Rumsfeld Backs Off al Qaeda Assertion

Completing a peace mission to India and Pakistan, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday praised both for trying to ease tensions but cautioned that their forces facing each other across the border are "beginning to feel the stress of high alert."

Rumsfeld said the United States had no evidence that al Qaeda militants were operating in Kashmir, but said he was confident Pakistan would deal with them if any were found.

Rumsfeld had raised the possibility over al Qaeda at a news conference in India on Wednesday, but said in Pakistan on Thursday he had only heard "speculative" reports rather than hard evidence. Pakistan has already dismissed the allegation as Indian propaganda.

"The facts are I do not have evidence and the United States does not have evidence of al Qaeda in Kashmir," he told a news conference after meeting Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. "We do have a good deal of scraps of intelligence that come in from people who say they believe al Qaeda are in Kashmir, or are in various locations," he said. "It tends to be speculative, it is not actionable, it is not verifiable. The cooperation between the United States and Pakistan is so close, and so intimate and so cooperative, that...if there happened to be any actionable intelligence as to al Qaeda anywhere in the country, there isn't a doubt in my mind Pakistan would go find them and deal with them."

Some of the Pakistani militants in Kashmir do have long-standing ties to al Qaeda, and some trained in Osama bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan. A few non-Pakistani al Qaeda supporters are believed to have sought refuge in Kashmir, U.S. officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Rumsfeld, in a joint appearance with Pakistani Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar, urged the two countries to begin a dialogue on ways to reduce military forces along the Line of Control that divides Indian and Pakistani sectors of Kashmir.

For his part, Sattar said Pakistan appreciates the role the United States has played in trying to defuse the crisis over Kashmir. But he suggested Washington could do more.

Rumsfeld was asked whether either Pakistan or India is ready to make major reductions in forces in Kashmir. He responded that the high level of alert both the nuclear-armed nations have maintained for months is taking a toll. "My impression is we're at a point where, instead of having the tensions go up, we're beginning to feel the stress of high alert," he said. "And one would hope that those stresses would result over time in a ... somewhat reduced alert status."

Rumsfeld has frequently expressed confidence in Musharraf's commitment to rooting out all remnants of al Qaeda in Pakistan. The defense secretary alluded to this as he mingled with Musharraf aides before meeting the president in his offices.

For months, U.S. and allied forces hunted for remnants of al Qaeda in Afghanistan but found almost none, leading many to conclude most had fled to Pakistan or elsewhere.

Rumsfeld met Wednesday in New Delhi with Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and other senior government officials, including Defense Minister George Fernandes, who told reporters that he and Rumsfeld had reached an "understanding on how to deal with some of the immediate problems" between his country and Pakistan. Fernandes did not elaborate, nor did Rumsfeld give details.

In New Delhi, Rumsfeld said al Qaeda terrorists may be operating in the Kashmir region dividing India and Pakistan.

"I have seen indications that there, in fact, are al Qaeda in the areas we're talking about, near the Line of Control" that separates the Pakistani and Indian sectors of Kashmir, Rumsfeld told a news conference.

For some time, Indian officials have claimed that al Qaeda members have infiltrated Kashmir, in part because that would draw a parallel to the U.S. war against al Qaeda in Afghanistan. An Indian official said this week there is evidence of one dozen to two dozen al Qaeda fighters in the Indian part of Kashmir.

Attacks on India by Muslim militants who want Kashmir to be independent, or part of Pakistan, are a main source of tensions between the two countries.