Bill Clinton: “Well, first of all, based on our best information, it hasn't happened yet. I also saw the Foreign Minister on television…”

“Well, first of all, based on our best information, it hasn't happened yet. I also saw the Foreign Minister on television last night making substantially the same statement, but I understand it's still being debated in the Cabinet. I understand also that they're under a lot of pressure. You can only imagine what the pressures might be. But I will say this: I still have hopes that the Prime Minister and the Pakistani Government will not go through with a nuclear test. And I believe that we can--the rest of us who would support that can work with them in a way that meets their security interests without the test. Furthermore, I think that over the long run, and indeed before then, the political, the economic, and the security interests of Pakistan and in Pakistan's standing in the world would be dramatically increased if they walked away from a test. The whole rest of the world would think they were stronger and would be profoundly impressed, and I think it would help us to resolve these issues more if they did not. So I hope they will not. And if they do, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Now, do I think that the result would be different if everyone had as hard a line on this as we do? I can't really say that. I think if you go back and look at the statement we've put out here, this is a-- everybody condemned the Indian action, including countries that were very close to India. And every country said their relations would be affected by it. And when I came here, that's the most I thought we could get, because there are lots of countries in the world that basically are opposed to sanctions under almost all circumstances except under rare cases when the UN votes for them. So we just have a different view on that. I'm glad that we've done what we've done, even though I have enormous admiration for India's democracy and for its progress in the last several years. But all I can tell you is I'm going to do what I can to get this back on track. I hope that Pakistan won't test. I think it will help us to get it back on track, and I think it will help Pakistan immeasurably in the world community, and it will have, I believe, specific political, economic, and security benefits to the country if it does not test. So I'll keep working on it.”