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Al Qaeda operating near LoC: Rumsfeld

"I have seen indications that Al Qaeda is operating in areas near the LoC," Rumsfeld said after calling on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"I don't have any hard evidence of who, how many or where," he said when asked if the Al Qaeda was influencing events in Jammu and Kashmir.

Declaring that "we will have to stop Al Qaeda", he said over 60 countries were supporting the international coalition's fight against terrorism.

The defence secretary said he had discussed with the Indian leadership the possibility of deploying foreign forces to monitor the LoC.

"We discussed a whole range of subjects and I guess the honest answer is yes, that subject did come up," he said.

"We reached no conclusions. It is a subject that needs to be discussed and thought about," Rumsfeld said.

"It is unclear as to whether or not and to what extent we could be helpful... it is for the technical people to see," he said, adding that the goal was to see that there was no infiltration across the LoC.

Stating that the situation along the LoC "continues to be tense", he said, "We recognise the fact that India has very recently taken a series of steps that have been useful."

The defence secretary said the issue of the global war against terrorism was also discussed.

"India and the US are cooperating in a variety of ways in this global war," he said.

The Indo-US relationship was "an important one" and it had "matured and strengthened" in the past few years, especially in the military-to-military field, he said.

He said "a series of connections and relationship beneficial to both our countries" had been evolved.

In the changed scenario between India and Pakistan, "we recognise the leadership the [Indian] prime minister has demonstrated", he added.

PTI

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