U.S. LOOKS TO EXPAND DRUG FIGHT IN COLOMBIA

Powell To Discuss Policy With Pastrana As Bush Considers More Military Training

WASHINGTON -- As Secretary of State Colin Powell leaves today for
South America, U.S. officials are considering how to expand their
training of Colombian security forces with the battle against cocaine
cultivation and trafficking spreading from southern Colombia to other
parts of the country, administration officials said.

Among the options under consideration is training of a new Colombian
anti-narcotics battalion beyond the three that already have received
instruction under a year-old, $1.3 billion U.S. aid package, a senior
administration official said.

Another alternative would be training an existing military battalion
in fighting drug trafficking, but the official said support for this
option could be tempered by U.S. concerns about the human rights
record of regular Colombian army troops.

Administration officials stressed that the training would be in
support only of the ``existing mission'' of combating the drug trade,
and not designed to bolster the Colombian government's long-running
war against leftist rebels.

A final call about whether to step up U.S. military training would
likely be made over the next four to six months, with the intention
of winning congressional approval for the funding for the 2003 fiscal
year. ``We have certainly been talking to the government of Colombia
about it, but no decision has been made,'' a senior State Department
official said.

Powell's trip to Colombia will follow an overnight visit to Peru for
a meeting of the Organization of American States. His trip comes as
the Bush administration has been reviewing U.S. policy toward
Colombia, where President Andres Pastrana's peace effort is flagging
in the face of a well-funded insurgency.

In his talks with Pastrana, Powell will make clear the Bush
administration remains committed to the policy initiated last year by
former President Clinton, U.S. officials said. The $1.3 billion U.S.
aid package formed part of Pastrana's Plan Colombia, which combines
an anti-narcotics campaign with development projects.

U.S. officials said that in Colombia and Peru, Powell will signal the
administration's intention to resume anti-drug air patrols, which
were suspended in April after an American missionary plane was
mistakenly identified by a CIA surveillance plane as a narcotics
flight and shot down by a Peruvian jet. Peruvian and Colombian
leaders have been pressing for the patrols to resume.

But the conditions for restarting the air interdiction program have
yet to be set and no official announcement is expected during
Powell's visit, officials said.