N-weapons not ruled out?

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, OCT. 29. The Bush administration has refused to rule out the possibility of using nuclear weapons in its campaign against Afghanistan if the present military hardware is unable to flush out terrorists and their operational facilities from the underground tunnels and caves.

The Defence Secretary, Mr. Donald Rumsfeld, maintained in a Sunday talk show that ``the 5,000 pound bombs are going to be able to do the job of hitting the Al-Qaeda in their underground facilities. But when pressed for an answer on whether or not the U.S. would rule out the use of nuclear weapons, especially the smaller tactical nuclear weapons, he said, ``I don't rule out anything''.

There has been at least one person on Capitol Hill - Congressman Steve Buyer of Indiana - who has taken the position that if the United States is unable to make much headway with the 5000 pounders to penetrate and level the cave facilities of the Al- Qaeda, the administration should think about using tactical nuclear weapons, not the larger ones in the stockpile.

During the talk show, Mr. Rumsfeld was reminded that in the Gulf War, the U.S. had deliberately refused to rule out a nuclear strike should Mr. Saddam Hussein resort to a nuclear, chemical or biological attack.

As far as the situation in Afghanistan was concerned, Mr. Rumsfeld would go no more than reiterating what he had said on earlier occasions. ``The U.S. has historically refused to rule out the use of weapons like that,'' the Defence Secretary remarked.

Pak. rejects `even the thought'

B. Muralidhar Reddy reports from Islamabad:

Pakistan on Monday rejected ``even the thought'' of using nuclear weapons tactically or otherwise in Afghanistan.

``We firmly and categorically reject even the thought of using nuclear weapons tactically or otherwise,'' the Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman, Mr. Riaz Mohammad Khan, told correspondents in response to a question about a statement attributed Mr. Rumsfeld on use of nuclear weapons in Afghanistan.

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