YOKOHAMA, Aug. 2 Kyodo -- The Japan Congress Against A and H Bombs (Gensuikin) on Friday held an international conference in Yokohama where peace activists denounced U.S. nuclear policy following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

In the one-day conference at Yokohama Symposia, Kevin Martin, a representative of U.S. peace organization Peace Action, called the nuclear policy of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush ''impractical and unrealistic.''

The terror attacks had a significant impact on the U.S. government and its foreign policy, said Martin, whose organization is the largest peace network in the United States.

Before Sept. 11, the Bush administration was not popular and ''political stalemate loomed in Washington,'' he said. But after Sept. 11, Bush enjoyed one of the highest approval ratings for any president in U.S. history, he added.

Martin lashed out at what he sees as the military-centered unilateral foreign policy of the U.S., citing its recent withdrawal from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and refusal to participate in the International Criminal Court.

''I would say now that the biggest threat to the United States is not from some 'rogue nations'�cbut rather radical unilateralists in the Bush administration,'' Martin said.

He was also critical of his country's military campaign against terrorism, saying, ''Our government has said we must prepare to fight a war that could extend to 40 to 60 countries that may be involved in terrorism and this war may not end in our lifetime.''

David Knight, a British antinuclear activist, presented a European view of Bush's nuclear policy and expressed pessimism about nuclear disarmament in Britain.

Mitsuru Kurosawa, a professor of international public policy at Osaka School of International Public Policy, said Japan is simply following U.S. policy and strengthening the roles of its Self-Defense Forces.

Kurosawa also criticized recent U.S. policies, saying, ''If the most powerful nation in the world does not obey (international) rules, it will negatively affect other nations.''

Japan should ally with Western European nations and others to call on the U.S. to put more priority on international norms and rules, he said.

Achin Vanaik, an Indian antinuclear activist, delivered a speech on current nuclear posturing in India and Pakistan.

Vanaik said both India and Pakistan ''continue to play a politics of nuclear brinkmanship'' by threatening each other.

On the prospect of a possible nuclear war between them, Vanaik said a ''nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan is not inevitable,'' but the likelihood ''is not negligible.''

Regarding their conflict over Kashmir, Vanaik said it is necessary to establish some kind of international buffer force between the rivals.

Gensuikin will also host a six-day series of conferences commemorating the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the two cities from Sunday to Aug. 9.

Gensuikin is backed by the main opposition Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), Japan's largest labor group.

Meanwhile, another antinuclear group, the Japan Council Against A and H Bombs (Gensuikyo), backed by the Japanese Communist Party, started a series of conferences in Hiroshima on Friday afternoon.

Gensuikyo will hold a series of conferences in Hiroshima and later in Nagasaki from Friday to Aug. 9.