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CNN Live Today

Tensions Rising Between India and Pakistan

Aired May 24, 2002 - 13:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well now on to Washington to the Pentagon where officials are closely watching the rising tension between India and Pakistan.

CNN's Barbara Starr joins us with that.

Hi there, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

Well concerns about the rising tensions between India and Pakistan and the prospect of possible war is getting top level attention from the administration, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld who today said -- quoting -- "war is not an option." He said, "A nuclear exchange could be catastrophic."

Here's Rumsfeld earlier today at a press briefing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: It would be bad. It would not be pretty. It would be not short-lived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: Now the secretary said that he is watching this very closely. Pakistan, he believes, may be making plans to shift some of its military troops from the border with Afghanistan where they have been helping possibly try and watch for escaping al Qaeda from Afghanistan. The troops may come off that Afghan border and be shifted to the disputed province of Kashmir where the unrest is. And of course that would distress the United States a great deal. It wants Pakistan to focus on the war on terrorism inside Afghanistan.

At the same time, the Bush administration is also sounding a lot of concern about another possible nuclear problem and that is Iran's effort to get nuclear weapons. Of course President Bush on the road in Europe, in Moscow today has sounded concerns about that.

And today at the Pentagon, Secretary Rumsfeld said he has absolutely no doubt that Iran is seeking to get nuclear weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUMSFELD: There's no question about it, they've been getting assistance and they've been making good progress and they've been determined to accomplish that goal. And I'm not going to get into how long it will take them, but there's no question but that they're on a path to achieve that. And they're receiving assistance from countries they shouldn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: So the blunt fact here at the Pentagon is the list of things, the list of concerns continues to grow on a daily basis well beyond Afghanistan -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Well let's talk a little bit more, though, about the ongoing effort in Afghanistan, particularly the U.S. says it has 50 more detainees in custody. What do we know about those detainees and who they are and what, if anything, they represent among the Taliban or al Qaeda network?

STARR: Certainly.

This was a raid that was staged overnight by U.S. Special Forces west of Kandahar. They raided what they believed was a suspected Taliban leadership complex seizing about 50 detainees. That makes it one of the largest raids and seizure of detainees in some weeks now. They are interrogating these people trying to determine if they, in fact, do have senior Taliban amongst them. It's just a little bit too soon to tell. A firefight did break out, some of the suspected Taliban were killed and injured, but there were no casualties, no injuries amongst the U.S. forces.

What's interesting this site -- this region west of Kandahar has not been in the public attention very much in recent weeks, but certainly U.S. military intelligence has been keeping an eye on the region west of Kandahar. They have long believed that this is a place were there are Taliban holdouts -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much.

Barbara Starr from the Pentagon.

Now we're going to be talking a little bit more later on in this hour about the Pakistani and Indian tensions. We have joining with us a Columbia University expert on that matter.

Also, talking about the war on terrorism, we want to also let you know that later on this afternoon a briefing will be coming from Central Command in Florida at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. We'll be bringing that to you live here on CNN.

And for the latest in the war on terror, log on to CNN.com. There is news from the front lines and from the home front. And you can click through our online memorial to the victims of September 11. The AOL keyword is CNN.

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