U.S. unlikely to have combat role in SE Asia: Adm. Blair

U.S. unlikely to have combat role in SE Asia: Adm. Blair

Agencies, Kuala Lumpur

U.S. military forces were unlikely to have a combat role in
fighting terrorist groups in Southeast Asia, but would offer
logistical and other support to regional governments that asked
for it, the U.S. Pacific commander said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the end of a tour of several Southeast Asian
countries, Adm. Dennis Blair, the chief of the U.S. Pacific
Command, said U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia would
not resemble its role in Afghanistan, where a U.S.-led bombing
campaign has helped force that country's Taliban regime from
power.

Afghanistan was "the single country in the world that has been
providing a sanctuary for international terrorists ... and
receiving assistance from them," Blair told reporters.

"I certainly do not see other Afghanistans in this part of the
world. All the countries in this part of the world condemn
terrorists and their actions against terrorists are very much
cooperative actions," he said.

Blair said that the United Nations needs to have a
peacekeeping force ready to move into Afghanistan once Washington
achieves it aim of destroying the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.

"I would like it to be imminent," he said of the need to
deploy a multinational force to restore stability in a country
wracked by civil war and now being pounded by U.S. bombers.

The United States was providing equipment, intelligence and
military advisers to the Philippines government to help it deal
with the "military problem" of the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group,
and stood ready to assist other Southeast Asian countries in
fighting terrorism locally.

"The United States will cooperate with those countries that
are both willing and able to eliminate the terrorist
infrastructure," Blair said. "In those countries which are
willing but would like to be more able to conduct those
campaigns ... the United States would provide that assistance."

The Abu Sayyaf, which claims to be a Muslim separatist
movement but which the Philippines government says is merely a
bandit group, has been linked to Osama bin Laden, the suspected
mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United
States, who is believed to be in Afghanistan.

Some 7,000 Philippines troops are pursuing the Abu Sayyaf in
its jungle stronghold in the southern Philippines, where they
hold a number of hostages, including two Americans.

Muslim extremists also allegedly operate in other parts of
Southeast Asia, including Indonesia and Malaysia.

The two predominantly Muslim countries have condemned the
Sept. 11 attacks, but have called for an end to the military
campaign in Afghanistan. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad said last week that the international fight against
terrorism looks increasingly like a war against Islam.

Blair said that rather than combat, the fight against terror
in Southeast Asia would involve identifying and nabbing
terrorists, denying them funds and sanctuaries and preventing
them from traveling between countries.

He said the United States hoped to expand its annual bilateral
military exercises with Malaysia to include more countries to
help check trans-border movement of terrorists.

Blair, who was in the Philippines last week, said Manila had
made it clear that it does not "require or want" U.S. combat
troops to join the hunt for the Abu Sayyaf.

After a meeting in Washington on Tuesday, U.S. President
George Bush said the United States was prepared to help
Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo fight the Abu
Sayyaf "in any way she suggests."