US Senate confirms Hagel for defense secretary
The Senate has voted to confirm Chuck Hagel to be the next U.S. defense secretary.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The vote Tuesday was 58-41, with four Republicans joining Democrats in backing President Barack Obama's nominee.
The vote ended a contentious fight over the president's choice for his second-term national security team.
Republicans opposed the former 12-year Republican senator casting him as out of the mainstream and overly critical of Israel. But Democrats stood together for Hagel, a twice-wounded Vietnam combat veteran.
Hagel will succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is stepping down after four years as CIA director and Pentagon chief.
The vote came just hours after Republicans dropped their delay and allowed the nomination to move forward. The Senate vote to end the delaying maneuver known as a filibuster was 71-27.
Earlier, Chuck Hagel alleged that India has over the years financed problems for Pakistan in the war-torn country.
A video containing these remarks from an unreleased speech of Hagel at Oklahoma’s Cameron University in 2011 was uploaded by Washington Free Beacon, sparking a strong reaction from India which said such comments are contrary to the reality of its unbounded dedication to the welfare of Afghans.
Hagel, during the speech said, India for some time has always used Afghanistan as a second front, and India has over the years financed problems for Pakistan on that side of the border.
And you can carry that into many dimensions, the point being that the tense, fragmented relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been there for many, many years, Hagel said.
Reacting to this, the Indian Embassy here said, such comments attributed to Senator Hagel, who has been a long-standing friend of India and a prominent votary of close India-US relations are contrary to the reality of India’s unbounded dedication to the welfare of Afghan people.
It added that India’s commitment to a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan is unwavering, and this is reflected in our significant assistance to Afghanistan in developing its economy, infrastructure and institutional capacities.
Our opposition to terrorism and its safe havens in our neighbourhood is firm and unshakable.
India’s development assistance has been deeply appreciated by the people and the Government of Afghanistan, and by our friends around the world including the US. We do not view our engagement with Afghanistan as a zero sum game, the embassy said.
Hagel’s remarks are in sharp contrast to viewpoint of Obama Administration that has always been in praise of India s developmental role in Afghanistan and in fact has been pressing New Delhi to do more in Afghanistan.
