The State Department and the Pentagon are jointly working on plans for a post-President Bashar Assad Syria.

They hope to avoid the kind of implosion they believe occurred because of a lack of planning for post-Saddam Iraq.

The Bush administration's decision to disband Iraqi security forces, made shortly after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, was a catalyst for the bloody civil war that followed.

---

Critics said that decision, made by senior Pentagon officials and announced by the head of the U.S. occupation authority at the time, Paul Bremer, set loose tens of thousands of armed, disaffected young men.

The U.S. is indicating to the Syrian army that it does not want it to dissolve and those not directly involved in atrocities could be part of a successor regime.

State Department Spokesman Patrick Ventrell said at a daily press briefing Monday:

"What we’re focused on and our concern is that as the opposition comes together with the remaining elements of the regime that don’t have blood on their hands, that they create an inclusive Syria where the rights of all Syrians are respected. And so that’s our focus and that’s what we’re directly communicating to the opposition, and that’s certainly where our feelings are."

U.S. officials also hope that civil servants and other Assad holdovers will work with an interim government to avoid the kind of vacuum that led to widespread civil disorder, looting, and ultimately to civil war in Iraq.

Related: Official: Syria PM defects to anti-Assad opposition

Officials believe it is only a matter of time before Assad is gone, one way or another -- although they can't predict when.

Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, a veteran in Middle East affairs, is in charge of the planning.

He is assisted by U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, who had returned to Washington after diplomatic operations in Damascus were suspended in February.

Last week, Ford talked with Syria opposition leaders in Cairo.

Burns' schedule includes two White House meetings Tuesday, likely indicating more inter-agency planning on the Syria crisis.

Related: Three US senators warn about risks of inaction in Syria

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, traveling in South Africa on Monday, announced a day earlier that she will add a stop in Turkey to her overseas trip for meetings with Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan on the Syria crisis.

Part of the U.S. planning includes Pentagon contingency plans for NATO and Syria's neighbors to help provide transportation, food and medical supplies to a potential flood of refugees -- well beyond the current numbers -- in case there is a total collapse of the Syrian regime.

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A key component of the post-Assad plan: pressing the occupation not to inflict reprisals against Assad loyalists after he goes.

"When we talk to the opposition we’re very clear ... revenge or reprisals are totally unacceptable," Ventrell said Monday.

Clashes raged between rebel fighters and government forces in Syria as the country's divided opposition seeks to oust Assad in a 16-month-old revolt that shows no signs of nearing a conclusion.

Government forces have been pounding rebels with tanks and air strikes, and last week Damascus threatened to use chemical weapons if foreign countries intervened in the conflict.

The Obama administration has said it is stepping up assistance to Syrian opposition members, although the support has remained limited to non-lethal equipment.

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DUBAI - Tehran on Sunday asked Turkey and Qatar to help secure the release of 48 Iranians who were kidnapped by gunmen while on a pilgrimage in the Syrian capital Damascus, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

The busload of abducted pilgrims is the latest in a string of kidnappings of visitors from the Islamic Republic, a country allied to President Bashar Assad. The pilgrims were seized after visiting a popular Shiite shrine on Saturday.

---

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Qatari counterpart Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani agreed to help seek the pilgrims' release during separate phone conversations with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, IRNA reported.

Syrian family prays soldier son will defect

Meanwhile, President Bashar Assad's forces used artillery, planes and a helicopter gunship to pound rebel positions in Syria's biggest city, witnesses said, in a battle that could determine the outcome of the 17-month uprising.

After U.N. Security Council paralysis on Syria forced peace envoy Kofi Annan to resign last week, and with his ceasefire plan a distant memory, rebels were battered on Saturday by the onslaught they had expected in Aleppo and the capital Damascus.

"There is one helicopter and we're hearing two explosions every minute," said a Reuters witness in Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub. 

Syrian forces struck at Aleppo's Salaheddine district, a gateway into the city of 2.5 million people that has become the frontline of an increasingly sectarian conflict that has killed some 18,000 people and could spill into neighboring countries. 

A local rebel commander said his fighters were preparing for a "strong offensive" by government forces on the city. 

Explosions shake Syria capital as rebels renew attack

In Damascus, jets bombarded the capital as troops kept up an offensive they began on Friday to storm the last rebel bastion there, a resident said. 

Opposition offer
Also on Sunday, the leader of Syria's main political opposition group said he was ready to negotiate with government officials whose hands are not "stained with blood", once Assad and his associates leave power, according to an interview published on Sunday. 

Abdelbasset Seida, head of the Syrian National Council (SNC), also told the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that  Annan's resignation may open the door for a new initiative to resolve the crisis.

"As far as we are concerned, the authorities have lost their credibility and legitimacy, and we have said this in Moscow bluntly: that dialogue with this regime is no longer possible," Seida said.

"Bashar and his gang must leave and after that we will move to negotiate with other officials whose hands were not stained with Syrian blood and who were not involved in big corruption cases," he added.

Reuters confirms hackers posted fake story

On Friday, U.N. member states voted overwhelmingly to condemn the Syrian government for the violence at a special session of the General Assembly. Syria allies Russia and China opposed the non-binding resolution but were not able to use the veto they have used in the Security Council.

Seida welcomed Friday's vote: "We believe that the vote at the United Nations General Assembly represents the start of a new initiative that may be coming in the near future."

He did not elaborate.

Also on Sunday, a State Department spokeswoman said that Secretary State of State Hillary Clinton would travel to Istanbul next week to hold talks with the Turkish government on the crisis in Syria. 

"Secretary Clinton goes to Istanbul for bilateral consultations with the Turkish government on Syria as well as to cover other timely issues," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a statement sent to reporters during a visit by Clinton to the southern African nation of Malawi. 

Clinton's planned talks in Istanbul on August 11 will form part of renewed international efforts to tackle the escalating crisis in Syria.

Nuland also announced that Clinton, whose current Africa tour will take her to South Africa later on Sunday, would also be visiting Nigeria, Ghana and Benin next week on her way to the Istanbul talks. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Updated at 8:14 a.m. ET: President Barack Obama has signed a so-called "intelligence finding" authorizing covert aid to the Syrian rebels seeking to depose Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, NBC News has confirmed.

White House and intelligence officials declined to comment on a Reuters report about the aid.

A U.S. official also said that while Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the U.S., is providing non-lethal aid and communications to the rebels, the presidential finding provides more intelligence resources than had been previously known.

---

The administration has been under constant criticism for months from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others who say the administration should be arming the rebels.

Saudis mum on aid center for Syrian rebels

Obama's order, approved earlier this year, broadly permits the CIA and other U.S. agencies to provide support that could help the rebels oust Assad, Reuters reported.

This and other developments signal a shift toward growing, albeit still circumscribed, support for Assad's armed opponents -- a shift that intensified following last month's failure of the U.N. Security Council to agree on tougher sanctions against the Damascus government, Reuters reported.

UN: Syria using fighter jets against rebels with tanks

The White House is for now apparently stopping short of giving the rebels lethal weapons, even as some U.S. allies do that, Reuters said.

But U.S. and European officials have said that there have been noticeable improvements in the coherence and effectiveness of Syrian rebel groups in the past few weeks. That represents a significant change in assessments of the rebels by Western officials, who previously characterized Assad's opponents as a disorganized, almost chaotic, rabble, Reuters reported.

Precisely when Obama signed the secret intelligence authorization, an action not previously reported, could not be determined, Reuters said.

Residents face shortages as Syrian army hits Aleppo 

The full extent of clandestine support that agencies like the CIA might be providing also is unclear, Reuters said.

White House spokesman Tommy Vietor declined comment to Reuters.

A U.S. government source acknowledged that under provisions of the presidential finding, the United States was collaborating with a secret command center operated by Turkey and its allies.

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Last week, Reuters reported that, along with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Turkey had established a secret base near the Syrian border to help direct vital military and communications support to Assad's opponents.

This "nerve center" is in Adana, a city in southern Turkey about 60 miles from the Syrian border, which is also home to Incirlik, a U.S. air base where U.S. military and intelligence agencies maintain a substantial presence.

This article includes reporting by NBC News' Andrea Mitchell and Reuters.

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U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi for the first time, arriving in Egypt amid a showdown between the Islamist president and the country’s powerful military leadership that has filled the gap since the ouster of long-time President Hosni Mubarak.

In comments at a news conference after her meeting with Morsi, Clinton said the United States supports the full establishment of democratic rule in Egypt and the return of its military to an exclusively national security role. She was scheduled to meet on Sunday with Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi who headed a group of generals who oversaw Egypt's transition period.

"The United States supports the full transition to civilian rule with all that entails,'' Clinton said during a news conference after her meeting with Morsi. She commended the military's stabilizing role during Egypt's transition, Reuters reported.

---

 "But there is more work ahead. And I think the issues around the parliament, the constitution have to be resolved between and among Egyptians. I will look forward to discussing these issues tomorrow with Field Marshall Tantawi and in working to support the military's return to a purely national security role.'' 

The Egyptian military ruled the country for 16 months until Morsi's inauguration on June 30, but the generals retained far-reaching powers and stripped the presidency of many powers before they stepped down.

Even before that, Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court dissolved the first democratically elected parliament, which was Islamist-dominated, after ruling that a third of its members were elected illegally. Morsi has tried to reinstate the lawmakers, many of them allies from the Muslim Brotherhood.

Prior to their meeting Clinton and Morsi exchanged pleasantries in the presence of the media, the BBC reported. Clinton talked about the rapid pace of change in Egypt.

Morsi said: "We are very very keen to meet you and happy that you are here."

The Associated Press noted that the two did not shake hands when they first met, sparking speculation about whether Morsi’s beliefs prohibited it. But the president shook hands with Clinton and the entire U.S. delegation behind closed doors, according to a U.S. official, the AP reported later.

Clinton's trip is also intended to shore up the U.S.-Egypt relationship. Mubarak was a staunch military and strategic ally in the region. Morsi’s Islamic Brotherhood was outlawed by the Mubarak regime for decades.

Clinton emphasized the need for Egypt to adhere to its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and offered U.S. support to help Cairo regain control of the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula — a major security concern for Israel, Reuters reported. She is slated to fly to Israel from Egypt.

In Egypt, Clinton will highlight a number of initiatives the United States is taking to bolster the Egyptian economy, which has structural problems from the past three decades under the Mubarak regime and suffered a hit to key industries including tourism amid political turmoil.

The Obama administration has promised a billions dollars in support of the new Egyptian government when it was formed.

Clinton was expected to begin talking about the details of that support package and debt relief — providing funds that can go into job-creating programs and training, especially focused on Egypt's young people, a senior U.S. official said.

In addition, Clinton was planning to announce the head of a new U.S. Egypt Enterprise Fund, initially capitalized at $60 million to invest in the country and speak to the Egyptian leadership about the steps they need to take to tap into another $250 million U.S. fund earmarked for small and medium-sized enterprises.

NBC News, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Hillary Rodham Clinton became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Laos in more than five decades, gauging whether a place the United States pummeled with bombs during the Vietnam War could evolve into a new foothold of American influence in Asia.

Clinton met with the communist government's prime minister and foreign minister in the capital of Vientiane on Wednesday, part of a weeklong diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia. The goal is to bolster America's standing in some of the fastest growing markets of the world, and counter China's expanding economic, diplomatic and military dominance of the region.

---

Thirty-seven years since the end of America's long war in Indochina, Laos is the latest test case of the Obama administration's efforts to "pivot" U.S. foreign policy away from the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It follows a long period of estrangement between Washington and a once hostile Cold War-era foe, and comes as U.S. relations warm with countries such as Myanmar and Vietnam.

In her meetings, Clinton discussed environmental concerns over a proposed dam on the Mekong River, investment opportunities and joint efforts to clean up the tens of millions of unexploded bombs the United States dropped on Laos during the Vietnam War.

Greater American support programs in these fields will be included in a multimillion-dollar initiative for Southeast Asia to be announced later this week.

"Here in Laos, the past is always with us," Clinton said.

Tracing the 'arc' of a relationship
After the meetings, she said they "traced the arc of our relationship from addressing the tragic legacies of the past to finding a way to being partners of the future."

US eases way for Afghanistan to acquire defense gear

Clinton also visited a Buddhist temple and a U.S.-funded prosthetic center for victims of American munitions.

At the prosthetic center, she met a man named Phongsavath Souliyalat, who told her how he had lost both his hands and his eyesight from a cluster bomb on his 16th birthday.

"I would like to see all governments ban cluster bombs and (try) to clear the bombs together and to help the survivors," Souliyalat said. "I am lucky because I got help ... but so many survivors are without help. Their life is very very hard."

"We have to do more," Clinton told him. "That's one of the reasons I wanted to come here today, so that we can tell more people about the work that we should be doing together."

A key 'domino' in U.S. Cold War policy
The last U.S. secretary of state to visit Laos was John Foster Dulles in 1955. His plane landed after being forced to circle overhead while a water buffalo was cleared from the tarmac.

At that time, the mountainous, sparsely populated nation was at the center of U.S. foreign policy. On leaving office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned his successor, John F. Kennedy, that if Laos fell to the communists, all Southeast Asia could be lost as well.

While Vietnam ended up the focal point of America's "domino theory" foreign policy, Laos was drawn deeply into the conflict as the United States funded its anti-communist forces and bombed North Vietnamese supply lines and bases.

Cause of killer Cambodia illness likely found

The United States dropped more than 2 million tons of bombs on the impoverished country during its "secret war" between 1964 and 1973 — about a ton of ordnance for each Laotian man, woman and child. That exceeded the amount dropped on Germany and Japan together in World War II, making Laos the most heavily bombed nation per person in history.

Four decades later, American weapons are still claiming lives. When the war ended, about a third of some 270 million cluster bombs dropped on Laos had failed to detonate, leaving the country awash in unexploded munitions. More than 20,000 people have been killed by ordnance in postwar Laos, according to its government, and contamination throughout the country is a major barrier to agricultural development.

Cleanup has been excruciatingly slow. The Washington-based Legacies of War says only 1 percent of contaminated lands have been cleared and has called on Washington to provide far greater assistance. The State Department has provided $47 million since 1997, though a larger effort could make Laos "bomb-free in our lifetimes," California Rep. Mike Honda argued.

"Let us mend the wounds of the past together so that Laos can begin a new legacy of peace," said Honda, who is Japanese-American.

The United States is spending $9 million this year on cleanup operations for unexploded ordnance in Laos, but is likely to offer more in the coming days.

Reorienting U.S. policy
It is part of a larger Obama administration effort to reorient the direction of U.S. diplomacy and commercial policy as the world's most populous continent becomes the center of the global economy over the next century. It is also a reaction to China's expanding influence.

Despite Washington's difficult history in the region, nations in Beijing's backyard are welcoming the greater engagement — and the promise of billions of dollars more in American investment. The change has been sudden, with some longtime U.S. foes now seeking a relationship that could serve at least as a counterweight to China's regional hegemony.

Vietnam, threatened by Beijing's claims to the resource-rich South China Sea, has dramatically deepened diplomatic and commercial ties with the United States, with their two-country trade now exceeding $22 billion a year — from nothing two decades ago. Clinton on Tuesday made her third trip to the fast-growing country, meeting with senior communist officials to prod them into greater respect for free expression and labor rights.

A lagging economy
Landlocked and impoverished Laos offers fewer resources than its far larger neighbors and has lagged in Asia's economic boom. It remains one of the poorest countries in Asia, even as it hopes to kick-start its development with accession soon to the World Trade Organization.

In recent years, China has stepped up as Laos' principal source of assistance, with loans and grants of up to $350 million over the last two decades. But like many others in its region, Laos' government is wary of Beijing's intentions. And it has kept an envious eye on neighboring Vietnam's 40 percent surge in commercial trade with the United States over the last two years, as well as the sudden rapprochement between the United States and nearby Myanmar.

Persistent human rights issues stand in the way of closer relations with Washington. The United States remains concerned about the plight of the ethnic Hmong minority, most of whom fled the country after fighting for a U.S.-backed guerilla army during the Vietnam War. Nearly 250,000 resettled in the United States. The United States has pressed Laos to respect the rights of returnees from neighboring countries.

Washington also has been seeking greater cooperation from Laos on the search for U.S. soldiers missing in action since the Vietnam War. More than 300 Americans remain unaccounted for in Laos.

And it is pressing the government to hold off on a proposed $3.5 billion dam project across the Mekong River. The dam would be the first across the river's mainstream and has sparked a barrage of opposition from neighboring countries and environmental groups, which warn that tens of millions of livelihoods could be at stake.

The project is currently on hold and Washington hopes to stall it further with the promise of funds for new environmental studies.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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A U.S. drone attack killed 19 suspected militants on Friday when it fired five missiles at a compound in Pakistan near the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials said Saturday.

The strike was in the Datta Khel region, which is considered to be a stronghold of Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur.

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 The attack came just a day after trucks carrying NATO supplies crossed from Pakistan into Afghanistan for the first time in more than seven months. The crossing was allowed after the United States and Pakistan resolved one of their most heated disputes, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton apologized for an air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last November.

NATO trucks cross Pakistan border after 7-month closure

The CIA has stepped up drone attacks in North Waziristan in recent weeks in an area seen as a hub for militant groups who attack U.S. forces and their allies in Afghanistan.

Eight people were killed there in a drone strike on Sunday.

For many Pakistanis, 'USA' means 'drones'

In a separate attack, 18 people were killed when armed men attacked a bus in a remote town in Baluchistan province.

The attack took place when the bus, which was travelling to Iran, stopped at a shop in the Kech area, police told Reuters news agency.

This article includes reporting by Reuters.

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CHAMAN, Pakistan - A pair of trucks carrying NATO supplies crossed into Afghanistan on Thursday, Pakistani customs officials said, the first time in more than seven months that Pakistan has allowed Western nations to use its roads to supply troops in Afghanistan.

Customs officials said the container trucks passed through the Chaman border crossing into southern Afghanistan, a milestone following a deal this week with the United States ending the impasse triggered by the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers by U.S. aircraft last November.

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"We received orders yesterday to allow NATO supply trucks through, but security officials hadn't received their instructions," said Imran Raza, a customs official.

Pakistan lets trucks roll after Clinton apologizes

"They received their orders today, and now two trucks have crossed the border into Afghanistan."

The resumption of NATO transit into Afghanistan came two days after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, yielding to Pakistani demands, told Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar the United States was sorry for the deaths last November.

In response to the killing of the soldiers in a border post, a furious Islamabad shut the supply routes.

For months, the Obama administration refused Pakistani demands to offer an apology for what NATO said was a regrettable accident.

Pakistan releases 1st pics of attacked border posts

The closure forced NATO countries to bring supplies into landlocked Afghanistan through an alternate route to the north, a cumbersome process that cost 2 1/2 times as much as shipping them to and then across Pakistan.

Thousands of waiting trucks
In the port city of Karachi, drivers were preparing for the trip. Thousands of trucks and tankers have been stuck at ports in Karachi waiting for the transit ban to be lifted. 

"Today almost after eight months NATO supply has been started. I am taking NATO cargo to Peshawar,  where this cargo will be shifted to trailers taking the same to Kabul," said driver Javed Iqbal. 

Fuel tankers sit idle in Pakistan during dispute with US 

The chairman of Port Qasim, Mohammad Shafi, said Thursday that more than 2,500 NATO containers and vehicles have been held at the facility since the blockade began. 

Getting them back on the road will take time, Shafi said, because of paperwork and customs clearance procedures. 

"Once we do that, we will be able to let the supplies leave for Afghanistan," he said. 

The journey is a perilous one, as the Taliban and other militant groups have threatened to attack supply vehicles in Pakistani territory. Before the closure, hundreds of supply trucks, which travel in convoys, were targeted in different areas of the country. 

US drone kills 8 suspected militants in Pakistan

U.S. officials had expected the first trucks carrying NATO supplies to begin crossing into Afghanistan on Wednesday, but bureaucratic delays held that up. 

The reopening could save the U.S. hundreds of millions of dollars, since Pakistan's blockade forced Washington to rely more heavily on a longer, costlier route that leads into Afghanistan through Central Asia. Pakistan is also expected to gain financially, since the U.S. intends to free up $1.1 billion in military aid that has been frozen for the past year. 

But the deal carries risks for both governments. 

Pakistan is facing domestic backlash, given rampant anti-American sentiment in the country and the government's failure to force the U.S. to stop drone strikes targeting militants and accede to other demands made by parliament. 

President Barack Obama, in the midst of a re-election battle, faces criticism from Republicans who are angry his administration apologized to a country allegedly giving safe haven to militants attacking American troops in Afghanistan. 

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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More than 42,000 adults and children kept as slaves, forced into prostitution or otherwise trafficked were discovered by authorities around the world in 2011, according to a new report by the U.S. State Department.

However this figure was a tiny fraction of the estimated number of people held in bondage with the International Labor Organization estimating earlier this month that there are about 20.9 million victims of modern slavery, the State Department Trafficking in Persons Report noted.

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Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003, foreign governments must supply information about trafficking investigations and prosecutions to the State Department in order to be considered by the U.S. as working to eliminate slavery.

The report details the problem of trafficking in countries around the world, including victims' accounts.

"I walk around and carry the physical scars of the torture you put me through. The cigarette burns, the knife carvings, the piercings … how a human being can see humor in the torture, manipulation, and brainwashing of another human being is beyond comprehension. You have given me a life sentence," it quotes a victim of sex trafficking in the U.S. as telling her trafficker at his sentencing.

US expands human trafficking blacklist to 23 countries

Another trafficking survivor in the U.S. named "Tonya" said she "always felt like a criminal."

"I never felt like a victim at all. Victims don't do time in jail, they work on the healing process. I was a criminal because I spent time in jail," she said.

'Like she was our own daughter'
Ken Burkhart, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, described the liberation of a Latin American sex trafficking victim.

"I told my agents we're going to treat this little girl like she was our own daughter. We're going to hunt this little girl down and get her out of this trailer," he said, according to the report.

After she was found, "I told her we'd been in touch with her sister and I shook her hand and I just gently led her right out the door," he added.

The offense of trafficking involves "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery."

It applies where people have been forced into prostitution; victims do not necessarily need to have been physically moved from one location to another.

Police rescue 24,000 women, children from Chinese human trafficking gangs

In a letter included in the report, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted the U.S. would celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation in the coming months and said that "governments across the globe are united in this struggle."

"Yet, despite the adoption of treaties and laws prohibiting slavery, the evidence nevertheless shows that many men, women, and children continue to live in modern-day slavery through the scourge of trafficking in persons," she added.

Clinton moved by girl's 'pride'
Clinton said earlier this year she had visited a trafficking shelter in Kolkata, India.

"The young women and girls there had suffered terrible abuse. But with their own drive and determination and with the help of some remarkable women and men they were getting their lives back on track," she said.

"I met one girl, about ten years old, who asked if I wanted to see the martial arts she had learned at the shelter. As she performed her routine, I was impressed with the skills she had learned; but more than that, I was moved by the pride in her eyes – her sense of accomplishment and strength," she added.

The Secretary of State said trafficking people deprived people of the "most basic freedom" – being able to determine their own future.

"A century and a half after the promise of freedom was fought and won in the United States, freedom remains elusive for millions," Clinton said. "We know that this struggle will not truly be won until all those who toil in modern slavery, like those girls in Kolkata, are free to realize their God-given potential."

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Updated at 10:50 p.m. ET: BEIJING -- In a visit to China on Thursday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cautioned China to protect human rights, the Associated Press reported.

Without mentioning Chen Guangcheng, the blind Chinese dissident who sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing for six days, Clinton said, “all governments have to answer to our citizens’ aspirations for dignity and the rule of law and that no nation can or should deny those rights.”  

Only hours earlier, U.S. officials said they had extracted from the Chinese government a promise that Chen would join his family and be allowed to start a new life in a university town in China, safe from the rural authorities who had abusively held him in prison and house arrest for nearly seven years.

In her remarks, Clinton did not mention Chen by name, although she had spoken with him hours before when he left the embassy. In a statement she welcomed the resettlement as one that “reflected his choices and our values.”

This came after an interview Chen gave to the Associated Press on Wednesday from a hospital room in Beijing where he was taken for medical treatment, during which he said a U.S. official told him that Chinese authorities had threatened to beat his wife if he did not leave the embassy. He said he feared for his safety and wanted to leave.

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In a separate interview with Britain's Channel 4 News, Chen said he wanted to go to any country that will take him and his family and added he's disappointed that American officials didn't stay at the hospital with him as he thought they would.

"Nobody from [the] embassy is here … I don't understand why. They promised to be here," he told Channel 4 News.

Chen also told NBC News that he asked the U.S. to take concrete steps to guarantee his safety.

The State Department denied much of the AP's account of what Chen said. 

"At no time did any U.S. official speak to Chen about physical or legal threats to his wife and children. Nor did Chinese officials make any such threats to us," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told NBC News.  

Chen was told his family would be sent back home if he stayed in the embassy, she said. 

China censors 'Shawshank' as Clinton heads to Beijing amid dissident drama

"At every opportunity, he expressed his desire to stay in China, reunify with his family, continue his education and work for reform in his country.  All our diplomacy was directed at putting him in the best possible position to achieve his objectives," Nuland added. 

Chen's plight has overshadowed high-level talks on economic and international issues due to begin Thursday. The United States hopes the negotiations will encourage greater Chinese cooperation on trade as well over Iran, Syria, North Korea and other international disputes.

Who is Fu? Chinese exile is 'God's double agent'

In what earlier appeared to be a deal to end the diplomatic tussle between the U.S. and China over his future, Chinese authorities promised he would be relocated to a safe environment where he could study at a university, a U.S. official said, speaking prior to Chen's comments.

Chen, who went to the embassy after making a daring escape from house arrest on April 21, ran afoul of local government officials in China for exposing forced abortions and other abuses. His dogged pursuit of justice and mistreatment by authorities brought him attention from the U.S. and foreign governments, and earned him supporters among many ordinary Chinese.

Chen may have been forced to accept what he's offered, according to Zeng Jinyan, a long-time friend of Chen's family and also a human rights activist. Zeng has been tweeting about Chen's latest situation since Wednesday evening, some in Chinese, some in English, according to NBC News.

Chinese crackdown on dissident's family and friends

According to Zeng, Chen was unwilling to leave the American embassy but had no choice because his wife and two children would be sent back to Shandong province if he insisted on staying. It is not known when and how they arrived in Beijing, but Chen's wife Yuan Weijing told Zeng that local government in Shandong province installed security cameras inside her home and moved in, waiting for her and the children if Chen didn't agree to leave the embassy. Yuan also said she was arrested on April 27th when they found out Chen has escaped.

Teng Biao, a lawyer who's been assisting Chen in the past few years, tweeted about his conversation with Chen Wednesday afternoon, asking Chen "I've heard you were threatened, is that true?" Chen said, "Yes, very true. People from the Foreign Ministry said this afternoon, if you didn't leave the embassy, your wife and children would have been sent back to Shandong." In the same conversation, Chen said the Shandong officials who escorted his family are still in Beijing.

Blind dissident’s case a 'hot potato' for US-China

Meanwhile, Chinese government is taking a more hard-lined attitude on the case, demanding an apology from the American government.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said: "It should be pointed out that Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese citizen, was taken by the U.S. side to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing via abnormal means, and the Chinese side is strongly dissatisfied with the move."

He stressed that China demands that the United States thoroughly investigate the event, hold relevant people accountable and ensure that such an event does not happen again. "What the U.S. side has done has interfered in the domestic affairs of China, and the Chinese side will never accept it," said the spokesman.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- who arrived in Beijing Tuesday ahead of the talks -- said that the case had been handled "in a way that reflected his choices and our values" -- comments made before Chen's remarks that he feared for his and his family's safety.

She said it was crucial to ensure that Beijing kept its pledge to leave him unmolested. "The United States government and the American people are committed to remaining engaged with Mr. Chen and his family in the days, weeks, and years ahead," Clinton added.

Chen's supporters said last Friday that he had escaped after 20 months of house arrest and gone into U.S. government protection.

More on Chen: Video reveals blind Chinese activist's plight

NBC News, msnbc.com staff, Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton headed to Beijing late Monday for a high-stakes meeting, China blocked Web searches of terms related to blind activist Chen Guangcheng including "Shawshank Redemption," the prison-break film being compared to his case.

The drama over the dissident, who according to NBC News sources is holed-up under U.S. protection in Beijing, threatens to overshadow this week's top-level talks between the two governments.

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In a further complication, the activist is seeking to remain in China and continue his campaign for reform rather than living in exile -- creating a dilemma for Clinton and adding to tension between the world's two biggest economies. 

Chen fled house arrest in eastern China a week ago with the help of supporters, slipping out under the noses of dozens of guards and into Beijing, dissident Hu Jia and other activists have said.

Blind Chinese activist escapes from house arrest

Such is the sensitivity surrounding the issue that neither country has made any official comment or even confirmed Chen’s whereabouts.

According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, searches for Chen's name and the Chinese terms for "Shawshank", "blind person", "embassy", and Chen's home village of Dongshigu were all blocked on Sina Weibo, China's leading microblogging service.

Also blocked was "UA898", a United Airlines direct flight from Beijing to Washington, apparently after Web users speculated online about the possibility Chen would gain U.S. asylum, the newspaper reported.

NBC sources: Blind activist is under US protection

Chen's audacious escape from house arrest, under the watch of the world's largest domestic security apparatus, was a "miracle" of planning and endurance, said Guo Yushan, a Beijing-based researcher and rights advocate who has campaigned for Chen and helped bring him to the Chinese capital after his escape. 

But he said the 40-year-old, self-taught lawyer wants to stay in China and campaign for reform. 

Who is Bob Fu? Chinese exile is 'God's double agent'

"He was adamant that he would not apply for political asylum with any country. He certainly wants to stay in China, and demand redress for the years of illegal persecution in Shandong and continue his efforts for Chinese society," said Guo on Monday, speaking in his first long interview since he was released from days of police questioning. 

The New York Times reported that analysts characterized the diplomatic situation surrounding Chen as "fiendishly difficult to resolve."

Behind The Wall: Video reveals blind Chinese activist's plight

Chen, who campaigned against forced abortions as part of family planning, was confined to his village home in the eastern province of Shandong since September 2010, after release from jail on charges he rejected as spurious. 

President Barack Obama nudged China to improve its human-rights record, saying the two countries' relationship "will be that much stronger and China will be that much more prosperous and strong as you see improvements on human rights issues in that country". 

But at a news conference, he walked a fine line between not saying anything that would make it harder to resolve Chen's case while conveying U.S. concern for human rights and appreciation for wider cooperation with China. 

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Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is under U.S. protection in Beijing after an audacious escape from 19 months under house arrest, a U.S.-based group said on Saturday, in a drama that threatens to ignite new tensions between the two governments.

The United States has not given any public confirmation of reports that Chen, who slipped away from under the noses of guards and bristling surveillance equipment around his village home in Shandong province, fled into the U.S. embassy.

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China has also declined direct public comment on Chen's reported escape, which threatens to overshadow a two-day meeting with top Obama administration officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Beijing from Thursday.

But Texas-based ChinaAid said it "learned from a source close to the Chen Guangcheng situation that Chen is under U.S. protection and high level talks are currently under way between U.S. and Chinese officials regarding Chen's status".

"Because of Chen's wide popularity, the Obama Administration must stand firmly with him or risk losing credibility as a defender of freedom and the rule of law," Bob Fu, president of the religious and political rights advocacy group that has long campaigned for Chen's freedom, said in an email to Reuters.

On Friday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, asked about the situation, told reporters:  "I don’t have anything on this issue at all." There was no further update from the department early Saturday.

Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng escapes from house arrest

The New York Times reported that the situation leaves the United States "with a new diplomatic quandary as it seeks to improve its fraught relationship with Beijing".

The reports of Chen's escape come nearly three months after a Chinese official Wang Lijun fled into a U.S. consulate for over 24 hours on February 6, unleashing a scandal that has rattled the ruling Communist Party months before a once-in-a-decade leadership handover.

Wang's brief flight to the U.S. consulate led to the downfall of top official Bo Xilai who had been openly campaigning for a place in the inner circle of power in Beijing.

Pu Zhiqiang, a Beijing lawyer and rights advocate, said reliable contacts also told him Chen took refuge in U.S. embassy grounds. The incident will be another damaging blot on China's security services, following Wang's flight, said Pu.

Video reveals blind Chinese activist's plight

"Everyone knew about the suffering of Chen Guangcheng and his family but nobody dared raised his head over this and ignored it," he told Reuters, referring to Chinese officials.

"Chen Guangcheng has been the most typical victim of this lawless, boundless exercise of power," said Pu. "But the day has finally come when he has escaped from it."

Chen, a self-schooled legal advocate who campaigned against forced abortions, had been held under extra-legal confinement in his village home in Linyi in eastern Shandong province since September 2010 when he was released from jail.

His confinement under relentless surveillance with his family fanned protests by Chinese sympathizers and criticism from foreign governments and groups.

Chen's escape and the furor it has unleashed could add to the headaches of China's ruling Communist Party, which is striving to ensure stability and authority before a leadership transition later this year.

It also threatens to overshadow a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who are due to visit Beijing next week for the annual "strategic and economic dialogue" between the two countries. 

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Syrian President Bashar Assad must order a cease-fire immediately, a spokesman for UN chief envoy Kofi Annan said Friday, telling reporters: "The deadline is now".

"We expect him to implement this plan immediately," Ahmad Fawzi, a spokesman for Anna, told a news briefing in Geneva, adding that Assad should not wait for opposition groups to make the first move.

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Annan's peace proposal calls for the withdrawal of heavy weapons and troops from cities and towns, humanitarian assistance, the release of prisoners and free movement and access for journalists. It does not hinge on Assad leaving office.

"If you read the agreement...it specifically asks the government to withdraw its troops, to cease using heavy weapons in populated centers. The very clear implication here is that the government must stop first and then discuss a cessation of hostilities with the other side and with the mediator," Fawzi said.

Report: Syria is torturing children, UN human rights chief says

He added that Annan would soon visit Iran to discuss Syria peace proposals, although no date for the trip has been set.

Annan has already been to Cairo, Ankara, Doha, Beijing and Moscow to try and secure international agreement on how to deal with Assad.

Britain pledges $800,000 to Syria opposition to topple Assad regime

The comments come ahead of a 70-nation summit in Istanbul on Sunday, to be attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, which aims to consolidate international backing for Syria opposition groups.

Britain on Thursday became the first western country to pledge a specific sum of financial support for non-military opposition groups in Syria, offering $800,000 to be spent on communications and human rights protections.

Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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