State Dept. Warns Foreign Diplomats

By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department took the unusual step of summoning foreign diplomatic representatives to warn that their governments will be isolated if they tolerate or assist terrorist groups, a senior official said Saturday.

The message was delivered in separate meetings Friday by top State Department officials in charge of the five major regions of the world - Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Ambassadors were told that the United States expects their governments to shut down money channels that sustain terrorist groups and access of members of these groups across borders, said the senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

They also were asked to close any terrorist groups operating in their territories.

The message reinforced appeals made by U.S. ambassadors since the terrorist attacks on Tuesday.

Countries on the State Department terrorism list have been generally excluded from these discussions. One exception has been Syria, with which U.S. officials have been in contact at a variety of levels since the attacks.

The official discussed the meetings after Pakistani officials confirmed that Pakistan has agreed to the full list of U.S. demands for a possible attack on neighboring Afghanistan (news - web sites). That includes a multinational force to be based in Pakistan.

Pakistan's decision was conveyed by President Pervez Musharraf in a meeting Friday with U.S. Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin, Pakistani military and diplomatic sources said Saturday.

The senior U.S. official said the United States had been expecting a positive response from Pakistan. He said he was not aware of any compensatory gesture to Pakistan in exchange for the pledge of cooperation.

The official noted that the United States has been talking for some time about lifting sanctions against Pakistan but said many of these measure were imposed as a legal requirement and are not easily removed.

Pakistani cooperation is considered to be crucial by the administration because a suspect in the attacks is Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), who has resided in Pakistan's neighbor to the west, Afghanistan.

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), without mentioning bin Laden by name, suggested again Saturday that he is a focus of attention. He thanked Pakistan for its willingness ``to assist us in whatever might be required in that part of the world, as we determine who these perpetrators are.''

Powell, who joined President Bush (news - web sites) and other officials at Camp David, began pushing the idea of a global anti-terror coalition on Wednesday.

But disagreement among some officials has surfaced over how wide a net the United States should cast in its search for coalition partners.

A White House official said the administration wants the coalition to be in place before the United States retaliates for the attack, even if it means a delay of weeks or months before action is taken.

But a senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld wants to punish the perpetrators as soon as they are identified.

As for who should join the United States in an anti-terror campaign, Richard Haass, State Department director of policy planning, floated the idea of a role for longtime adversary Iran during an interview with BBC.

``I'm not ruling out anybody,'' Haass said, noting that Iran pleased U.S. officials with a very positive statement in response to the attacks.

In theory at least, Iran could provide useful information to the United States if there is substance to the U.S. suspicions that bin Laden was responsible for the attacks. Iran shares a long border with Afghanistan and has had acrimonious relations with the Taliban militia that runs the country.

-- Anonymous, September 15, 2001