Powell Trip to Focus on Pakistan Nuclear Issue

Starting a swing through a crucial region in the Bush administration’s war on terrorism on Monday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell pledged to press Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on whether officials in his government helped spread nuclear weapons.

The trip will be the first high-level visit by a Bush administration official to Islamabad since Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan said last month that he had sold nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

Musharraf immediately pardoned Khan and has refused to allow Western intelligence agencies to question him directly.

“I will be seeking to learn from President Musharraf and the others I speak with what else they may have learned about the network that I have not yet been made aware of through normal intelligence channels,” Powell said during a briefing with reporters on a flight to India. “Certainly, I’ll be interested to see whether there’s any involvement of past officials or any official involvement in any of this over the years.”

Dealing with Musharraf is part of the delicate balancing act that Powell must perform as he launches a diplomatic offensive while the U.S. military wages its own offensive in the hunt for Osama bin Laden in the mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Powell made clear that the U.S. also would be relying on Musharraf for help in capturing members of Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban government and Bin Laden, who is believed to use the fluid border between the two countries to escape pursuit.

“We want to see if they can do a better job of apprehending Taliban persons who we might be able to identify for them,” Powell said.

On Monday, Musharraf blamed two December attempts to assassinate him on allies of Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda terrorist network.

In addition to facing pressure from Islamic extremists, Musharraf could be damaged by evidence of a link between Khan and the Pakistani military, on whose support the president depends.

The extent of Khan’s activities, which date from the 1990s, has raised suspicions that the military must have been at least complicit in the illegal arms network.

Another expected point of discussion will be Pakistan’s long-standing interest in purchasing American F-16 jets, a request the U.S. is still considering.

Powell will also have his hands full with relations between India and Pakistan, as he struggles to encourage a nascent peace process between the two long-time rivals over Kashmir.

The countries entered into an agreement in January to cooperate more closely on trade and nuclear proliferation issues, but India’s foreign ministry on Saturday accused Pakistan of “double standards” in refusing to label Kashmiri rebels, long supported by Pakistan, as “terrorists.”

Finally, Powell will also review the rebuilding of Afghanistan, which has languished with U.S. attention and money focused on Iraq.

One item on that agenda will be the presidential election in Afghanistan scheduled for June. With only about 10% of citizens registered to vote, there is a growing possibility that the election will be postponed.