U.S. faces dilemma in war on terror in Asia

U.S. faces dilemma in war on terror in Asia

P. Parameswaran, Agence France Presse/Washington

In the fight against terrorism in Asia, the United States faces a
new dilemma: devising strategies against violent national armed
groups in Asia with have potential to internationalize their
operations.

While Washington has branded at least 10 high-profile groups
in the region international terrorist organizations and crippled
their financial networks, there are others which cannot be
isolated due to local sensitivities and ambiguity of their
operations, officials and experts say.

Moving aggressively against these groups could backfire as
they are seen as localized problems requiring national or
regional solutions.

But they groups could pose international problems if not
nipped in the bud, the experts told a Washington symposium which
reviewed the U.S. war on terrorism in Asia since the Sept. 11,
2001 attacks on the United States.

"It is actually quite sensitive," William Pope, the principal
deputy coordinator for counterterrorism in the State Department,
told the "Strategic Asia and the war on terrorism" meeting last
week. "It is very difficult to deal with that kind of thing."

There are several movements in the region "that clearly are
terrorists but still seem to have principally a kind of
secessionist agenda or local agenda or something like that," Pope
said.

"Definitely (they are) terrorists but not global or
international type terrorists."

Pope did not identify them but there are several groups from
India, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Pakistan on the
radar screens of U.S. counterterrorism officials.

"There are certainly international connections to some. It is
something that we work on, that we try to follow. We do look at
it on a case by case basis.

"There is no formula, I wish we had one," Pope said.

But he said the United States would not hesitate to brand
groups as international terrorists if their violent activities
harmed foreigners.

"When it is international terrorism, we will call it that.
When foreigners are involved then it becomes an act of
international terrorists whatever the nationalities of the
perpetrators," he said.

Among Asian groups which the United States has been asked to
label as terrorists are Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the separatist
movement in the Indonesian province of Aceh, and the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF), seeking an independent state in the
southern Philippines.

The MILF has forged a cease-fire with the Philippine
government, with which it has held several rounds of initial
peace talks.

The Indonesian authorities have declared martial law in Aceh
and are involved in fierce battles with GAM guerrillas seeking
independence for the small oil-rich province in the southern tip
of the island of Sumatra.

Dana Dillon, senior policy analyst for Southeast Asia at the
U.S.-based Heritage Foundation, said Washington should list GAM
as a foreign terrorist organization as part of support for
Indonesia's battle against terrorism.

"Placing GAM on the (terror) list would demonstrate American
empathy with Indonesia's security threats, national unity, and
territorial integrity," he said in a report calling on U.S.
Congress to lift sanctions on Jakarta's military following
elections in the largest Muslim democracy.

"American ambivalence toward GAM is not lost on the Indonesian
government and may account for some of Indonesia's reluctance to
endorse the American approach to the war on terrorism," Dillon
said.

Aside from staging violence locally, GAM "is an active member
of the worldwide terrorist underground," he said, accusing its
leaders of meeting with the top brass of al-Qaeda and its
Southeast Asian wing, Jamaah Islamiyah, and smuggling weapons
together with a southern Thailand separatist group, the Pattani
United Liberation Organization.