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Defense Secretary Sees 'Hopeful Signs' Prior to India, Pakistan Visit
Tuesday, June 11, 2002
By SFC Kathleen T. Rhem
U.S. Army
American Forces Press Service

"I've not been on the ground in the LOC [Line of Control] in Kashmir," Rumsfeld said in Qatar. "It is a difficult part of the world. I don't know anyone who has perfect visibility into what is taking place there." The secretary said the region is in high altitude and three-quarters of it is rugged, mountainous terrain.

NEW DELHI, India -- AFIS
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said this morning he sees "hopeful signs" that tensions are easing in the disputed Kashmir region between India and Pakistan.

At a press conference in the Emiri Diwan, the business offices of the emir of Qatar, Rumsfeld said the leaders of Pakistan and India had been speaking to President Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Rumsfeld indicated such engagements with other world leaders are encouraging.

The secretary stopped briefly in the small Gulf nation of Qatar to visit national and defense leaders and to visit U.S. troops at a small air base before flying to New Delhi.

World attention has been focused on India and neighboring Pakistan in recent weeks as tensions escalated around the "Line of Control," the line separating the two nuclear rivals in Kashmir.

Rumsfeld explained in the press conference that maintaining such tension is enormously costly to the nations involved. "It's very expensive and very stressful to maintain forces on high alert," he said. "People are reluctant to travel to each of those countries, so from an economic standpoint it's harmful."
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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