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Growing availability of powerful weapons threat to mankind: Rumsfeld

Rezaul H Laskar in New Delhi

United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday said countries with nuclear weapons will have to secure their arsenals so that they cannot be seized by terrorist groups.

"The increasing availability of very powerful weapons and weapons of mass destruction and the risk of their falling into the hands of terrorists poses a threat that is unique," Rumsfeld said at a joint press conference with Defence Minister George Fernandes.

Rumsfeld, who arrived late Sunday for talks with Fernandes on the Afghan situation and military cooperation between India and the US, said countries with nuclear weapons should take 'appropriate' steps to assure the devices are managed in a way that reflects 'the dangers that those weapons pose'.

The US defence secretary was reacting to concerns about the possibility of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal falling into the hands of terror groups.

Without naming Pakistan, Rumsfeld said: "I think that countries that have nuclear weapons have a healthy respect for their power and the lethality of those weapons."

Rumsfeld sought to address Indian concerns about the US action against terror groups being limited to Afghanistan by saying that Washington was prepared for a long and sustained campaign against terrorism.

"This is much bigger than Afghanistan," he said.

"We will be pursuing terrorist networks wherever we find them. Afghanistan happens to be the first problem because the Al Qaeda is there and it needs to be stopped before it kills thousands of people," he added.

He reiterated President George W Bush's stand that the US 'effort against terrorism is a global one, it involves terrorists where they are'.

Although the US wanted to complete the military action in Afghanistan as soon as possible, Rumsfeld said it would have to 'continue over a period of time'.

"How long it will take, one can't guess," he said.

Rumsfeld, who left for home shortly after the press conference, was at pains not to antagonise Pakistan, a key ally of the US for the military campaign in Afghanistan. He evaded all questions about India's charges of Islamabad fomenting cross-border terrorism in India.

Replying to a question whether Fernandes had briefed him on the existence of terrorist training camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, he said: "We talked about terrorism in a broader sense, we talked about terrorism that has affected both of our countries and we have shared concerns about the importance of dealing with this problem."

Rumsfeld responded to Fernandes' reported comments about the inefficacy of the US bombing in Afghanistan by saying that the effectiveness of the bombardment had improved with the deployment of more American ground teams in forward areas.

"These ground teams are aiding in re-supply, humanitarian aid and targeting," he said. "There has probably been no bombing campaign that has been as precise or focussed as this one."

Fernandes has said in an interview to a German magazine, published on Monday, that the intense US bombing in Afghanistan would only serve to 'melt the snows on mountain tops earlier than usual'.

Rumsfeld said, "What we're doing in Afghanistan is we're engaged in an exercise of self defence. It is not possible to defend every location (in the US) against every terrorist. The only way to deal with it is to take the battle to them and that is what we're doing."

Indo-Asian News Service

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