Pakistan is my biggest worry: Biden

WASHINGTON US Vice President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the situation in Pakistan worried him more than that of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan. Its a big country, Biden said of Pakistan in the course of an interview with CNNs Larry King Live programme. It has nuclear weapons that are able to be deployed. It has a real significant minority of radicalised population. It is not a completely functional democracy in the sense we think about it. And so ... thats my greatest concern.
The vice president also said future attempts by terrorists to hit the US more likely will be small-bore attacks such as the thwarted bombing of an airliner landing in Detroit than a repeat of Sept 11.
Biden, who was the chairman or ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the decade before becoming vice president, said Irans nuclear programme was a real concern.
If they continue on the path of nuclear weapons and were able to gain even a modicum of the capability, then I worry what that does ... what pressure that puts on Saudi Arabia, on Egypt, on Turkey. ... To acquire nuclear weapons, thats very destabilising, he said.
Although US intelligence chiefs testified before a congressional panel recently that new al-Qaeda-backed attacks are certain in the coming months, Biden said he thought any attempt would be on small-scale.
The idea of there being a massive attack in the United States like 9/11 is unlikely, in my view, he said, referring to the Sept 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington, which left nearly 3,000 dead.
If you see whats happening, particularly with al-Qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula, they have decided to move in the direction of much more small bore but devastatingly frightening attacks, Biden said.
He said a likely model was the attempted Christmas attack on an airliner headed for Detroit. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, is accused of trying to blow up the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight with a bomb sewn into his underwear.
The concern relates to somebody like a shoe bomber or the underpants bomber, the Christmas attack or someone just strapping a backpack on them with weapons ... and blowing up, Biden said.
Asked if an attack like that would actually happen, he said, Well, I think there are going to be attempts.
The vice president expressed optimism about Iraq, saying it could end up being one of the great achievements of this administration.
Youre going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer, Biden said. Youre going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving towards a representative government.
He said he had visited Iraq 17 times, going every two or three months.
It has impressed me, Biden said. Ive been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.