U.S. thanks Southeast Asia for support in terror war

U.S. thanks Southeast Asia for support in terror war

Stephen Collinson, Agence France-Presse, Washington

The United States on Thursday expressed "deep appreciation" for Southeast Asia's support in its war on terrorism after talks with regional envoys overshadowed by September's terror attacks.

And in deference to sensitivities of some regional leaders who must reconcile the sentiments of largely Muslim populations with support for the U.S. assault on Afghanistan, Washington stressed it was not waging a war on Islam.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage opened the one-day U.S.-ASEAN dialog, which takes place every 18 months and groups top US Asia policymakers with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) envoys.

In a joint U.S.-ASEAN statement, Washington "expressed deep appreciation for the strong stance taken by ASEAN against terrorism and for the offer by several ASEAN countries to assist in peacekeeping and reconstruction in Afghanistan."

The issue of combating terrorism is highly sensitive for some ASEAN members, and tests fault lines of a group which includes Muslim states, western-style democracies, communist governments and military dictatorships.

While sympathetic to U.S. pain following the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon, some ASEAN states, especially mainly-Muslim Indonesia, must work to keep a lid on domestic anti-U.S. sentiment.

With that in mind, the U.S. repeated in the statement that it was waging an operation against terrorism, and not Islam -- the consistent line of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.

The United States is keen to crack down on the activities of Muslim groups in Southeast Asia which it believes to have links to Osama bin Laden, its top suspect in the September attacks that left some 3,700 people dead.

In the final statement issued after talks which also focused on trade, economics and cutting narcotics production, Washington praised ASEAN's resolve at "preventing, suppressing and eradicating terrorism."

The U.S. side also stressed that it wanted post-Taliban Afghanistan to be ruled by a broad-based government representative of all Afghans.

But despite the warm words, there were few specifics available from a meeting which took place behind closed doors at a top Washington hotel and was closed to the press.

The two sides, which held later sessions of the talks at the White House and were joined by Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, agreed to meet again in Vietnam in early 2003.

There was also a lunchtime session with key U.S. business leaders. The United States is the prime market for most Southeast Asian nations, which have seen their economic prospects badly hit by the slowing U.S. economy.

Heading the U.S. delegation was Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs James Kelly. The ASEAN delegation was drawn from diplomats in Washington and the region. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.