22 January 2002

U.S. Expresses Condolences to India on Calcutta Attack

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told journalists on January 22 that Secretary of State Colin Powell phoned Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh this morning to express condolences to the families of those who were killed in the attack on the American Center in Calcutta.

Boucher added that the U.S. will continue to work with the Indian authorities as they try to determine who was responsible for the attack.

On Afghanistan, Boucher said the U.S. will be closely coordinating its aid to Afghanistan with the Afghan Interim Authority, and with other donors.

In response to a question on the location of Usama bin Laden, Boucher said the Afghan authorities have made it clear that they view the continued existence of remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda within Afghanistan as an ongoing threat to be eliminated in order to proceed with the rebuilding of Afghanistan as a stable country.

Following are excerpts from the January 22 State Department briefing.

Question: Can we change the subject to India and what happened at the US information center today?

Mr. Boucher: In Calcutta, yes.

Question: In Calcutta, and whether there was a threat that existed there beyond the normal threats.

Mr. Boucher: I'm not aware of any particular threat beyond normal threats that existed there. Obviously we recognize that there is a certain threat against all our installations around the world, and I think it's fair to say that all of our places have been on a fairly high state of alert.

The situation with regard to the attack, let me give you the facts and details as much as I can. Our Embassy in New Delhi reports that at 6:35 this morning in Calcutta, the police officers who were protecting the American Center were attacked with automatic rifles in a drive-by shooting. Police have confirmed that four Calcutta armed police were killed. Twelve other armed police, one security guard employed by the US Consulate and one civilian were injured. No US staff were at the Center at the time of the incident, and no American citizens were injured in the shooting.

The Consulate and the American Center in Calcutta were closed today, but plan to open for regular business tomorrow. Other posts in India have remained open. Posts in India have issued a warden message to the local American community, recommending that they follow closely the news reports and check in with the consulates for updated information.

We have seen reports that a phone caller to police and newspaper claims the attack targeted the West Bengal Police in retaliation for police actions against a group that is active on the Indian-Bangladesh border, but we are unable to verify that claim. We are working closely with Indian authorities to ensure the safety of all our posts in India and cooperate fully with their investigation of this incident.

Police support following the attack has been outstanding. Shortly after the attack, the authorities took steps to enhance security at all US facilities in India.

I would note that Secretary Powell telephoned Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh this morning. He wanted to express, first of all, our sincere condolences to the families of those who were killed, and to the Governments of India and the State of West Bengal. He also expressed our hope for the speedy recovery of the injured, and furthermore our thanks to the Indian Government for the efforts that they had made to protect our facilities there and for the actions of their police in this matter.

Question: Richard, just one more on this. Is US Embassy and other consulates are on high alert due to this incident? And also, the chief of police in Calcutta said that terrorists are behind this attack, and there may be more like this.

Mr. Boucher: I would say that, first of all, all our facilities around the world have been taking every possible precaution, and that applies to our posts in India as well.

Second of all, as far as who exactly was responsible for this, we don't know at this point. I don't think the Indians know -- knew -- know. Certainly in the Secretary's discussion with Foreign Minister Singh this morning, he was not at that point able to say that they had the details yet, and that we will continue to work with them as they try to determine more accurately who was responsible for this.

Question: And you said you are working with India on this connection now because this is as recent as on December 13th because people have not overcome from the major one in Delhi, and now this is in Calcutta. So in what sense how the US is working with Indian authorities?

Mr. Boucher: Obviously this attack involves one of our facilities. We get directly involved with them in trying to make sure that they have all the information they need from us and any possible assistance they need from us in their investigation. We are more directly involved when one of our facilities is attacked.

To the intrepid traveler, who seems to be the only one who made it back.

Question: The youngest.

Question: I think I was the youngest on the trip. That's true.

Question: That counts.

Question: That counts. Did the Secretary and General Singh discuss other issues in this phone call as well? Was it a longer phone call, and did he reaffirm with the Foreign Minister -- some of the commitments that the Secretary got when we were there, like being patient on the border since fighting flared up again after he left?

Mr. Boucher: It was not an exceptionally long phone call and the principal topic was this attack this morning, and as I said, expressing condolences and thanking the Indians for the police response and for the fact that they were there protecting us and that they did a successful job at that at some loss of life to themselves.

I think there was some follow-up in terms of the discussions that the Secretary had during his trip. He has talked to President Musharraf this morning as well. And so they are continuing to work on the issues that he worked on during his trip. And I think as you know from the travel, he did that from the road and is continuing to do that now that we're back here.

Question: You said he called Musharraf or did Musharraf call him, do you know?

Mr. Boucher: He called Musharraf.

Question: Did he discuss with President Musharraf the possibility that this attack could have been carried out by a group connected to the ISI?

Mr. Boucher: I don't know that he discussed this particular attack with Musharraf. I just don't -- I don't think so, but I don't know for sure.

Question: Richard, did you say that some of these groups that claimed credit or might have been held responsible operated on the India-Bangladeshi border?

Mr. Boucher: That's something we're not able to confirm, even that the phone calls that were reported were actually made. So I think at this point we look to see what the Indian police come up with. They are doing a careful investigation, I am sure.

Question: And is there any possibility -- do you feel any concern that these could be linked with events in Bangladesh? In Bangladesh there is a couple or two Islamic parties that have joined the government and there has been reports of an upsurge of Islamic activity.

Mr. Boucher: I think, you know, speculating to the third degree is just not appropriate at this point until we have some better information about who might have done this.

Question: Okay, and one final question. You said before that your trip was a success to the region, and I have just one question about the success. Is there any evidence that the infiltration has stopped into India from Pakistan, which is the quid pro quo for India, which apparently continues to build up its forces?

Mr. Boucher: We have seen press reports. I think some of them we saw while we were there were in the Indian press. We've seen them in the international wire services and various other reports that would indicate that there is less activity across the line of control, and that certainly would be something that we would welcome.

Question: But you're not saying that you have your own independent information, that this is --

Mr. Boucher: I don't really talk that much about our own independent information, but I would say we have seen various kinds of reports that would indicate that there is a lessening of activity across the line of control.

Question: But aren't there other things you're hoping to see, like the resumption of air traffic and all sorts of things?

Mr. Boucher: As the Secretary said, there is a variety of measures that the parties can take in the political sphere and the diplomatic sphere and the military sphere that would help ease the tensions, and we continue to work with them to see how to get that process -- the kinds of steps they might take, the kinds of steps they might like to see, and to try to see some of those things happen.

Question: On the attack, if I may go back to your reference to the US generically being under threat, you are not suggesting, are you, that this attack was an attack against the US? Because on this occasion it seems to be an anti-police action.

Mr. Boucher: Well, that was what some of these reports said is that, in fact, they were just finding a place where there were a clump of policemen together.

Question: And it was the time when police changed guard.

Mr. Boucher: But I think until we know for sure who did it and why, I can't say one way or the other. But having our embassies on high alert applies not only to things that might be specifically directed against them, but things that might happen very close to their vicinity.

Question: Were Secretary Powell's calls this morning to both sides as a result of the attack, kind of trying to cool tensions, or was it something that was planned? I know he said on the trip that he would --

Mr. Boucher: No, I would say that his calls -- well, he has been making phone calls. He has talked to both Foreign Minister Singh and President Musharraf from the road while we were traveling. I better double-check my recollection. I know he talked to President Musharraf after we left India, but I had better double check to make sure he called Foreign Minister Singh during the last couple days of the road.

No, he didn't. So he talked to President Musharraf from the road while we were traveling. He said himself that he intended to follow up on his discussions with both sides. So, yes, the phone calls today to Foreign Minister Singh and President Musharraf, in a broader context, were part of his continuing to work on the issues that he worked on during his trip. But obviously the phone call to Foreign Minister Singh today was devoted a little more to the issue of the attack today and our condolences and our thanks to the Indian police for protecting our facility.

Question: Richard, as far as this attack is concerned on America and India, Home Minister of India Mr. Advani was here last week, and he said at the press conference that due to US pressure on General Musharraf, ISI is now moving in India against India in terrorist activities, other than in Kashmir. So they are moving from the Kashmir border to other parts of India. So your comments on this?

Mr. Boucher: No, I'm not quite sure I understand what you're saying.

Question: Okay, what he said, that due to US pressure on General Musharraf not to take any terrorist activities against India across the border in Kashmir, now the ISI, the Pakistan Intelligence Service, now they are moving in India, spreading terrorism in the rest of India, in other parts of India, rather than on the border.

Mr. Boucher: I didn't see --

Question: So this attack speaks by itself.

Mr. Boucher: I didn't see any remarks like that. Certainly he didn't say anything like that in his meetings with us, and so I'm not going to jump in and comment on your version.

......

Question: Back to the Afghanistan aid in Tokyo. Can you say what account the US pledge is coming from? Is there a pot of money it's coming from?

Mr. Boucher: We put out a fact sheet on that, which I'm sure I can get for you. It comes from various accounts because it's various kinds of money. Some of it is international programs, like for child health, where we're applying the money available for child health to the specific needs in Afghanistan. Some of it is food assistance that we can now redirect towards food-for-work programs to begin the process of reconstruction of roads or sanitation facilities or things like that. And some of it's other various accounts. So it comes from different parts of the US Government from the current budget.

Question: To follow up, does that constrain the ability to work in any other parts of the world? I mean, even that it's coming from certain accounts, will certain money not be there for other ongoing projects?

Mr. Boucher: I don't think so, no.

Question: Okay.

Question: Follow-up on that? Mr. Karzai's representative here yesterday said in Washington that the money should go through him in order to empower his government, to prop him up. Do you intend to give the money directly to NGOs and, you know, foreign administrative -- or are you going to give the money to the interim government?

Mr. Boucher: I think the first thing to say is that these projects, these activities, will all be closely coordinated with the Afghan Interim Authority, and then the government that is put in place five or six months from now. So we are going to work very closely with them. They will work with us and with the implementation group as we go forward. I can't tell you the exact channeling of all the different funds. Some of the money is indeed going into UN trust funds for the government. Other money spent on projects might be channeled through NGOs. But all of it is being closely coordinated with the Afghan Interim Authority and with the other donors.

Question: Since it's been four days since we last had a chance to ask you what you knew about Clark Bowers, the American who was being held in Afghanistan but has now been released in Pakistan, are you able to tell us any more about the nature of his detention and release?

Mr. Boucher: The short answer is no. The long answer is not much longer. The long answer is Mr. Bowers met with State Department officials on Saturday, January 19th. At his request, and because he has not signed a waiver of his rights under the Privacy Act, we can't comment further.

Question: Here?

Mr. Boucher: No.

Question: Where? Where did he meet them?

Mr. Boucher: Is that further? In Pakistan. I'm able to say that.

Question: At his request, you say, Richard? I'm sorry, did you say that he met with these officials at his request?

Mr. Boucher: No, I said we met with him. State Department officials met with him in Pakistan on January 19th, a Saturday, period.

Next paragraph. At his request, and because he hasn't signed a Privacy Act, we can't give you more information.

Good catch.

Question: This probably isn't the last time someone will ask, but you will be asked with less frequency, I'm sure. Usama bin Laden. If I remember right, the Secretary in two television interviews -- so he said it twice. He, I guess, wanted to make a point. He was asked about, you know, whether Usama bin Laden ought to be captured, is he dead, where is he. And he said he preferred looking ahead, rather than back, there are things to do, and he was prospective-minding, instead of looking backward.

Does that mean, or there are other reasons to believe that the US has pretty much given up any reasonable expectations of finding Usama bin Laden, dead or alive?

Mr. Boucher: No.

Question: Then what is that -- why is he -- he sort of was not encouraging these questions. He was sort of saying, that's old news, let's deal with today. And I found that interesting because he was the guy that, you know, dead or alive, we'll get him, and by God. You know, and I'm not hearing that anymore.

Mr. Boucher: Barry, I'd say don't --

Question: John Wayne has gone away.

Mr. Boucher: Barry, I would say not to read anything into the persistence or the lack thereof of questioning from your fellow journalists; and the fact that we deal with the questions every day, once we've said every day we don't know where the guy is, we don't really have that much more to say. The President said right from the start, we're going to smoke him out, we're going to get him on the run, and we done that. And we're going to find him. And that's the part we haven't quite accomplished yet, but I'm confident that what the President said we would do is what we are going to do.

As you know -- and you can get from the Pentagon whatever information they can provide -- the US troops remain active. And I would go a little farther on this and say the Afghan authorities made quite clear when we were in Kabul that they viewed the continuation -- the continued existence of remnants of the Taliban, remnants of al-Qaida within the borders of Afghanistan, was an ongoing threat that had to be eliminated if we were going to be able to proceed with the rebuilding of Afghanistan as a stable country. And they were certainly fully supportive of whatever efforts the American forces can continue to make to capture, track down or otherwise eliminate the threat from al-Qaida.

Question: Well, to follow up, they must have made a distinction then between senior Taliban leaders and remnants of people that at one time were loyal to the Taliban?

Mr. Boucher: What they were talking about was groups of Taliban or groups of al-Qaida people who were still trying to operate in remote areas of Afghanistan that presented a continuing threat.

Question: Right after the Secretary's visit to Pakistan, General Musharraf announced that Usama bin Laden is dead from kidney disease. Now, also he said that the machines, kidney disease machines, were imported from Pakistan. That means we're talking about -- if the machines were imported by Usama bin Laden, it must be a year ago. So why he's making these claims now, after one year, that he's dead from kidney disease?

Mr. Boucher: Well, first of all, I think I have to refer you to President Musharraf to talk about that; and furthermore, I think he has talked about that further. So just look at what he says. I'm not going to -- unfortunately I'm not the spokesman for President Musharraf.

Question: But do you agree with him that he is dead?

Mr. Boucher: After we have answered the question three times that we don't know, I think I'll just refer you back to what we --

Question: But I'm asking you, do you agree with his statement, yes or no?

Mr. Boucher: I don't know.