Asia welcomes U.S. help

Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

A group of Southeast Asian countries agreed this week to work closely with the U.S. to fight international terrorism. Foreign ministers from the Association of South-East Asian Nations, meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell, signed a declaration of cooperation that increases U.S. aid—as well as U.S. freedom of action—against terrorist groups in Asia. A draft of the declaration said that the U.S. would act according to “principles of sovereign equality and territorial integrity,” but the U.S. amended it to say only that it “recognizes” those principles. The U.S. has 100,000 troops in Asia.