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American Morning

Leaders of India and Pakistan Attending Regional Security Summit

Aired June 03, 2002 - 07:10   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now on to the diplomat efforts to bring India and Pakistan back from the brink of war. Leaders of both countries are attending a regional security summit this week in Kazakhstan, but have no plans to meet just yet.

Meanwhile, nearly a million troops are massed on their borders. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage will travel to the region tomorrow. He joins us now from the State Department -- good to have you with us on AMERICAN MORNING -- welcome, sir.

RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SEC. OF STATE: Good morning, Ms. Zahn.

ZAHN: As you head to the region, what are your concerns about the likelihood of some sort of military confrontation between India and Pakistan?

ARMITAGE: Well, I'm not a statistician. I don't think I care to give odds, but our whole effort is going to be to try to stop a military confrontation from happening and to bring down the tensions, following on the efforts of President Bush and Secretary Powell over the past weeks.

ZAHN: What are the options the U.S. has to stop any kind of military confrontation?

ARMITAGE: Well, the stopping of a military confrontation belongs to the two parties, India and Pakistan. But I think the United States, joined by our international parties, right now joined by President Putin in Almaty, is trying to do our best to bring reason and logic to bear on what's a very difficult situation.

ZAHN: Here is what the president of Pakistan had to say to Tom Mintier over the weekend about the possibility of a conventional war turning into a nuclear war -- let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. PERVEZ MUSHARRAF, PAKISTAN: I don't think either side is that irresponsible to go to that limit. I would even go the extent of saying one shouldn't even be discussing these things, because any sane individual cannot even think of going into this unconventional war (ph), whatever the pressures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Even as we hear what President Musharraf had to say, clearly there are members of Congress who believe that nuclear war is a distinct possibility. Do you think that President Musharraf is trying to downplay that possibility?

ARMITAGE: Well, I think he is trying to downplay it, and I thank him for that. The problem is once the iron (ph) starts to be exchanged between the two sides, reason and logic seem to go out the window. So the whole effort has to be to try to keep them from escalating right now. And I think those who say we shouldn't even think about a nuclear exchange are right in one way, but we have to have it in the back of our minds.

ZAHN: Senator Shelby is just back from the region. Here is the concern he expressed on the air yesterday -- let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RICHARD SHELBY (R) ALABAMA: I think it's the most dangerous place in the world potentially, and I expressed that when I was in New Delhi to the Indian prime minister and also to the Pakistan president. I think they realize that. I hope it will not get to desperation as Congressman Goss alluded. If it does, I am afraid we'll have a nuclear exchange. The worst of all of the scenarios is an explosive incendiary place like we have never seen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: How would you characterize the volatility along that border of Kashmir now?

ARMITAGE: Well, it's extraordinarily volatile. What Senator Shelby said is exactly correct, but I would note that former CIA Director Bill Webster, in his last testimony to Congress about 12 years ago, stated that in his view Kashmir was the most dangerous situation in the world, and certainly nothing has happened in the last 12 years to change that diagnosis.

ZAHN: There is a long piece in "The Wall Street Journal" talking about how limited the U.S. is in its effort to try to bring these two countries back from the brink, and they say about the only military option the U.S. would have if nuclear war were to potentially break out is the U.S. using the so-called theater missile defenses. Can you share with our audience what that means this morning?

ARMITAGE: Well, there is the development in the United States military of theater missile defense, which would allow the shoot-down of short-range missiles. But I think to be sensible about the present situation, there is no activity other than diplomatic activity that can be brought to bear at this moment and in a timely enough fashion to de-escalate this situation.

ZAHN: So far, the leaders of Pakistan and India have made it quite clear they don't plan to meet directly with Mr. Putin. Do you plan to try to help broker a meeting between the leaders of those other three countries?

ARMITAGE: Well, they are going to meet individually with Mr. Putin, as I understand it, and there is no scheduled trilateral meeting. I don't think we're at a situation right now where we are in the business of brokering a meeting. I think right now, we are in the business of, on both sides, trying to be reasonable and logical to lower the temperature. We want to assess President Musharraf's stated position that he has stopped the infiltration or there is no infiltration across the line of control, and in return, would like to get India to begin a de-escalatory step of some sort that could be visible to Pakistan.

ZAHN: Is it possible to diffuse this situation in Kashmir without the United States taking a side?

ARMITAGE: I guess it's theoretically possible, but it's difficult. In the Simla Accord of 1972, both India and Pakistan determined that the question of Kashmir was a bilateral issue, and if it's to be solved, it will be solved bilaterally, but I think with the help and the assistance and the encouragement of the international community, first among them the United States, and also Great Britain.

ZAHN: And as this all plays out, what are your chief concerns about the troops that remain at the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan? Will their status change?

ARMITAGE: That's a question more correctly directed to Mr. Rumsfeld. Secretary Powell, the president and I are concerned about our citizens, both in Pakistan and India. We have well over 60,000 American citizens in India and well over 8,000 in Pakistan, and that's our first priority.

ZAHN: All right. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, thanks so much for the preview of your trip, and good luck to you.

ARMITAGE: Thank you, Ms. Zahn.

ZAHN: Again, thanks for your time this morning.

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