Powell wants Pakistan to bolster Taliban hunt

NEW DELHI — Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, opening a visit to South Asia, said Monday that he would press President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan to do more to track down Taliban remnants on the Afghanistan border and to tell the United States more about his military's involvement in past nuclear proliferation activities.

Powell has had many discussions in recent months with Musharraf on the activities of A.Q. Khan, father of Pakistan's nuclear program, who has admitted to supplying uranium enrichment equipment to Iran and other nations. Powell said there was still more to learn about the extent to which the Pakistan military had helped Khan in these activities.

Powell did not address details, but administration officials have said they learned that the military may have been more extensively involved than previously thought in the transfer of nuclear arms materials to North Korea, Iran and Libya.

"Certainly I will be interested to see whether there is any involvement of past officials or any official involvement in any of this over the years," Powell said. "I think this is something that the government of Pakistan should look into and I think is looking into."

Powell said he was pleased that Pakistan had stepped up its operations in the areas abutting Afghanistan, where the remnants of the Taliban are believed to be operating and helping to shelter forces of al-Qaida, including Osama bin Laden.

"We just want to see them do more of that," Powell said. "We want to see them do a better job of apprehending Taliban persons who we might be able to identify for them."

U.S. forces are also pressing a campaign against the Taliban on the Afghan side of the border, and Powell said Pakistan needed to provide "all the assistance that they can."

Powell arrived here in the Indian capital late Monday night and prepared to meet with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other leaders on Tuesday. They were to talk about increasing American military assistance to India and the Bush administration's request that India open up more of its markets to American exports now that Indian workers are doing many high technology jobs that used to be done by Americans.

Powell's visit comes during a thaw in Indian-Pakistani relations, symbolized by the current Indian cricket tour to Pakistan. Powell noted that the last time he visited this region, in mid-2002, the two countries were still on a war footing with each other.