Gates tells Pakistani military students the US aims to find common cause with their country

Gates stresses common cause with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD — U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is telling Pakistani military students that the United States has no designs on Pakistan’s nuclear weapons or, in his words, “a single inch of Pakistani soil.”

Gates also told students at Pakistan’s National Defense University in Islamabad on Friday that fighting terrorists along the Afghan border is in Pakistan’s interest as well as the United States’.

The U.S. wants Pakistan to take on Taliban militants who use its territory as a refuge.

A top Pakistani military official says a recent offensive into the region will be held up so that the area can be stabilized.