U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell says he is sure that when a new Iraqi government takes sovereignty July 1, it is likely to seek help from other nations in rebuilding its infrastructure, including India.

Powell, interviewed by Indian television on May 28, described the United States and India as "natural allies," and he predicted the relationship between the two nations "will continue to grow" as the Congress Party assumes leadership after its victory in national elections earlier this month.

Indian televsion interviewer Maya Mirchandani questioned Powell about the safety and stability of Pakistan's President Musharraf, and expressed Indian concerns about the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Powell expressed confidence in Pakistan's awareness of its grave responsibility to protect and secure its nuclear arsenal regardless of domestic politics.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release
May 29, 2004
2004/613

INTERVIEW

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell
On India's New Delhi Television with Maya Mirchandani

(1:15 p.m. EDT)

MS. MIRCHANDANI: Secretary Powell, thank you so much for joining New Delhi Television. My first question to you. You've described the U.S.-India relationship with the last government as one between natural allies. Would you hold the same description for the new government now?

SECRETARY POWELL: Yes, yes. The two greatest democracies on the face of the earth, we should be natural allies, and we are. In the initial conversations we've had with the new government -- the President in his conversation with the Prime Minister, and my conversation with the new Minister of External Affairs, Minister Singh, who I know -- clearly we wish to build on the solid foundation that has been developed in recent years. I am so pleased that our agenda will move forward, next steps in the strategic partnership, the other things that we are doing together. So I am quite confident the relationship will continue to grow.

MS. MIRCHANDANI: Secretary Powell, we were told -- we've been given to believe that there were informal feelers being sent out to the India Government, specifically on the question of troops contributions in Iraq. What stage have you reached in those negotiations?

SECRETARY POWELL: No, I wouldn't say there are formal negotiations. We would welcome contributions from any nation that wishes to make a contribution. It could be troops. It could be police trainers. It could be financial. India has been open to that kind of approach.

Most of our friends in the world have said, we'll take another look at it when there is a new UN resolution and when the occupation has ended and the Iraqis are back in control of their country with full sovereignty. That's going to happen by the 1st of July. I hope at that point all of the members of the international community who are part of the United Nations will see what else they might be able to do to support the Iraqi people and to support the new government.

MS. MIRCHANDANI: Is there likely to be a formal request made to the new Indian Government at that stage?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, the interesting point is that I no longer will be able to answer that question because, if there is a formal request, it will not be coming from the United States; it will be coming from the new sovereign government of Iraq.

And, interestingly, I think that government will be very appreciative of all of the coalition military support that's been provided and financial support; but I think it will also be interested in building up its own forces. And so we will have conversations with the new government to see what it needs in the way of additional support, and I am sure that that new government will be in touch with nations around the world who might be interested in providing such support.

MS. MIRCHANDANI: Secretary Powell, the recent prison scandal, the Abu Ghraib pictures, the kind of criticism that has come out of the U.S. coalition after that, do you think that some of your Muslim allies particularly are now beginning to see the United States as a untrustworthy ally in this war against terror at the moment?

SECRETARY POWELL: What happened in that prison was unacceptable. It was horrible. It was a shock to all Americans. It was a terrible shock to me as a soldier. I mean, I used to be responsible for young people like this, and it is unthinkable that they would commit such acts. And I know that it shocked all of our Muslim friends around the world, and all of our Christian friends, and all of our Hindu friends. All of our friends were astonished by such things happening on the part of American soldiers. No group was more stunned than the American people, and more disappointed and more horrified than the American people.

What I ask our friends now to do is watch how we respond. As a great democracy, like India, we will use our democratic institutions to bring justice to this case, to make sure that those who are responsible are punished, that we go up the chain of command to see who had accountability and responsibility for this. And it will be done in the full light of press, as you already have seen, and with our Congress looking into it and with our courts paying an interest in it.

And so we are horrified by what happened. But now watch how a democracy deals with such a challenge.

MS. MIRCHANDANI: Secretary Powell, changing track a little bit. On the question of Pakistan, the United States has invested quite a lot in Pakistan right now, and particularly in President Musharraf's security as well. Given his comments yesterday, we understand that he doesn't feel quite as safe.

What we want to know is whether the United States has a Plan B; in case something does happen to President Musharraf. Can you provide guarantees that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal will not fall into the wrong hands, especially given A.Q. Khan's activities?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I think it's very encouraging that President Musharraf has done a great deal to rip up A.Q. Khan's network of nuclear proliferation. We have a relationship with Pakistan, and I think that we will continue to have a strong relationship with Pakistan. Over the last couple of years, President Musharraf has done a great deal to help us create that strong relationship. So we support him, we support him a great deal, and we look forward to working with him. We would not be supportive of any effort to change the Government of Pakistan in a way that is not part of the political process or constitutionally. And so we will continue to support President Musharraf,and I really don't want to get into hypotheticals about what might happen, if other people were there, to the nuclear arsenal.

In my conversations with my Pakistani colleagues -- President Musharraf and others -- they understand the responsibility they have to protect their nuclear arsenal under any set of circumstances or under any leader. These are not simple weapons. They are the most complex and most dangerous weapons. And any nation that has a nuclear arsenal has an obligation to its own people and to the international community to make sure that those arsenals are guarded carefully, the materials are accounted for and done in a way that the institutions of government will protect those weapons no matter what might be happening in the politics of the country.

MS. MIRCHANDANI: Thank you very much, Secretary Powell, for joining us.

SECRETARY POWELL: Thank you. You're welcome.