11 February 2005	Friday	01 Muharram 1426

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BRUSSELS, Feb 10: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday said she was impressed by Pakistan's transformation in recent years, saying Islamabad was on track to overcome extremism.

"If you look at where Pakistan was three and a half years ago, it is clear that Pakistan is moving in the right direction," Ms Rice told reporters after meetings with European Union officials.

The US Secretary of State, who has been travelling through key European states for the last week, rejected a reporters' suggestion that Washington was dealing differently with the Iranian and Pakistani nuclear programmes. Pakistan was "moving away from extremism towards a policy that recognises that extremism and modernism cannot exist side by side," she said.

She also spotlighted Pakistan's efforts at educational reform, efforts to fight terrorism and to the ongoing "delicate and fragile" rapprochement with India.

Washington would continue to press for a "full democratic process" in Pakistan, she added. Ms Rice said that in contrast "internal politics in Iran are not moving in the right direction." She again warned Iran to comply with its "international obligations" in the nuclear sector but said Washington had set no deadlines for this.