Speeches and Remarks 2008
Interview with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates by the BBC, New Delhi, Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Q Mr. Secretary, thanks for talking to us.
India is obviously going to be one of the biggest defense sales markets in the world over the next couple of decades. There's a big fighter jet contract coming up.
Are you here primarily to help American companies sell their wares?
SEC. GATES: No. I'm here to see how we can further expand the military-to-military relationship with India. We probably have as wide ranging a set of interactions with the Indian military as we do with anyone else in the world, and there are a lot of opportunities to expand that. Clearly, defense trade is one of those and we're obviously pleased about the purchase by the Indians of the C-130Js. We are clearly in the competition for the multi-role combat fighter and interested in building relationships between our defense industries and those here in India, but we're not asking for anything special, we just want to be at the table and be a part of a fair competition, but it's only one part of a very broad relationship.
Q The strategic relationship with India has, obviously, come on leaps and bounds over the last few years, but many people see it as part of a long-term strategy to contain the rise of China. Now, obviously, it's a very complex issue, but is there some truth in that?
SEC. GATES: I don't think developing these relationships is directed against anybody. I just came here from Indonesia where we're also trying to expand the relationship, and if you look at the exercises that we conduct, for example, with the Indians, it involves everything from counterterrorism, counter-piracy to criminal activity that we're trying to stop to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. That's a big part of the exercises that we conduct.
So these relationships are not zero sum games. They're not. Because we are improving our relationship with India it doesn't mean it has to be directed against anyone.
Q Will the military relationship as it develops be harmed if the civilian nuclear deal, which has been negotiated so painstakingly by the Singh government falls by the wayside?
SEC. GATES: Well, clearly, the civil nuclear agreement is an important one. It's very much in the interests of both India and the United States, and I would say that it's of interest globally and of the interests of the global environment. So I think it is an important agreement and people are working very hard, including here in India to bring it to implementation, but I would say that I am here to explore the further expansion of the military-to-military relationship independent of that agreement and I believe that those relationships will continue to improve.
Q And now the Indians -- (inaudible) -- there with the test of a nuclear-capable missile. Did you read anything into that? Is that something which bothered you at all?
SEC. GATES: No. I gave up trying to figure up coincidences when I left CIA.
Q Okay. Well, Pakistan, let's move onto Pakistan. I mean, it's something which is obviously on a lot of minds here as well as in Washington. A lot of people in Pakistan saw the results of last week's elections as a big thumbs down for President Musharraf and his policies. Are you going to stick with him through thick and thin?
SEC. GATES: He is the elected president of Pakistan. We will support the democratically elected leaders of Pakistan. He will have a coalition soon in Pakistan. We will have a new prime minister in Pakistan and we, obviously, will deal with that prime minister as well with the president of Pakistan. We were very pleased that the election took place pretty much as scheduled and it was as free of violence as it was and it was a free and fair election and we certainly will work with those who have been elected by the people of Pakistan.
Q But you don't see this as a negative for Musharraf?
SEC. GATES: Well, I think, clearly, the outcome of the election was a negative for President Musharraf, but what happens from here on in terms of his role, I think, is up to the Pakistanis.
Q I was down in Peshawar just after the elections last week. Now, the good news from there was that a secular party basically swept away the Islamist Alliance. On the other hand, a lot of people there were saying when the new government comes in what we want them to do is talk to militants who have been waging insurgency along the border region and not fight them.
Is that something, which bothers you?
SEC. GATES: Well, I think we'll have to see how it develops. When a government comes into power and is faced with responsibility and you have insurgents and al Qaeda and others in the frontier area that have very explicitly threatened to overthrow the government of Pakistan or destabilize the country and almost certainly were responsible for the assassination of Mrs. Bhutto, the government is going to have to face those realities and even the Musharraf government at one point tried talking in doing deals in Waziristan. That didn't work out very well and maybe this government, a new government in Pakistan will have to go through that experience itself, but you know, the truth is that whether it's in Iraq or in Afghanistan or potentially in Pakistan, at the end of the day you can't rely purely on military means to solve the problems. There needs to be political and economic initiatives. Their needs to be diplomatic outreach and to try and bring people who are opposed to you over to your side. We're doing that with concerned local citizens in Iraq. We're doing it in President Karzai's outreach to some elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
So reaching out to some of these groups is not an unreasonable approach. We just need to be realistic about whether it's working or not as we look toward the future.
Q But does it worry you that if those militants, Taliban-style militants are fighting the Pakistan army in Afghanistan, they'll almost probably be moving across the border and fighting foreign troops, U.S. troops and others in Afghanistan?
SEC. GATES: Well, it's not entirely clear the degree of which they have turned their attention away from Afghanistan to focus on Pakistan itself and while there has been a considerable reduction in the number of people coming across the border into Khost province and the Regional Command East in Afghanistan, I'm not aware that there has been a significant reduction in those numbers in the south.
Q When you look at the money, the vast amounts of money that the U.S. has spent in Pakistan since 9/11, a lot of it on defense and security assistance, do you think the money has been well spent?
SEC. GATES: Well, we get that question a lot from the Congress and we have some very detailed procedures in place to monitor reimbursements, coalition support, that's the way this gets done and come forward with an operation - whether it fits within our interests and there's a variety of procedures in Central Command and within the Department of Defense to approve those operations.
I think one of the things that we will do and have going forward is can we help the Pakistanis to become more effective -- (inaudible). And they're a sovereign government. We have to defer to their wishes, but we are, as I have said, ready, willing and able to help.
Q Well, the opposition in the run-up to the election saying a lot of the money has been misused; a lot of it was spent on spying on domestic opposition rather than being used to fight those insurgents in the border area.
SEC. GATES: Well, we certainly heard those allegations, and we've looking at it.
Q You're moving on from here to Turkey. Turkish troops are in northern Iraq at the moment. I presume you knew that operation was going to happen before it started, but I wonder when do we get to a point when you say enough is enough? Because the Iraqi government is clearly beginning to get more and more concerned about what's going on.
SEC. GATES: Well, I think the American government at very senior levels has been saying for some time now that this operation should be very short. It should be very precisely targeted and then the Turks should withdraw back across the border. That clearly is our position and as I told President Gul when he was in Washington, they also need to think about political and economic initiatives that they cannot solve; the PKK problem, the terrorist problem, which is a very real one from the Turks' standpoint and a lot of innocent Turks have been killed by these terrorists. They can't solve that problem entirely by military means and they need to begin thinking about what they're going to do in the non-military arena.
Q But there's certainly been a feeling for years now to the United States in particular, but also to the Iraqi authorities, do something about the PKK. It hasn't been done. So they've taken matters into their own hands.
SEC. GATES: Well, I think that that's one of the reasons that, frankly, the Iraqi government has not reacted more strongly. I think you've seen the government of Kurdistan take a more proactive stance in trying to be helpful and certainly we have in terms of providing additional intelligence, surveillance reconnaissance assistance for the Turks and as I've told others, just as we had been willing to help them with the intelligence side for their military operations, I think we would stand ready if we can provide them with any help on the non-military side for a solution. We certainly would consider that.
Q Okay, Mr. Secretary, thank you very much.
SEC. GATES: My pleasure. Thank you.
Q Thank you very much.