The United States is operating with two simultaneous goals, according to interviews with U.S. officials and leaders in the region. The first is to ensure the cooperation of the countries that have agreed to participate. The second is to persuade countries that may be wavering to join the effort.
“There is very little flexibility in the decision that they have to make. They either have to say `yes’ or `no,'” a senior U.S. official said in an interview Wednesday.
The United States needs different types of cooperation from different countries in this important and often volatile part of the world.
In Turkey, the United States is looking for both military support and public backing from the only Muslim country in NATO. In the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, Washington may be looking for staging areas for attacks on suspected terrorist bases in Afghanistan or permission to use airspace.
The Bush administration has been getting positive responses from these countries.
“The main agenda is to get governments in place as potential supporters because at this point the administration doesn’t know what action it will take. They are still developing their options,” said John S. Schoeberlein, director of Harvard University’s Forum for Central Asian Studies.
U.S. officials know that they have to spell out the goals of this new war in precise terms and provide concrete evidence about the targets, including the exiled Saudi terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
More Top Picks Best Cold Saws
Predicting that most Muslim countries eventually will align themselves with the United States and playing down the importance of Muslim solidarity, former Turkish ambassador Ilter Turkmen said: “The Muslim reaction is exaggerated, I believe. I have never seen all Muslim countries act in solidarity before. Why would they now?
“More importantly, most of the countries in Central Asia are extremely wary of the danger of fundamentalism. To crush the fundamentalist movement in Afghanistan will serve their purposes.”
Turkey is not only a NATO country but also one of the United States’ closest allies in the region. Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Wednesday that Turkey would allow Americans to use the Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, which is already the home for American and British planes patrolling northern Iraq.
Pointing to America’s past support of Turkey’s own efforts to fight terrorism, Ecevit said it is his country’s “humanitarian obligation” to support the American battle against international terrorism.
Until recent events forced the issue, Ecevit said, too many countries have had the attitude toward terrorism of, “Let the snake that does not bite me live for a thousand years.”
In a diplomatic coup for Washington earlier in the week, the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan agreed to allow U.S. forces to operate in their countries. However, the exact nature of that cooperation is uncertain, as negotiations continue over what kinds of U.S. forces be allowed in.
And while the military infrastructure could be useful in both of those countries, there is some question about whether the facilities are in good enough condition to be useful.