and an unparalleled opportunity," she said.

She recalled that last year she had called for a new global architecture that could help nations come together as partners to solve shared problems.

"Today, I'd like to expand on this idea, but especially to explain how we are putting it into practice. Now, architecture is the art and science of designing structures that serve our common purposes, built to last and to withstand stress.

And that is what we seek to build; a network of alliances and partnerships, regional organizations and global institutions, that is durable and dynamic enough to help us meet today's challenges and adapt to threats that we cannot even conceive of, just as our parents never dreamt of melting glaciers or dirty bombs," Clinton said.

"We know that alliances, partnerships, and institutions cannot and do not solve problems by themselves.

Only people and nations solve problems. But an architecture can make it easier to act effectively by supporting the coalition-forging and compromise-building that is the daily fare of diplomacy. It can make it easier to identify common interests and convert them to common action. And it can help integrate emerging powers into an international community with clear obligations and expectations," she added.

"We have no illusions that these goals can be achieved overnight or that countries will suddenly cease to have divergent interests. We know that the test of our leadership is how we manage those differences and how we galvanize nations and peoples around their commonalities even when they do have diverse histories, unequal resources, and competing world-views. And we know that our approach to solving problems must vary from issue to issue and partner to partner. American leadership, therefore, must be as dynamic as the challenges we face," she said.

"In this interconnected age, America's security and prosperity depend more than ever on the ability of others to take responsibility for defusing threats and meeting challenges in their own countries and regions, she said. (ANI)