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CNN Live Today
U.S. and Britain Urging Citizens to Get Out of India Today
Aired May 31, 2002 - 11:02 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: Up first here on CNN, a showdown in southeast Asia. The U.S. and Britain are urging their citizens to get out of India today. Clearly, the Bush and Blair administration of Great Britain are taking very seriously the possibility of a war between the nuclear neighbors, India and Pakistan.
CNN's John King is at the White House this morning, where they're keeping a close watch on the tensions that are escalating in India and Pakistan.
Hi there, John.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Fredricka.
And that's exactly right. A diplomatic effort by the United States about to get underway; but, first, both a travel advisory, a travel warning and an advisory. The travel warning goes to about 60,000 Americans who are in India, living in India, working in India. They are U.S. citizens.
The United States has no direct control over them while they are in India, but the United States government issuing a travel warning today saying that they should perhaps consider whether they want to stay in India. Because of the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the implicit suggestion is that they want to leave at least for the time being.
An advisory also to the families of diplomats and those diplomats at the embassy in New Delhi, India, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) consulates spread around the country. The United States saying that though anybody who is non-essential, and their families, are free to leave. They are not being told to leave, not being ordered to leave.
We are told such orders could come in the future, but right now simply the State Department saying diplomats who are non-essential, and their families, should consider leaving and that they are free to leave. The government would not block them, and, indeed, would help them.
All of this comes, President Bush says, as he asks the defense secretary and the secretary of state on a daily basis to keep him up to speed on what the government should do to protect the safety not only of American diplomats and American families, but also American military personnel in both India and Pakistan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The secretary is -- both secretaries are analyzing what it would take to protect American lives if need be. Secondly, we are making it very clear to both Pakistan and India that war will not serve their interests. And we are part of an international coalition applying pressure to both parties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: It was at that cabinet meeting that President Bush announced that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld himself would travel late next week to India and Pakistan. Goal number one: meet with leaders and his counterparts in those countries, convince them to stand down the militaries, to back away from the brink of war.
Goal number two, though, to get a sense of how these tensions will affect the ongoing U.S. military campaign against terrorism. About 1,100 U.S. troops in Pakistan. Pakistan already moving some troops away from the Afghan border up to the Kashmir region, the disputed region between India and Pakistan that is the source of the tensions.
Secretary Rumsfeld trying to convince these nuclear-powered countries to back away from war, but also trying to get a sense, as President Bush said just yesterday, how this will affect what he calls the "patient effort" to hunt al Qaeda down -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: John, in relation to the Americans who are in Pakistani and Indian regions there, would the U.S. government in any way be helping to facilitate getting them out of that region?
KING: Yes, when you have a voluntary order, which is what happened today in India, those people are urged to take scheduled commercial flights out. If they are on the U.S. government payroll the government will take care of those travel costs, it is my understanding. If there are orders to get them out, at that point the government would first try to find commercial flights, and, if necessary, bring in transport planes.
This order, an advisory today. The voluntary order today applies only to India, because such restrictions are already in place in Pakistan because of the ongoing tensions there, because of the violence there. Everybody, except non-essential personnel, have already been moved out of Pakistan.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you very much, John King, from the White House.
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