Washington, May 17 : Former U. S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has revealed that President Obama's decision to order a kill of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was akin to a blind shot at rolling the dice.

"Obama rolled the dice with a blind -- and ultimately spot-on -- shot at Osama bin Laden," Gates, the one-time CIA head, said during an interview with CBS.

Gates said Obama and his national security team had virtually no concrete proof bin Laden was holed up in a Pakistani compound.

Washington, July 1 : Retiring US Defence Secretary Robert Gates Thursday wrapped up his four-and-a-half years in the Pentagon, with an unexpected gift from President Barack Obama, Xinhua reported.

During a farewell tribute ceremony at the Pentagon, Obama praised Gates for his services for the country, and awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the highest award a president can confer to a civilian.

Washington, June 29: Researchers can now determine the action a person is planning, mere moments before that action is actually executed.

"This is a considerable step forward in our understanding of how the human brain plans actions," said Jason Gallivan, a Western Neuroscience PhD student, who was the first author on the paper.

Washington, June 20: U. S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said initiatives taken by several countries, including America, to broker a peace deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban is at a ‘very preliminary stage.''

Gates, who will step down at the end of this month, said there had been contacts between the United States and the Taliban in recent weeks, headed by the State Department.

Washington, June 16 : US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates made light of Pakistan's arrest of five Pakistan CIA informers who helped in the US raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout saying in the real world governments lie to each other and allies too spy.

"First of all, I would say, based on 27 years in CIA and four-and-a-half years in this job, most governments lie to each other," said Gates, who started his professional career in America's spy agency, Central Intelligence Agency, prompting laughter.

"That's the way business gets done," he said in response to a question from Democrat Senator Patrick, at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing Wednesday

Washington, June 16: US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates has indicated that Afghan President Hamid Karzai will quit office by 2014.

Afghanistan’s Constitution limits presidents to two terms. Karzai was first elected president in 2004. He won a second term as the president in 2009.

Gates, revealed Karzai’s desire to leave the presidential office at a Senate Appropriations committee meeting, Politico reports.

The timing of Karzai''s departure will coincide with a scheduled deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. All security operations will be taken over by Afghanistan in 2014. (ANI)

Washington, June 15: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said Washington is disappointed and suspicious that militants in Pakistan were apparently tipped off that American intelligence officials had discovered two of their suspected bomb-making facilities, but stopped short of concluding that Pakistani officials had leaked the information to the al-Qaida-linked Haqqani insurgents.

Washington, June 14: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said that the Obama administration was disappointed by the unexplained failure of recent raids on two militant compounds in Pakistan's tribal areas.

Gates said that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had shared intelligence about the compounds with Pakistan in the past several weeks to restore relations with the South Asian country.

However, when Pakistani forces raided the facilities, used for the manufacture of improvised explosive devices, the militants had disappeared.

The "IED factories" were located in Pakistan's North and South Waziristan region.

The Defense Secretary insisted that he was not certain how or why the effort went awry.

Washington, June 11: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said that the future American leaders may view the European nations' insufficient defence spending and investment in the NATO effort, and the use of the US taxpayers' money to fill the gaps, as `not worth the cost'.

Gates, who is leaving his post this summer, mocked the efforts of European nations in Libya, saying America was being forced to "make up the difference" as the allies had run short of bombs and missiles, The Telegraph reports.

Washington, June 10: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Leon Panetta, who is nominated to succeed US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, has called the United States’ relationship with Pakistan "difficult" but "critical".

While Pakistan has proven to be a safe haven for extremists, a positive relationship with authorities in Islamabad is vital to the mission in Afghanistan, the CNN quoted Panetta, as warning the Senate Armed Services Committee.

America’s close ties with Pakistan are also critical due to the necessity of securing that country''s nuclear arsenal, he noted.

Washington, June 9: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said the country should maintain a long-term military presence in Afghanistan especially as a "tenant" on bases jointly occupied with Afghan forces, rather than on permanent US bases, after its combat mission ends.

"Bases that belong to one country in another country are always a magnet for trouble. Joint bases, from which U. S. troops could provide ongoing training and other assistance, would be "more tolerable to the Afghan people," the Washington Post quoted Gates, as saying.

Washington, May 30: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has conceded that the US relationship with Pakistan was not what the Americans wished it were.

"I would say this administration has made a significant effort to try and change the nature of our relationship with Pakistan, in terms of a more enduring partnership," The Dawn quoted Gates, as saying.

"And I would say that, obviously, the record is a mixed one. And we both have concerns, but there`s also no doubt in my mind that we have to continue to make our best efforts to manage this relationship going forward," he added.

Washington, May 23 : US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said his country needs a strong military not only to win the war in Afghanistan, but also to `protect trade routes and energy supplies' and stop `would-be adversaries from making the kind of miscalculations' that often lead to war.

"All of these things happen mostly out of sight and out of mind to the average American, and thus are taken for granted. But they all depend on a properly armed, trained and funded US military, which cannot be taken for granted," The Daily Times quoted Gates, as saying.

Washington, May 19: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said his supposition is that "somebody" in Pakistan knew about the presence of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

Bin Laden, who had evaded capture for a decade, was killed on May 2 in a top-secret US unilateral military operation involving a small team of American Special Forces in Pakistan's Abbottabad city.

Washington, May 16: US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said Osama bin Laden's death could end up being be a "game changer" in the war in Afghanistan, partly because the killed al Qaeda leader won''t be around to obstruct a possible deal with the Taliban.

"If we keep the military pressure on and continue to hold what we seized over the last year and expand the security envelope, a change in the relationship between al Qaeda and the Taliban could, in fact, this fall or winter, create the circumstances where a reconciliation process could go forward," CBS News quoted Gates, as saying.