Powell Reaches Out to Arab Nations

By BARRY SCHWEID
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Pakistan is ready to agree to the United States' request that it close its border with Afghanistan and let U.S. warplanes use its airspace if President Bush orders military action against Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official said Friday.

The United States has not heard directly from President Pervez Musharraf, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. But the United States has received indications that Pakistan intends to say yes to the U.S. appeal, the official said.

The United States is looking to Pakistan for permission to fly over the country in the event Bush orders an air attack on terrorist training camps in neighboring Afghanistan.

Osama bin Laden uses Afghanistan as a base of operations. Secretary of State Colin Powell has called bin Laden a prime suspect in this week's terror attacks that leveled the World Trade Center, damaged the Pentagon and killed thousands.

The administration also is asking Pakistan to seal its border with landlocked Afghanistan, apparently to prevent bin Laden and his allies from leaving.

Powell said Friday the United States will measure its relations with other countries on the stand they take on terrorism.

Reaching out to Syria and six other Arab countries for support, Powell said, "This has become a new benchmark, a new way of measuring the relationship and what we can do together."

A Pakistani official, insisting on anonymity, said the United States was discussing a comprehensive strike to wipe out a whole network of terrorists operating from secret bases in Afghanistan, which has a 1,560-mile border with Pakistan.

Richard Haass, head of policy planning for the State Department, said Thursday in a London BBC news interview that no country, including Iran, is ruled out of a coalition against terrorist threats around the globe.

"I am not ruling out anybody," Haass said. "The Iranians made a very positive statement in response to what happened. They have a long history of opposition to the Taliban."

Haass added: "The U.S. and Iran have consulted in diplomatic frameworks about Afghanistan. I would not rule out the possibility at the moment of any country necessarily working with the United States and the international community."

Iran, like Syria, is listed by the State Department as a sponsor of terrorism, and the United States has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since 1980.

Pakistan, meanwhile, has been cited by the State Department as a country that is host to at least one terrorist organization.

Three other senior administration officials, refusing to be quoted by name, questioned whether Iran would be invited to join an anti-terrorism coalition.

There are benefits and also costs to coalition warfare, one official said, and the United States will weigh them carefully.

Another official said that while Iran shares some of the United States' views on Afghanistan, it is speculation to believe Iran is prepared to take action against international terror.

Meanwhile, Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he assumed Pakistan "will respond favorably if they are sincere about leaning forward toward a free and democratic society."

Goss, a former Central Intelligence Agency official, recently visited Pakistan and met with Gen. Musharraf.

Stepping up his quest for a united global front against terrorism, Powell worked the telephones Friday, talking to President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, and ministers in India, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Japan, Kuwait and Bahrain. He also talked to Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa of Syria and Defense Minister Binyamin ben-Eliezer of Israel.

American ambassadors around the world were making parallel pitches to officials in host countries, seeking to deprive terrorist groups of the funds they need to finance the kind of suicidal operations that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York, part of the Pentagon, and killed and injured thousands of Americans.