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Bush Phones Leaders; Powell to Go to Pakistan
President Bush and senior U.S. officials, in an urgent round of phone calls, alerted world leaders from Russia to Asia to the Middle East as the United States launched military strikes inside Afghanistan on Sunday.
Secretary of State Colin Powell planned later this week to travel to Pakistan, a key ally in the U.S. terror war and neighbor to Afghanistan, and to India to shore up diplomatic support for military retaliation.
Bush telephoned Russian President Vladimir Putin to inform him of the attacks. Putin has provided welcome support to the U.S. operation, opening Russia's airspace to U.S. deliveries of humanitarian aid and encouraging Afghanistan's neighbors in Central Asia to lend their support for the operation.
French President Jacques Chirac said in a nationally televised address that he also spoke with Bush and suggested that French forces could play a direct role in the military offensive.
All told, Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Powell called more than a dozen leaders, administration officials said.
Powell worked the telephones from his suburban Virginia home, calling Mexican President Vicente Fox, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, the amir of Bahrain Kalifia Hamad, Sultan Qaboos of Oman and the leaders of five former Soviet republics: Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
The latter two are considered to be potentially important strategically because of their shared borders with Afghanistan. They may be asked for their cooperation in the event of U.S. land operations into Afghanistan.
Leaders in Jordan, Israel, Germany, Egypt and Canada also received calls from top U.S. officials. Powell and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage informed key Senate and House members of the operation.
Within hours of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the administration began rallying international support for a campaign against terrorism. The focus shifted to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qa'eda group as evidence accumulated that they were responsible for the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
As a result of these efforts, Bush said Sunday that more than 40 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia have granted air transit or landing rights.
As the attacks began, the State Department warned of the possibility of "strong anti-American sentiment and retaliatory actions against U.S. citizens and interests throughout the world." Any Americans remaining in Afghanistan were urged to leave.
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