Predicting the "defeat" of Pakistani military in its fight against Taliban in NWFP, a top al Qaida commander on Monday warned that if his group takes over Islamabad's nuclear weapons, it will "use them" against the United States.

"We expect that the Pakistani army would be defeated," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, al Qaida commander in Afghanistan, said referring to the ongoing military operations in Waziristan and Swat in North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.

"God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the Mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans," he said in an interview with Qatar-based Al Jazeera television.

Yazid's remarks comes two months after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in late April said that the US was worried about the "unthinkable" in Pakistan - that the Taliban and al Qaida could topple the government, and get their hands on "the keys to nuclear arsenal."

"The strategy of the (al Qaida) organisation in the coming period is the same as in the previous period: to hit the head of the snake, the head of tyranny -- the US."

"That can be achieved through continued work on the open fronts and also by opening new fronts in a manner that achieves the interests of Islam and Muslims and by increasing military operations that drain the enemy financially," the Egyptian-born militant leader said.

"Our goals have been the Americans... and the oil targets which they are stealing to gain power to strike the mujahideen and Muslims," Yazid said.

The terrorist leader said al Qaida will continue with large scale "operations against the enemy".

Yazid, however, said al Qaida was ready to accept a truce of about 10 years' duration with the US if Washington agreed to withdraw its troops from Muslim nations and stopped backing Israel and the pro-Western governments of Muslim countries.

He also refused to give the details of the whereabouts of al Qaida's top leaders, but said: "Sheikh Osama (bin Laden) and sheikh Ayman al-Zawahri are safe from the reach of the enemies, but we would not say where they are."