Pakistan Shifts Troops To Kashmir

Saying it had no choice, Pakistan Thursday pulled some troops from the hunt for al Qaeda on its Afghan border and shifted them to its Indian border, where the dispute over Kashmir is boiling, CBS News Correspondent Bill Whitaker reports.

"Our security comes first. We will use all our resources to protect our security," President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said at a news conference in Islamabad.

The redeployment of what would likely be only a few thousand men would have virtually no impact on the balance of power in Kashmir, but it could deeply affect the U.S.-led war against terrorism.

The Pakistani troops on the Afghan border were deployed to help U.S.-led forces track down al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who had taken refuge in the wild and mountainous tribal region on both sides of the frontier, and they have been involved in the arrests of several prominent al Qaeda leaders.

President Bush said Thursday he was sending Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to the subcontinent next week to help ease tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

Secretary of State Colin Powell has already sent his top aide, Richard Armitage, to the region.

"We are making it very clear to both Pakistan and India that war will not serve their interests," Mr. Bush said after a Cabinet meeting. "We are part of an international coalition applying pressure to both parties."

Mr. Bush urged Pakistan's Musharraf to "live up to his word" and stop cross-border terrorism in Kashmir.

"He must stop the incursions across the line of control," said Mr. Bush. "He must do so, he said he would do so."

Rumsfeld said the United States had not seen any sign of a Pakistani withdrawal from the border with Afghanistan, and said he hoped none would be forthcoming.

"The number of Pakistani battalions that have been located along that Afghan border has not changed," Rumsfeld said. "And we hope it will not change."

But Rashid Quereshi, Musharraf's spokesman, confirmed a pullback of troops, and witnesses in the northwestern frontier area said Thursday they had seen scores of army trucks moving soldiers.

Quereshi claimed the pullback from the Afghan border, where about 1,000 additional troops were deployed less than a month ago, would not affect Pakistan's relations with the U.S.-led coalition. It was believed Pakistan had about 6,000 total troops along the Afghan border, but the government never details troop strength.

On Thursday, relentless cross-border shelling killed dozens in Kashmir, while Islamic militants attacked a police base in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing four police officers before the insurgents were overcome and killed themselves.

At least 14 people — three Indian army soldiers and 11 civilians — were killed in overnight artillery shelling and mortar fire from the Pakistani side, Indian police said. Pakistan Television reported 14 civilians were killed in Pakistan by Indian shelling overnight. Neither report could be independently confirmed.

With no sign either India or Pakistan was offering a diplomatic solution in Kashmir, concern mounted about a broader military conflict.

U.S. intelligence estimates India will be able to launch limited strikes within a few days, but is two to three weeks away from being ready to conduct a major cross-border operation into the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan. Neither side is likely to attack, CBS News National Security Correspondent David Martin reports.

U.S intelligence believes both India and Pakistan intend to limit any fighting to Kashmir, but once it starts there is a high probability it could escalate to something the world has never seen – an all-out war between two countries armed with nuclear weapons.

Analysts believe Pakistan would resort to nuclear weapons if its capital of Islamabad was threatened by India's superior conventional forces.

According to Rumsfeld, a nuclear war would not spread radioactive fallout over the United States, but it would be an unimaginable horror for people living in India and Pakistan.

"It would be bad," Rumsfeld said. "It would not be pretty. It would be not short-lived."

The Pentagon has teams in both countries updating evacuation plans for an estimated 100,000 American citizens.

"It's a big job, and for the most part people would have to get out on their own through commercial activities," Rumsfeld said.

The threat of terrorist attacks has already prompted the State Department to order all nonessential personnel out of Pakistan, and officials say they can not afford to wait much longer before issuing a similar order for India.