In a move that has alarmed the US coalition, Pakistan has begun moving troops from the Afghan border, where they have been aiding coalition forces in the hunt for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters.
The forces are expected to be shifted to Pakistan's eastern border with India, although President Pervez Musharraf said no final decision has been made. Pakistan and India already have amassed a million troops in the disputed Kashmir region.
A senior British military commander in Afghanistan, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, said today: "The crisis between India and Pakistan is having an effect on our operations."
The situation "is not helping Pakistan to maintain the integrity of their border ... when all their effects and efforts go down to the Line of Control,'' he said at the Bagram base, near Kabul
Washington earlier expressed concern about reports of plans for a Pakistan redeployment, saying it could hurt the effort to seal the Afghan border and prevent the escape of Taliban and al-Qaida or their re-entry into Afghanistan to regroup or stage attacks.
Rashid Quereshi, Musharraf's spokesman, claimed the pullback from the Afghan border, where about 1,000 troops were deployed less than a month ago, will not affect Pakistan's relations with the coalition.
"We are extending the best possible support to the coalition forces in the war against terrorism, and this support will continue in the days to come,'' he said.
Quereshi said the troops were being sent to areas "where they are needed in the prevailing situation on the borders."
But General Musharraf, who is also head of the armed forces, insisted today that he has not yet begun redeploying forces to the Indian frontier.
"We are very seriously contemplating moving them onto our eastern borders if tensions remain as high as they are now," he said. "Pakistan's first responsibility is its security. We will devote all our resources to our security."
President George Bush today urged Musharraf to "live up to his word" and stop cross-border attacks in Kashmir.
He is sending Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to New Delhi and Islamabad in an attempt to ease tensions between nuclear-capable India and Pakistan.
However, Indian and Pakistani officials have repeatedly said that a nuclear conflict is unlikely.
"India has not ever spoken about nuclear weapons. Its policy is clear, unambiguous and explicit," said Jaswant Singh, India's foreign minister. "It's no first use that remains the country's policy."
The nightmare scenario of a nuclear war has caused US experts to project eight to 12 million deaths immediately among the 1.2 billion people in the two countries, and radiation fallout over millions more.
AP