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head of the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting in Bangkok, US Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton spoke to The Nation, an Asia News Network partner of The Jakarta Post, in an exclusive interview Wednesday about the rising specter of terrorism and the recent twin bombings in Jakarta. The following are excerpts:

Question: As you arrived in India last week, there were bomb attacks in Jakarta. Is international terrorism still a big threat?

Answer: It is and it is still an overwhelming priority of the United States because of our own experience. I think what happened in Jakarta was tragic as all of these cowardly terrorist attacks always are.

It's especially cowardly because Indonesia just went through a democratic election. Now with 10 years of democracy solidifying in Indonesia, you can feel a real exciting dynamism in the country... when I visited there a few months ago, I was very impressed with what I saw Indonesia doing.

And clearly the terrorists, they don't want to compete in the political environment, they don't want to take the results of that kind of competition and actually try to compete in that marketplace of ideas so they engage in this very destructive, violent behavior.

But I have a lot of confidence in the resilience of the Indonesian government and of course the Indonesian people, so as tragic as something like that is, I think it's important to convey to the terrorists that they will not intimidate us and they will not in any way undermine our resolve to defeat them and their networks.

How do you reconcile the question of treating terrorists in accordance with international norms and at the same time send the message that you are being tough?

That's a very important question. And that's one that President (Barack) Obama answered on the very first day. Despite how difficult it is, he is committed to prohibiting torture, to ending Guantanamo. What we believe is there are very effective ways to combat terrorism and there are effective ways to interrogate without crossing the line.

In fact, many of the experts in interrogation would tell you you get more information by treating someone humanely and trying to appeal to them and trying to find some common connection.

I'm quick to add that some of these people are very difficult and very dangerous, there isn't any doubt about that.

But we are in a real contest in some parts of the world, for as we say, the hearts and minds.

And what we want... and we're seeing some evidence of that... is the family member or the neighbor of the terrorist to say I don't believe in that so I know that my cousin or my roommate has signed on with this terrorist group and I'm going to tell somebody.

And I've learned that they're making bombs down the road where I live... you've probably seen in the news the very dramatic trial in India of the surviving Mumbai terrorist who confessed in court.

But what I found so interesting about his confession is that he was a young man without much purpose in life, he was in a job he did not find satisfactorily satisfying and he was susceptible to the blandishment of terrorist organizations: This will make you feel strong and powerful, this will give you a meaning and purpose in your life; and he bought into that and joined this group that was trained for the Mumbai attacks.

When you listen to his confession as I heard on Indian television, this was not someone who had some deep, overriding ideological commitment; this was somebody who got swept up in it.

So we want to convey to families and communities across the world that there's a better way.

Now, we have to put some meat onto the bone of that statement, we have to make sure people get good education, we have to make sure that the people do have jobs.