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Powell Plans South Asia Trip This Month
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Powell will visit both South and Southeast Asia later this month. |
WASHINGTON,
July 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell is to embark on a sweeping eight-nation tour of South and
Southeast Asia this month to keep tensions between nuclear rivals
India and Pakistan on ice and bolster the U.S.-led war on terrorism,
U.S. officials said Friday.
Powell,
to anchor the trip around his previously announced participation in
the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF)
in Brunei July 30 and 31, is to also visit India, Pakistan, Thailand,
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Dates
for each stop and the order in which they would be visited were not
immediately available, but Powell is expected to depart Washington
around July 25 or 26 and begin his swing across Asia in India and
Pakistan, the officials told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on condition
of anonymity.
A formal
State Department announcement of the trip was expected later Friday or
Monday, the officials said.
Powell
said earlier this week that he intended to travel to Islamabad and New
Delhi to keep up the pace of the diplomatic drive to cool tensions
between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan over disputed Kashmir, which
both claim.
He has
visited both countries twice before.
Testifying
Tuesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and announcing
the trip in light of tensions between the two nuclear rivals, Powell
said, "We have worked very hard to keep this thing from boiling
over on us."
U.S.
relations with the two rivals have been strong since the beginning of
the U.S.-led war, which has seen Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf
risking a backlash at home after he sided with the U.S.
India
wants Powell to get Musharraf to follow through on pledges to stop
Pakistan-based combatants crossing into Indian territory in their
battle for self-determination.
On
Kashmir, Powell commented, "We are anxious to see a dialogue
begin between the two sides," but said it would ultimately be up
to India and Pakistan to decide how to lower tensions and settle the
question of Kashmir.
U.S.
President George W. Bush administration officials credit Pakistan with
curbing the infiltration of combatants into the Indian-held portion of
Kashmir, but Indian leaders and army officers said this week that
infiltration levels had risen again, reports news agencies.
Earlier
this year, at the height of tensions in late May and early June, about
one million Indian and Pakistani soldiers were massed along the
border.
Vowing
to destroy al-Qaeda cells, and after ousting the Taliban that provided
a safe haven to al-Qaeda and bin Laden in Afghanistan, and groups
linked to them, the United States hopes to bolster an alliance with
the dozen Southeast Asian countries where the remnants are believed to
be present.
The
Southeast Asian stops will mark Powell's first visit to each of the
countries as Secretary of State.
Each
plays a critical role in the Pacific front of the war on terrorism
with the United States sending troops to the Philippines to train the
army there in counter-insurgency tactics.
Southeast
Asian allies of the United States will see Powell’s trip as a
valuable exercise in showing the flag and consulting with top regional
leaders.
Some
Southeast Asian diplomats in Washington however have privately
expressed disappointment that it has taken Powell this long to get to
the region, given the cooperation Washington is seeking on the
anti-terror fight following September 11.
He did,
however, visit Vietnam for ASEAN meetings last year.
Powell's
itinerary in Southeast Asia includes states that are seen as close
U.S. allies or long-term partners.
Conspicuously
missing are Vietnam, communist Laos, military-ruled Myanmar, and
Cambodia, which has a sometimes testy relationship with Washington.
The
Philippines visit will be taken as recognition for the government's
work with U.S. forces trying to track down the Abu Sayyaf group
Washington says is linked to al-Qaeda.
The
Philippines faces frequent attacks and kidnappings from the Abu
Sayyaf.
Malaysia
has won praise from the United States in its fight against terrorism,
worrying some rights activists who fear the government may be
exploiting the anti-terror campaign to repress domestic opponents.
Mainly
Muslim Indonesia, while promising to support the U.S. campaign, has
disappointed some U.S. officials with its anti-terror effort, and
there have been frequent reports that the al-Qaeda network has
considered the country, with its myriad islands and ethnic conflicts
an ideal staging ground.
Last
year, Singapore intelligence operatives detained 13 men linked to bin
Laden's network for allegedly plotting to blow up American military
personnel and using truck bombs to attack the U.S. Embassy in the tiny
state.
Thailand
has been a U.S. ally for decades, although the Thais have in recent
years shown slight signs of concern that their steadfast support,
which peaked during the Vietnam War years, may have been taken for
granted.
As a
group, Southeast Asian nations have pledged to work hard to fight
against terrorism, and recommended a set of preventative actions.
But the
philosophical division in their grouping, which includes democracies
like Thailand and the Philippines, and military dictatorships like
Myanmar, has hampered their effort.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam.
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