Gates said the Obama Administration is comfortable with the safety of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.
"The al-Qaida is helping the Pakistani Taliban try to destabilise the Pakistani government there. There is evidence that al-Qaida is helping them plan these attacks, the targeting, the training on capabilities, and so on. These threats are all mixed together," he told FOX News.
"It's a syndicate. And (the United States is) trying to help the Pakistanis understand that if any of the three of these, or others such as the Haqqani network, are successful, it redounds to the benefit of the others. So we've got to attack this problem as a whole, rather than piecemeal," Gates said.
Gates said though he has no idea where the top al-Qaida leaders including Osama bin Laden are, but there could be opportunities once Pakistan forces start operation in the region and they start to move around.
"I think that the actions that the Pakistani government is taking in South Waziristan, one of positive -- on of the many positive aspects of that have been flushing some of these guys out of South Waziristan. And the minute they begin to move around, then there are some opportunities," Gates said.
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