Setbacks Won't Deter Afghanistan Mission, Hillary Clinton Vows

Win McNamee/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised Wednesday that the U.S. would stay the course in Afghanistan by continuing to hand over security responsibilities to national forces so that the U.S. and NATO can keep their promise to withdraw from the country by 2014.

Doubts have been raised recently over the progress of the war, given the latest string of "insider attacks" against coalition troops that threaten to set back the process of getting Afghan forces up to speed with the Taliban still seemingly intent on achieving a military victory.

With Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul by her side at the State Department, Clinton conceded, "These past few months in particular have presented obstacles and some potential setbacks and we know that difficult days lie ahead."

Clinton also brought up the grim milestone of 2,000 Americans soldiers having lost their lives in the 11-year-war that came in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  The U.S. led an international coalition on Oct. 7, 2001 to destroy al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan as well as ousting the Taliban regime.

She told reporters, "The American people have invested a great deal in Afghanistan’s future and, even though our role in Afghanistan is changing, this partnership will continue."

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Administration Now Linking Al Qaeda Faction to Consulate Attack in Libya

Win McNamee/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- The White House now accepts the likelihood that Islamic militant forces were behind the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, two weeks ago.

During a special United Nations meeting in New York City Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton acknowledged that an al Qaeda offshoot from North Africa could be tied to the attack.

It's the first tactic admission from the Obama administration that a terrorist group, in this case, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, was behind the assault, which the White House initially blamed on a demonstration against an anti-Islam film produced in the U.S. that had turned violent.

Republicans have heaped criticism on the administration for failing to see an al Qaeda connection from the onset, alleging that the president was worried that it would hurt him in the polls.

At the U.N., Clinton said "terrorists are seeking to extend their reach and their networks in multiple directions.  And they are working with other violent extremists to undermine the democratic transitions under way in North Africa, as we tragically saw in Benghazi."

The secretary of state reiterated that the U.S. intelligence and other agencies are working with the Libyan government and other agencies to learn more about the consulate attack in Benghazi.

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Sec. Clinton Says No ‘Actionable Intelligence’ on Benghazi Attack

State Dept(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters Tuesday the intelligence surrounding the U.S. consulate in Benghazi did not indicate that the consulate was under a specific threat before it was attacked last week.

“With all of our missions overseas in advance of Sept. 11, as is done every year, we did an evaluation of threat streams,” said Clinton. "The office of the director of National Intelligence has said we have no actionable intelligence that an attack on our post in Benghazi was planned or imminent.”

Clinton’s comments echo what United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice said on ABC’s This Week, where she said all indications were that extremists “hijacked” a “spontaneous” protest.

The secretary said that the attacks are the work of extremists taking advantage of the widespread outrage over the anti-Muslim video being widely circulated on the Internet.

“There are extremists in all of these this societies and on the outside who are working to take advantage of broad outrage in order to incite violence and specifically incite violence against Americans and American facilities,” she said.

Since the attack, which lasted nearly five hours and resulted in the deaths of four diplomats, including the U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, questions have emerged about the security for both the consulate and the ambassador.  Clinton gave further details about the measures taken, including a “robust” security presence inside the compound, which was surrounded by a wall.

“Let me assure our security in Benghazi included a unit of host government forces, as well as a local guard force of the kind that we rely on in many places around the world,” Clinton told reporters.   

Last Friday, State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland emphatically told reporters that none of the security provided at the Benghazi consulate were provided by a private security firm.

“All of the security in Libya has been done by Libyans, by American government personnel, and then to a very limited extent these individual contracts with individual security personnel, but there was never a contract with a company, and there was never a plan to have a contract with a company,” she said.

But Tuesday, Nuland corrected her original statement, telling reporters that in fact the State Department did hire a private security company, a British firm called the Blue Mountain Group, which Nuland said has a permit to operate within Libya to hire local security guards.

“They were hired to provide local Libyan guards who operated inside the gate doing things like operating the security access equipment, screening the cars, that kind of thing,” said Nuland.

Blue Mountain says on its website that it provides both security and training and has recently operated in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and other dangerous places for clients ranging from Google to Cadburys.

Wired reported that the company signed a six-figure contract with the State Department to protect the consulate four months ago. Nuland said that the company remains on contract, “pending a full assessment of the security situation.”

Clinton didn’t speak specifically to where the guards protecting the consulate in Benghazi were from but did say the State Department is now taking aggressive steps to protect its employees, consulates and embassies around the world, and is reviewing security at every post.

Clinton also confirmed that the FBI is now in Libya, working with local officials on the investigation and stressed that there will be justice for the four murdered diplomats.

“We will not rest until the people who orchestrated this attack are found and punished,” the secretary said.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Ambassador to Libya Killed By 'Small and Savage Group'

PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, was killed by a "small and savage group" of Libyan militants who stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday.

Stevens, 52, died Tuesday night as 20 gun-wielding attackers descended on the U.S. consulate, firing automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, Libya's Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif said at a news conference in Benghazi.

Nearly a dozen Americans were inside the consulate at the time, guarded by Libyan security. For nearly 20 minutes the Libyan guards exchanged fire with the attackers, who hurled a firebomb inside. The militants burned down at least one building in the attack.

It's not clear yet how Stevens died.

Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith died from smoke inhalation during the attack, officials said. Two more Americans, possibly guards who were trying to get Stevens out of the area, were also killed. U.S. officials are still making next of kin notifications.

Clinton on Wednesday praised Stevens, who began working in Libya during the revolt against Moammar Gadhafi. "He risked his life to stop a tyrant and gave his life trying to build a better Libya," she said.

The attack on the consulate in Benghazi came shortly after protesters in Cairo, Egypt, scaled the walls of the U.S. embassy and tore down the American flag in an angry demonstration against a movie about the life of the Prophet Muhammad, depicting the founder of Islam as a fraud and a womanizer.

Clinton suggested that the movie played a role in the Benghazi attack as well, saying they were "working to determine motivations," but added, "Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior, along with the protest that took place at our embassy in Cairo yesterday, as a response to inflammatory material posted on Internet."

The secretary of state said she asked herself "how could this happen in a country we helped liberate and in a city we helped to save from destruction." But she added that the people who attacked the consulate were a "small and savage group."

President Obama said in a statement, "I strongly condemn the outrageous attack on our diplomatic facility in Benghazi, which took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. Right now, the American people have the families of those we lost in our thoughts and prayers."

"I have directed my administration to provide all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya, and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe," the president continued. "While the United States rejects efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others, we must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence that took the lives of these public servants."

The U.S. Marine Corps is sending a quick response team of 40 into Libya, where the U.S. embassy is in the capital Tripoli.

The group suspected of carrying out the consulate attack is called Ansar al Sharia, according to Libyan sources. But the group, which is close to al Qaeda in ideology and is based in east Libya, has denied responsibility for the attack.

Libyan President Mohammed Yussef Magariaf promised to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in the country, condemned the assault on the embassy and pledged his government's full cooperation, Clinton said.

Mohammed el-Megarif, Libya's interim president, apologized to the U.S. on Wednesday for the attack that killed Stevens and vowed to bring the culprits to justice.

The U.S. is now evacuating all Americans from Benghazi who were working with the State Department, and the U.S. is bracing for more attacks in the Middle East.

A senior U.S. official told ABC News the State Department is on alert throughout the region and fears there could be more attacks to come.

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, said in a statement, "I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks."

An Obama administration official tells ABC News that "no one in Washington approved that statement before it was released and it doesn't reflect the views of the U.S. government."

Clinton said anger over a movie is no excuse for violence.

"Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet," she said. "The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind."

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Secretary Clinton Watches Bill’s DNC Speech from Asia

Nick Merrill/US Department of State(WASHINGTON) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may have been 10,000 miles away from Charlotte when her husband gave his rousing speech at the Democratic National Convention last night, but that didn’t stop her from watching him.

After touring a coffee plant in Timor Leste, a tiny new democracy in Asia, she met the country’s Prime Minister and then held a press conference. Coincidentally, former President Clinton’s speech ended right about the same time his wife was asked about it by reporters, according to an aide traveling with the secretary.

“My husband read parts of his speech to me over the last few days,” said Secretary Clinton.

She first met with the staff and families of the Embassy to greet them and thank them for their service. Once that ended she walked over to the ambassador’s house, where the former first lady was finally able to take a break from being America’s top diplomat and enjoy being a proud spouse. In a picture released by the State Department, Secretary Clinton is seen beaming as she watches her husband nominate President Obama for a second term.

Being able to watch the speech from a country that barely has infrastructure, let alone high-speed Internet, took some technical prowess. She was able to watch using SlingPlayer, which streamed a recording from a SlingBox connected to an aide’s home TiVo, allowing her to watch the feed from nearly 10,000 miles away.

As Secretary Clinton boarded the plane to head to Brunai, the 110th country she’s visited as Secretary of State, when asked what she thought about her husband’s speech told reporters “it was great!”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Hillary Clinton Makes Likely Last Trip to China as Secretary of State

SAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages(BEIJING) -- In what she described as very likely her last trip to China as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing Wednesday to mend fences in a somewhat battered U.S.-China relationship.

In the past year, the two countries have engaged in tense diplomatic negotiations over blind dissidents, trade regulations, disputed territories and human rights abuse.

Widely criticized in state-run media in the lead up to the visit, Clinton nonetheless described relations as being “on a strong and solid base.”  The two countries, she said, “literally consult almost on a daily basis.”

Among the talking points for Clinton’s visit is the issue of China’s territorial disputes with its Asian neighbors.  Recent tension over small but potentially energy-rich islands in the South China Sea has pitted China against ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

The U.S. is pressing for China to resolve its issues multi-laterally. China is insisting on working bi-laterally. The general consensus is that bi-lateral negotiations give China the upper hand. Some say that could come back to haunt China, as the smaller Asian countries involved gravitate toward the U.S. for support.

Clinton clearly stated that the “U.S. does not take a position on territorial claims.”  However, she added that the U.S. has an interest in the “freedom of navigation and…we do believe it is everyone’s interest that [China and ASEAN] work together towards a shared goal on a code of conduct.”

Despite the Global Times headline, “Hillary, a Figure Who Deeply Exacerbates U.S.-China Mutual Distrust,” Clinton’s take would be quite the opposite.  She said that the two countries have been able to “explore areas of agreement and disagreement in a very open manner.”   

Clinton had been scheduled to meet with Hu’s likely successor, Xi Jingping.  At the last minute, the meeting was cancelled.  No official reason was given for the change in plans.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Xi is suffering from a bad back. He cancelled meetings with other high level officials from Singapore and Russia. Xi did send Clinton his wishes for a “productive meeting” via his foreign minister.

Clinton will continue her tour through Asia for the rest of the week.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Hillary Clinton in Turkey Wants Quick End to Syrian Conflict

Win McNamee/Getty Images(ISTANBUL) --  As she had been telling reporters throughout the week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came through on her promise Saturday to discuss contingency plans with the Turks regarding the possible collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Following talks with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul, Clinton said, "There is a very clear understanding about the need to end this conflict quickly, but not doing it in a way that produces even more deaths, injuries and destruction."

Since Syria is its neighbor, Turkey is particularly interested in a fast and peaceful resolution to the 18-month-long conflict between government and rebel forces that has cost more than 20,000 lives by some estimates. Other figures put the death toll between 15,000-17,000.

Istanbul feels it has been doing most of the heavy lifting in dealing with the influx of refugees from Syria and is looking for the international community to get more involved, particularly Washington.

Still, monetary aid is coming.  The U.S. has pledged $25 million in non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels, and Clinton said on Saturday that $5 million would be donated by the United Nations to assist refugees.

Her talks with the Turkish foreign minister centered around Syrians fleeing their country to escape violence, dealing with a power vacuum should al-Assad be deposed, and what to do to keep Syria's chemical weapons arsenal out of the wrong hands.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Hillary Clinton Foresees Inevitability of New Syrian Regime

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images(PRETORIA, South Africa) -- Syria was on the mind of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, even as she was meeting with South Africa's foreign minister in Pretoria.

As the nearly 18-month-long civil war shows no sign of ending, more Syrian government and military figures have defected, including President Bashar al-Assad's prime minister on Monday, who was only recently hired.

Clinton said that these developments are the clearest indication yet that the regime is on the brink of collapse and that it was time for the U.S. and its allies to begin preparation for post-al-Assad Syria.

Speaking with reporters, the top U.S. envoy said, "The intensity of the fighting in Aleppo, the defections, really point out how imperative it is that we come together and work toward a good transition plan."

Admitting that she couldn't predict when al-Assad will be totally out of the picture, Clinton said she would talk more about transition when she visits Turkish officials on Saturday in Istanbul.

The secretary of state, who's on an 11-day tour of African nations, will wrap up her three-day visit to South Africa on Wednesday in Cape Town, where she will deliver a speech about relations between the U.S. and South Africa and the growing importance of Africa in the world economy.   She will then visit Nigeria, Ghana and Benin before heading to Turkey.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Hillary Clinton in South African Capital to Focus on Economic Cooperation

Alex Wong/Getty Images(PRETORIA, South Africa) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in South Africa’s capital city of Pretoria Tuesday for another day largely focused on enhanced economic cooperation. 

There, she will attend the annual U.S.-South Africa Strategic Dialogue where she will meet with American and South African business executives and South African officials. 

At Monday’s business summit in Johannesburg, Clinton said South Africa is poised to make big investments in infrastructure over the next 20 years that could create “massive new opportunities” for American businesses and create jobs in both countries. 

On Tuesday afternoon, the secretary of state has a brief meeting with Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the South African who recently became the first woman elected as chair of the African Union.  Then in the evening, Clinton will fly to Cape Town, where on Wednesday she will deliver a speech at the University of Western Cape.

Clinton is on an 11-day tour of African nations that has taken her to Senegal, Uganda, South Sudan, Kenya and Malawi.  After meetings in the South African cities of Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town, she is scheduled to visit Nigeria, Ghana and Benin before heading to Turkey on Saturday for a talk about the crisis in Syria.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

WATCH: Hillary Clinton Dances with Malawian Farmers

State Dept Photo(LILONGWE, Malawi) -- Hillary Clinton Sunday was in Malawi, officially the 106th country she has visited as secretary of state.

Clinton joined local farmers in a dance and spoke to a farmer, Margaret, who told her that since the U.S. Agency for International Development gave her a cow seven years ago, and with the money she has made from the milk and the manure the cow has provided, she has been able to buy an ox, goats, clothes, sugar and build a house for her family.

The event was at The Lumbadzi Milk Bulking Group, which is part of the Feed the Future program, one of President Obama’s signature development initiatives. The primary focus is to reduce poverty and improve nutrition for 270,000 households in south-central Malawi.

Clinton told the crowd that thanks to their hard work, milk production in the southeast African country has increased substantially. She also announced that the United States intends to invest more than $46 million in Malawian agriculture in the next three years.

Clinton, with USAID, also presented a pure-bred dairy bull, named Emanuel, to the group.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio