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Al Qaeda could exploit Indo-Pak standoff: Rumsfeld

United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday expressed fears that the Al Qaeda could try to exploit the tense standoff between India and Pakistan to further its own ends.

Rumsfeld, who left late on Tuesday for Europe and the Indian sub-continent, also hoped to get a chance to meet Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage who will be in Islamabad and New Delhi over the next two days.

Armitage also left for the sub-continent on Tuesday and will have finished talks with Indian and Pakistan leaders before Rumsfeld arrives there.

Asked at a press briefing in Washington what he hoped to do to prevent war, Rumsfeld said India and Pakistan 'are two sovereign nations that are going to make their own decisions'.

"And they are, as is not surprising, taking their own counsel and visiting with people from other countries, multiple countries, on a continuing basis," he said.

Rumsfeld said he has visited the two countries before and met with their leadership there and in the US, as have other senior US officials.

"It is a continuing process. They are important countries in the world, and we have relationships with each that we value and that have been strengthening over the past year-plus."

When asked how Pentagon saw the situation, he said "It is not possible to know how things will play out."

"But my guess is, and certainly my hope is, that two countries, as important as they are, will figure out ways to get from where there are to where the world would like them to be, which is in a less tense situation," he said.

However, Rumsfeld warned that the Al Qaeda could exploit the military standoff for its own interest.

"It would be most unfortunate if someone saw it in their interest to create incidents on either side of the Line of Control or the border in the hope that those incidents would incite one or the other party to activities they would otherwise avoid. But I don't know of any instances of that happening," he said.

General Peter Pace, vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, who was also at the briefing, said there was no 'specific' threat.

"But it would certainly be reasonable to expect that they (Al Qaeda) would try to exploit this," Pace said.

Rumsfeld said the US was 'pleased' that Pakistan still has its divisions along the Afghan border.

Only 'small, modest elements' of the Pakistan army have been moved away from the Afghan border and the larger units are still there, he said.

Rumsfeld said the standoff between India and Pakistan has distracted the US from its war on terrorism in Afghanistan, but has not hurt its hunt for Al Qaeda militants.

Rumsfeld said he would not adopt the role of a mediator between Islamabad and New Delhi over Kashmir.

"I think it is a mistake to think that I am being sent to do something like mediate the war between Pakistan and India; not at all," he told the Washington Post.

He said several countries were discussing various types of confidence-building measures to ease the tension between India and Pakistan. However, he added: "I honestly don't know if that particular subject has come up."

When asked whether such measures were something he might offer India and Pakistan when he goes there and what else is in his 'goody bag', he said, "I guess I am not going over with a Christmas basket filled with deliverables, if that is what you are wondering."

"I am not really in that business. I think logic and the interests of each country is more in my line."

Asked to define American interests in the Indo-Pak crisis, Rumsfeld said: "It certainly is in our interest that nuclear weapons not be used."

It is a reality, he said, that war is not predictable and that things can escalate and move out of control.

PTI

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