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Rumsfeld: No Evidence of Al Qaeda in Kashmir
Thursday, June 13, 2002
By SFC Kathleen T. Rhem
U.S. Army
American Forces Press Service

Rumsfeld said, both sides [India & Pakistan] need to communicate with each other more. "There is no question but that countries need to talk to each other," he said. "They need diplomatic relations in my view."

MANAMA, Bahrain -- AFIS
"Scraps of intelligence" that Al Qaeda operatives may be in Kashmir are generally speculative and not verifiable or actionable, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in Pakistan today.

"I do not have evidence and the United States does not have evidence of al Qaeda in Kashmir," he said. "We do have a good deal of scraps of intelligence that come in from people saying that they believe al Qaeda are in Kashmir." However, the United States and Pakistan are working so closely to destroy al Qaeda in that country, there is no need to send U.S. troops into Kashmir.

"The cooperation between the United States and Pakistan on the subject of al Qaeda is so close and so intimate and so cooperative," Rumsfeld said, "that if there were any actionable intelligence as to al Qaeda anywhere in this country, there isn't a doubt in my mind but that the Pakistan government would go find them and deal with them."
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan