Describing India as a partner in fight against extremism in the West Asia and Central Asia, the United States has said it is updating its existing alliances based on security realities of the new century.

"Countries like Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Yemen, Pakistan, India -- to cite but a few examples -- are now partners in the fight against extremism in the Middle East (West Asia) and in Central Asia," US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at the National Press Club in Washington on Friday.

"We are updating our existing alliances and building new relationships based on security realities of the new century, and not the last century," he said.

Pointing out that the terrorists are ruthless, he said, "They seek to drive our coalition out of the newly liberated countries of Afghanistan and Iraq and to reimpose dictatorial regimes. They will fail, let there be no doubt. And they are conducting a reign of terror against those who represent hope and freedom -- the mayors, the city councilmen, the women who register to vote in Afghanistan."

"I am sure you all read about the bus that was stopped by some Taliban near the Pakistan border, and they went through the women's possessions to see if they had registered to vote, and the ones that had registered to vote were killed."

"But," Rumsfeld said, "no one should underestimate the powerful impact of human fredom. Today, Iraqis are among those in our globe who are allowed to say what they want and go where they want and write and watch and listen to whatever they want."

"The assassins and the terrorists who are fighting know that the rise of a free, self-governing Afghanistan and a free, self-governing Iraq will give powerful momentum to reformers throughout the region and it will discredit their extremist ideology," Rumsfeld said.

Expressing confidence in the victory of the US and the allies of freedom against the terrorists, he said: "For all of the enemy's ruthlessness, we have an enormous advantage.

"When I say 'we,' I don't mean the people of the United States; I mean the people in the 85 or 90 nations across the globe that are cooperating in this effort, in this war, in this struggle against extremism. And the advantage is that the great sweep of human history is for freedom. And that is on our side."