Powell urges Taliban regime to comply

WASHINGTON -- If the increasingly isolated Taliban regime in Afghanistan hands over Osama bin Laden and breaks up the al-Qaida terrorism network, it will be spared and may even receive Western assistance, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday. \n"If they did that we wouldn't be worrying about whether they are the regime in power or not," Powell said in an Associated Press interview. \n"If they don't come to their senses we will direct more actions against Taliban," he said. \nThe former Army general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff played down any idea of a U.S. military invasion, especially any reprise of the Desert Storm operation that forced Iraq to reverse its annexation of Kuwait a decade ago. \n"It's a tough place to fight conventional battles," he said. \nAnd yet, Powell said, "you can be sure we are thinking of all the ways to make them think properly." \nAmong them, he suggested, was encouraging existing divisions within the Islamic fundamentalist movement. Also, the Taliban has been struggling against resistance groups within Afghanistan. \nAcross the border, Powell said, Pakistan has been "absolutely superb" in cooperating with the United States in its anti-terrorism campaign. \n"The Central Asians to the north are against them now and they have had the Iranians unsupportive and against them," Powell said. \nBeyond, Sudan and Syria, two countries listed by the State Department as sponsors of terrorism, have enlisted in the U.S. campaign, Powell said. \nSudan has joined in some cooperative efforts, he said, and "we are exploring opportunities to cooperate" with Syria. Powell provided no details. \nOnly Iraq "didn't find what happened to us a tragedy." Powell said. \nPowell spoke across a highly polished table in a conference room outside his State Department office with two AP reporters. \nHe had not yet received a report from Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary, who went to Tehran to confer with Iranian leaders. \nPowell wore on his lapel an American flag pin. It replaced the little red wagon that symbolized the America's Promise children's aid program he headed before taking his post in President Bush's Cabinet. \nPowell was forceful in his denunciation of the al-Qaida network headed by Saudi exile bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. \n"The head of this organization is in Afghanistan and he is being sustained there by the Taliban regime," he said. "So our goal is to go after him and we hope the Taliban regime will come to its senses in due course and turn him over and all of his lieutenants and rip up those bases he has been using in Afghanistan." \nIf the Taliban yields, Powell said, "there may be significant benefits for them, having a better relationship with the West, with the United States and with the countries that surround Afghanistan." \n"Remember," Powell said, "we are the largest provider of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan." \nHe referred to the $140 million a year in food aid that the United States provides to the Afghan people.\nPowell also spoke hopefully of the talks Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat, the president of the Palestinian Authority, have set for Wednesday. \nInvolved in a two-week effort to bring them together, Powell said he sometimes took on the role of a travel agent, but he said he did not advise Arafat to postpone a planned trip to Syria for the meeting with Peres. \n"When I spoke to Mr. Arafat yesterday I told him how important it was to have this meeting and not let time pass and let another event start the clock ticking again," Powell said. \nMuch of the Arab world has been clamoring for a resumption of negotiations between the two sides, hopeful for territorial concessions by Israel to the Palestinians. \n"It is an especially charged environment," Powell said. \nHe said the goal was one Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Arafat shared, beginning to implement the peacemaking measures suggested by a panel headed by former Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell. \n"It doesn't require Israel to be put back on its heels," Powell said. "This is what Israel wanted"