WASHINGTON, Aug 8: Senator Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate for the 2008 presidential elections, warned the US administration not to make statements that could destabilise the Pakistan government.

She also criticised rival Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama for saying that he would order military strikes against militants in Pakistan, if elected.

“I think it is a very big mistake to telegraph that, and to destabilise the Musharraf regime which is fighting for its life against the Islamist extremists who are in bed with Al Qaeda and (the) Taliban,” she said.

At a debate in Chicago, she took Senator Obama to task, saying that ‘telegraphing’ on what the US may or may not do in the face of actionable intelligence on targets in Pakistan is not the way to go about foreign policy.

“I don’t believe people running for president should engage in hypothetical,” she said. “You shouldn’t always say everything you think if you’re running for president, because it has consequences across the world.”

Senator Hillary also warned the Bush administration to be mindful to the implications of US actions on the government of President Pervez Musharraf. She said that the policymakers in Washington should keep in mind that Pakistan had nuclear weapons and these might fall into the hands of Al Qaeda if the government in Islamabad was destabilised.

Senator Obama, however, rebuked his Democratic White House rival who mocked him as naive on foreign policy, recalling that Senator Hillary had voted to authorise the Iraq war in October 2002.

“I find it amusing that those who helped to authorise and engineer the biggest foreign policy disaster in our generation are now criticising me,” he said.

“If we have actionable intelligence on Al Qaeda operatives, including Osama bin Laden, and President Musharraf cannot act, then we should. Now, I think that’s just common sense,” Senator Obama said.

His remarks have also annoyed the Pakistani-Americans, particularly those in the Democratic Party.