Joining us to talk more about that is Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani.

Mr. Ambassador, thanks very much for being with us.

Part of what you're doing over the next few days is a text message campaign.

Could you tell us a little bit more about that?

HUSAIN HAQQANI, PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: Well, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees will receive $5 for every time somebody text messages the number 20222 and sends the word Swat, S-W- A-T on it. It's a simple method, but it has two purposes.

One, of course, is to raise money for the two million people who have become homeless as a result of the fighting. And it is also a way of reassuring the people of Pakistan that the world will stand behind their effort at eliminating terrorism from that region.

ROBERTS: And just to reiterate, in case people at home didn't get it, that's the number 20222 and then the letters S-W-A-T -- Swat?

HAQQANI: Absolutely. You just text message the word S-W-A-T, 20222. And that donates $5 to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

Other ways of making contributions is by contacting various relief organizations that have created funds for the refugees in Pakistan, and, of course, going to the Embassy of Pakistan Web site, which is embassyofpakistanusa.org. I know it's a very long e-mail -- Web site address, but it's easy to remember -- embassyofpakistanusa.org. And you can make a contribution with credit cards and you can also send us checks or donations to the government of Pakistan or to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

ROBERTS: How bad is the humanitarian crisis there in those Northwest provinces, Mr. Ambassador?

HAQQANI: Well, we must understand that the Taliban would have used all these people as human shields if they had not left their villages and towns. So two million people have had to move out of their hometowns and they are living in camps or under the sky. They need food. They need shelter. They need health care. And then, more than that, after immediate relief, they need rehabilitation so that they can resume a normal life and make sure the Taliban and Al Qaeda never come back into their areas.

ROBERTS: Right. Our Fareed Zakaria, who you know well, has been watching the situation closely there. And he believes that Pakistan may be at least partly responsible for the -- the flood of refugees coming out of the Swat Valley in the way that it's conducting the campaign against the Taliban.

Here's what Fareed told our Anderson Cooper a couple of nights ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM "A.C. 360")

FAREED ZAKARIA, HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": This is an approach to counter-insurgency that the Pakistani Army is using that is widely discredited. You create a kind of gangland atmosphere, which tends to be better for the Taliban than it is for the Pakistani government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: So he's on there saying that you're -- you're approaching this the wrong way and that you may actually be creating sympathies for the Taliban in the situation that you're creating there in the Swat Valley by the way that you're going after those Taliban fighters.

What do you say?

HAQQANI: Well, I have tremendous regard for Fareed Zakaria and all the other critics of our approach. But here is the problem. If we do not fight the Taliban, people blame us for not fighting the Taliban. When we fight them, then the method of fighting becomes the issue.

I think it is important to fight the terrorists and defeat them. And I think that we can have all the quarterbacking, we can have, all the commentary we can have after the game, but let us fight this fight, win it and, at the same time, provide relief for the people who are becoming victims of this -- of whatever the strategy is that people are criticizing.

Look, let's remember, the terrorists have an advantage. They don't have territory to protect. They only have territories to destroy. They do not have a nation state to keep together. We want our nation state to become strong, prosperous and secure. So we really do have to move at a rapid pace. We have invested a lot of time in the past, for various reason. I think it's time that we just fought the Taliban successfully, defeated them and, at the same time, help the people who are becoming victims as a result of the fighting.

ROBERTS: Another issue that was talked about at quite some length this week in Washington regarding Pakistan is the nuclear program there. Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, suggested that Pakistan is expanding its nuclear arsenal.

Is that true?

HAQQANI: Well, I think we don't need to go into whether it's expanding its nuclear arsenal or not. We are maintaining our minimum deterrence vis-a-vis our neighbor.

ROBERTS: Why is it...

HAQQANI: At the same time...

ROBERTS: Why is it not relevant to go into it, particularly when you've got the Taliban there, you've got India involved, as well...

HAQQANI: Well, I think...

ROBERTS: And we are...

HAQQANI: I think...

ROBERTS: ...and the United States is pouring billions of dollars of aid into that country...

HAQQANI: I think...

ROBERTS: Can you assure Americans that none of the military aid is going toward the development of nuclear weapons?

HAQQANI: I think that that assurance has already been given by no less a person than the secretary of State of the United States government.

I think that a lot of times when countries like Pakistan are discussed, the media -- which includes you, my friend -- has a tendency to create some kind of shorthand about those places. So talking about nuclear weapons is one of those things.

Everybody in the United States government who knows anything about nuclear weapons knows that Pakistan has a very secure nuclear program. It's a very limited nuclear program to maintain deterrence vis-a-vis our neighbor. And, at the same time, Pakistan is willing to engage with our neighbor for a comprehensive settlement in which the nuclear weapons can be phased out by both countries.

So I don't think...

ROBERTS: Yes, but yet...

HAQQANI: ...I don't think -- I don't think that we should just focus on that. That's all I meant by the relevance question.

ROBERTS: Right. Right.

HAQQANI: Pakistan's nuclear weapons are safe and Pakistan is not going to expand nuclear weapons capability to a point when it becomes a threat to any country in the world, including our neighbors.

ROBERTS: But, at the same time, Mr. Ambassador, the CIA director, Leon Panetta, says that while he believes and certainly hopes that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are safe, the United States doesn't know where they all are and that is a matter of concern for U.S. officials.

HAQQANI: I don't think it is, actually, a matter of concern. It's one of those things, again, that are always said because (INAUDIBLE)...

ROBERTS: It's certainly a matter of concern for the secretary of State, who mentioned it in a Congressional hearing a couple of weeks ago.

HAQQANI: I do not think that she expressed the kind of concern you're talking about. What she did say was of course the U.S. would like to know. But I don't think any country knows or tells the location of all its nuclear weapons to any country in the world.

The Soviet Union never did it with the United States until an -- after comprehensive negotiations between the U.S. and Soviet Union started. So whenever that starts between Pakistan and its eastern neighbor, we will move in that direction.

But I don't think Pakistan's nuclear weapons are a threat to the United States. I think the threat to the United States right now comes from terrorists that might be in Afghanistan or in parts of Pakistan. And Pakistan is doing a great job fighting those terrorists right now.

ROBERTS: So then, getting back to the terrorism question, let me ask this question, because there are a lot of American officials who were extraordinarily critical of Pakistan's agreement with the Taliban to let them rule the Swat Valley with Sharia law. That kind of blew up in your face when they went into Buner Province. You're in there now. You're fighting the Taliban.

Are there going to be any more peace deals with Islamist extremists -- between the Pakistani government and those -- and those people?

Are you out of the peace agreement business?

HAQQANI: Well, first of all, no one is ever out of the peace agreement business. But the peace agreement in Swat was, obviously, mischaracterized. We always, as I said, I have a serious problem, despite being a journalist myself, from background, I have a problem with what I call sort of thumbnail characterizations and shorthand.

ROBERTS: How was it...

HAQQANI: The fact that we...

ROBERTS: How is it mischaracterized, though?

HAQQANI: If you will, I will tell you.

ROBERTS: Sure.

HAQQANI: The Swat agreement was a limited agreement with a group that was not the Taliban. It was a group that supported the Taliban. The idea was that this group will prevail upon the Taliban and get them to lay down their arms.

Our president, President Zardari, made it very clear that he did not think that this agreement is going to work.

But it was important to do it to ensure that all those people in the Pakistani political spectrum who did not want to fight would then not have an excuse to support the government when the government did go ahead and fight. So it was...

ROBERTS: Well, what...

HAQQANI: ...it was a tactical move. And I don't think that the -- while it was criticized at that time, I don't think anybody is talking about the peace agreements right now. The -- right now, the government of Pakistan has sent in the forces. You've seen the images. The Pakistan military is fighting the terrorists effectively. And I think we will fight them and we will win.

ROBERTS: So -- so let me ask you this, then, Mr. Ambassador, in closing.

Have you learned a lesson from what happened in the Swat Valley?

HAQQANI: I think that the United States is learning a lesson every day in Afghanistan and Iraq and the Pakistani...

ROBERTS: No, no, no.

HAQQANI: (INAUDIBLE).

ROBERTS: No, no, no, no. Has...

HAQQANI: And the Pakistani...

ROBERTS: Has Pakistan learned a lesson?

This is not about the United States.

HAQQANI: No, no, no. It is about everybody...

ROBERTS: You're fighting the Taliban... HAQQANI: No, John.

ROBERTS: ...in the Swat Province.

HAQQANI: No, no, no, no, no.

ROBERTS: Has...

HAQQANI: I am not going to...

ROBERTS: Has Pakistan learned a lesson...

HAQQANI: With due respect, I am not going to...

ROBERTS: Regarding these...

HAQQANI: I am not going to say what you want me to say...

ROBERTS: No, but...

HAQQANI: I am saying everybody...

ROBERTS: No, but I'm asking you a question about your...

HAQQANI: ...learns a lesson.

ROBERTS: ...your country, Mr. Ambassador.

HAQQANI: I am, Mr....

ROBERTS: With all due respect...

HAQQANI: Mr. Roberts, I am...

ROBERTS: You turned it to the United States...

HAQQANI: With all due respect...

ROBERTS: ...in Afghanistan.

HAQQANI: With all due respect, I was trying to say that every country learns a lesson every time with situations that evolve. Pakistan is no exception. It's about time people treated Pakistan with the respect it deserves, appreciate the good that it has done, acknowledge that, like every nation, it has problems. But it is not some -- it is not a problem in itself.

ROBERTS: That said, Mr. Ambassador, have you learned a lesson about these peace agreements?

HAQQANI: I think we have learned many lessons and I don't think that there was a lesson to be learned. Many of us in the government of Pakistan already knew that the peace agreements cannot work. They were a political tactic. And if the tactic has to be used again, it will be used again.

ROBERTS: All right.

Ambassador Husain Haqqani from Pakistan.

Good to talk to you, sir.

Thanks for coming in today.

HAQQANI: A pleasure talking to you, too.