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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Strikes Back: Overview of Asian Countries Being Courted for Coalition

Aired October 11, 2001 - 07:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: As Congress will continue to debate its anti-terrorism reforms, the U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to build a firm coalition do continue overseas.

Miles O'Brien checking in now with the latest on that -- Miles, good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

Think of this as your morning check on the efforts to build a coalition. Yesterday we told you about the countries immediately surrounding Afghanistan. Now we're going to take you in a little wider ring and give you a sense of where countries stand vis-a-vis the U.S. in this war on terrorism.

Let's take you down to Afghanistan and some of the countries not immediately surrounding, but in the region, and very instrumental, of course.

Let's begin with Russia. Russia obviously an important player here because southern, southwestern Asia, a sphere of influence historically for the Russians, the old Soviet Union, these countries former republics of it. Russia under Vladimir Putin initially expressed a little bit of concern about the war on terrorism but now has come into it full throttle, if you will. They see linkage potentially to the situation in Chechnya, where Muslim separatists have been giving the Russian republic some difficulties, to say the least, and they also see this as a way to leverage full membership into NATO by offering their support.

Russia, in addition to offering air space and other aspects of support, is providing arms to the Northern Alliance. The Northern Alliance is armed by primarily old Soviet weaponry and thus is instrumental in providing ammunition and so forth.

Kazakhstan has marched in lockstep with Russia on this, has accepted a request from the U.S. to grant the use of air space, the use of military bases, as well, put them squarely in the corner of the U.S. in this case.

As we move along, things get a little more complicated in China. China concerned that a public offering of support for the U.S. in the war against terrorism might invite some criticism or give them, put them in a difficult position as it relates to their situations in Tibet and the Xingziahn Province where they have unrest. They are nevertheless offering somewhat tepid support. The U.S. perhaps will be not as vocal about human rights issues in China in exchange for that support.

Now, let's get down to India. India, of course, is a foe of Pakistan. Pakistan deeply involved in this, as well. The concern in India is Kashmir. Specifically, they do not want any support for the U.S. to lead to further unrest in Kashmir. That's that disputed province that has caused problems with Pakistan over the years and nevertheless consider them full square supporters of the U.S. in this despite those concerns.

And finally, Saudi Arabia. This has been an interesting one. The Saudi royal family thus far has been publicly silent, indicating they are allied with us, have not received any official requests to use air bases populated by U.S. aircraft. Those aircraft are dealing with the no fly zones in Iraq typically, but have said they do not want offensive operations being staged from Saudi Arabia into Afghanistan.

The concern here is, of course, bin Laden was born and raised in Saudi Arabia. He's no longer a Saudi citizen. He was stripped of that in 1994. But there are many people who oppose the royal family in Saudi Arabia who see bin Laden as a hero. So it gets a little bit complicated for the royal family as they get involved in this.

If you want to find out a little bit more about coalition building, we invite you to check out our Web site, CNN.com. Just point and click your way to the section on amps and in that section you'll see an entire world map which gives you a sense of where countries have been standing with the U.S. since the September 11 attack. It's a very useful site which has some good depth for you. We invite you to check it out, CNN.com -- Bill.

HEMMER: Good deal. Miles, thank you.

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