WASHINGTON, June 3: United States Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage, who is due to leave Washington on Tuesday for a hurriedly-arranged visit to Pakistan and India, on Monday described the situation in the region as “extraordinarily volatile” and said his goal would be to help reduce tensions.

In a television interview, Mr Armitage said he felt Gen Pervez Musharraf was trying to minimize the possibility of a nuclear war. “I think he is trying to downplay it, and I thank him for that.” But the USA official added that once a conflict reached a certain point, “reason and logic seem to go out of the window.”

“Those who say we shouldn’t even think about a nuclear exchange are right in one way, but we have to have it in the back of our minds,” Mr Armitage said.

The deputy secretary will be followed by Defence Sceretary Donald Rumsfeld, who is also due to travel to the region after attending a Nato meeting in Brussels later this week. By the time, Mr Armitage and Mr Rumsfeld meet the leaders of India and Pakistan the results of the high-powered concilation effort launched by Russian President Vladmir Putin in Almaty, Kazakhastan, will also be available.

Mr Putin has said he will meet separately with President Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to seek to lower Indo-Pakistan tensions and bring the two leaders together. China has also announced it will talk to both Gen Musharraf and Mr Vajpayee at Almaty.

Mr Armitage said the US had been asking Gen Musharraf to prevent infiltration into Kashmir. It was now assessing the general’s declared position that the incursions had ended. The US would then be able to expect India to make a reasonable and logical decision of its own and visibly de-escalate the standoff.

The US official said the Kashmir issue had to be resolved by India and Pakistan through bilateral dialogue. The world community, including the US, could encourage a process that could lead to dialogue between the two countries.