Jordan Times
Friday-Saturday, September 28-29, 2001
King, Powell discuss anti-terrorism coalition
WASHINGTON (AFP) — His Majesty King Abdullah met here Thursday with US Secretary of State Colin Powell to discuss a US-led anti-terrorism coalition that many Arab and Muslim countries have expressed reluctance about joining.
Powell and the King met for about 40 minutes at the State Department ahead of the Monarch's meeting on Friday with President George W. Bush. King Abdullah will be the first Arab head of state to visit the White House since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Powell escorted the King to his motorcade at the end of their talks but did not speak to reporters outside, and no details of the meeting were immediately available.
King Abdullah has strongly condemned the attacks and said “the struggle against the phenomenon of terrorism is an international responsibility which requires a coming together of all efforts.”
But echoing the views of most Arab leaders he warned that eradicating the roots of terror must be linked to greater efforts, spearheaded by the United States, to resolve the 53-year-old Arab-Israeli conflict.
And, a Jordanian official accompanying the King said the campaign must not be allowed to become an anti-Muslim or anti-Arab struggle.
Information Minister Saleh Qallab said Wednesday that the King would focus on Israel's aggression against the Palestinian people and the 11-year-old UN sanctions regime on Iraq.
At the same time he will tell Bush that Arab nations “reject a generalisation of the problem and links” to Osama Ben Laden, the United States' prime suspect in the terror attacks, Qallab said.
Arab leaders from Egypt to the Gulf have been increasingly reluctant to join the United States in waging war against Ben Laden, who is being harboured by Afghanistan's Taleban regime.
The King had met earlier with US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. Attending the meeting was Director of the General Intelligence Department and Rapporteur of the National Security Council General Saad Kheir.
Earlier in the day, Petra said, the King met with a group of representatives of the Arab and Muslim communities in the United States, and later in the afternoon he held separate talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ismail Cem and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher.
Her Majesty Queen Rania, who accompanied the King to the US, on Thursday was in New York to visit the Islamic Centre.