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American Morning

Secretary of State Tries to Cool Tensions in South Asia

Aired January 16, 2002 - 08:05   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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Up front this morning, the secretary of state tries to cool tensions in South Asia. Secretary Colin Powell just arrived in Pakistan this morning and plans to travel to India tomorrow. Of course, he hopes to ease tensions between the two nuclear-armed countries. A trip to Afghanistan is also on the secretary's agenda later this week.

CNN's Tom Mintier is in Islamabad with the latest -- Tom.

TOM MINTIER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, the secretary of state, Colin Powell, is preparing for a meeting and dinner with the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf. He has been in Pakistan for a little over six hours, landing here in Islamabad, on the first of three major stops in South Asia, this one possibly will be the most important. He went into a meeting almost immediately with the foreign minister, Abdul Sattar, who was at the airport to meet him.

Now, these meetings may center around the desire of the U.S. secretary of state to find some middle ground that Pakistan and India can find a way to move towards. Possibly the ideas on the agenda are eliminating the ban on over flights of both countries by both governments; the removal of diplomats from Islamabad and New Delhi; finding some way of bringing them to have the ability to not have their armies staring across at each other at the border, but to be staring across the table with negotiations going on.

Now, Mr. Powell has said that he will not be the mediator, but he might be the messenger. It's quite possible there will be a message that he may take from Islamabad to New Delhi, but he has a stop in Afghanistan first. He will be going to Afghanistan much later this evening, in the early hours of tomorrow morning, to meet with the new interim government there.

Now, there is already a delegation there from the U.S. Senate. There have been several delegations in the last week going, first to Pakistan, then into Afghanistan and then back here to Pakistan. Mr. Daschle -- Tom Daschle is the Senate majority leader, and he talked about the need for the United States to remain engaged with Afghanistan now that the military component is nearly over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D), MAJORITY LEADER: We are here really, first and foremost, to demonstrate as strongly as we can our commitment to the effort under way to democratize Afghanistan. We recognize that, while our effort began as a war against terrorism, it continues now as an effort to rebuild this country and to work with the people of this country to restore the quality of life and the kind of government that they have fought so hard to obtain now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MINTIER: The visit by the U.S. secretary of state will be the highest American official in Afghanistan since the early '70s, when Henry Kissinger made a visit there -- Anderson, back to you.

COOPER: Tom, very briefly, we know Pakistan has been cracking down on militant Islamic groups. Are there any incidents on the eve of Powell coming that have caused concern in terms of security?

MINTIER: Well, last night, there was a fire in a multi-story high rise, which is a government building that houses many of the ministries, including the records at the Interior Ministry. And also overnight, there was an attack at the Lahore Airport. Apparently, gunmen pulled up to the front of the airport and wounded five individuals. So there have been two attacks, one definitely related. But the fire -- they're waiting to see if there was a possibility of an electrical short, or if indeed someone set that fire. But as of right now, they're not sure.

COOPER: All right. Tom Mintier live from Islamabad, Pakistan -- thanks very much.

CNN, of course, will provide live coverage of Secretary Powell's speech at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

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