'U.S. wants to cooperate with TNI'

'U.S. wants to cooperate with TNI'

Agencies, New York/Washington

The United States wants to cooperate with Indonesia's armed
forces in fighting terrorism, although U.S. military ties between
the nations are limited, the head of the U.S. Pacific command has
said.

"The armed forces of Indonesia, the TNI, have counterterrorism
responsibilities, and we deal with the TNI, and I think it's in
both our interests for them to do it better and more
effectively," Adm. Dennis Blair told the Council on Foreign
Relations.

Military ties with Indonesia's armed forces were curtailed
after its Army was accused of helping local militias devastate
East Timor in 1999 when the region chose independence in a UN
referendum.

Although U.S. officials say cells of al-Qaeda -- the movement
blamed for the Sept. 11 terror attacks -- may be operating in
Indonesia and wants to resume military ties with Jakarta,
Washington is inhibited by a congressional ban.

Blair said the United States already works with Indonesian
security forces in fighting piracy, gun running, narcotics and
illegal immigration.

"However, we are not going to have a full military
relationship with Indonesia that includes exercises and free
exchange, the way we do with other countries, until the reforms
that are ongoing in the Indonesian armed forces are more mature
there," he was quoted as saying in New York by AP on Saturday.

"There has to be a better code of conduct by their troops so
that they can act more professionally, there has to be
accountability when they do the wrong thing," he said.

As these elements of military reform mature, "We can have a
relationship that is pretty normal," he said.

In the fight against terrorism, Blair said: "We want to
cooperate with the right groups in Indonesia that are going
against terrorism." That means, he said, help in the intelligence
and security areas, some sort of military element.

He said that unlike the joint task force in the Philippines,
the military component "will be much more tailored and playing
much more of a support role".

About 660 U.S. troops, including 160 Special Forces members,
are in the southern Philippines to train Filipino soldiers
battling the Abu Sayyaf rebels who hold hostage Martin and Gracia
Burnham of Wichita, Kansas, and Filipino nurse Ediborah Yap.

Blair's statement, however, contradict an earlier report
claiming the United States government favored cooperation with
the Indonesian police rather than its military after concerns
about a possible anti-U.S. backlash.

"There is a deep sense of national pride and independence on
the part of the Indonesians," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul
Wolfowitz told The New York Times in an interview published on
Friday.

"If we want their cooperation, and their cooperation is
essential to our success, we can't look like we are interfering
in their internal affairs," he said.

The director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation,
Robert Mueller, made a low-profile trip to Indonesia earlier this
month for talks with his counterparts on the best way to pursue
terrorists in Indonesia, Wolfowitz said.

The meetings between Mueller and Indonesia's chief security
minister and National Police chief took place not in the capital
Jakarta but in Bali, a predominantly Hindu area.

Unlike the Philippines, where the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf
movement and other Muslim separatist groups control significant
areas, Indonesia, Wolfowitz said, is more like "the United
States, and most European countries".

He said that suspected al-Qaeda cells were present within
Indonesian society -- a situation that creates "much more of a
law enforcement challenge". Wolfowitz served for three years as
ambassador to Indonesia.

Wolfowitz said that, over time, he did not rule out the
possibility of joint military training in counterterrorism and
counternarcotics operations.

He was quoted by AFP as saying that there was little
indication that al-Qaeda members fleeing U.S. military operations
in Afghanistan were heading to Indonesia.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, is a test
case of how Washington handles international terrorism in a
country strongly opposed to U.S. military intervention, the
officials said.

While Indonesia has been singled out as a haven for terrorist
groups linked to al-Qaeda, President Megawati Soekarnoputri has
made it clear the presence of U.S. troops in Indonesia could
destabilize her government.