U.S. EXPECTS A WIDER WAR ON TWO FRONTS IN COLOMBIA

WASHINGTON, April 27 - With elections in Colombia a month away, the Bush
administration expects the country's next president to take a harder line
in the battle against guerrillas and narcotics traffickers and dedicate
more resources to the fight, administration officials say.

The departure of President Andres Pastrana, who was thwarted in his main
goal of negotiating a peace deal with the rebels, opens the door for a more
aggressive leader as Colombians clamor for security, the officials say.

The United States is already preparing for a widening war in Colombia,
where the government has been battling two leftist insurgencies with ties
to drug trafficking and a right-wing paramilitary organization widely
accused of human rights abuses tolerated by the Colombian military.

The Bush administration has asked Congress to let Colombians use
American-trained soldiers and equipment against the guerrillas, arguing
that it is not feasible to limit American assistance to the fight against
drugs.

It was unclear whether the officials were expressing a hope for a tougher
fight against the rebels and drug traffickers, or essentially demanding
that Colombia commit to the fight.

"No amount of additional assistance will be sufficient to turn the tide
unless Colombia dedicates more of its own resources to this task and
commits decisively to a policy of establishing state authority and
effective security for its people," Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said
in a written statement to lawmakers this week.

Although widely respected for his peace efforts, Mr. Pastrana became a
virtual lame duck several months ago as it became apparent that leaders of
the main leftist rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia,
had spurned his offers of negotiation and increased their attacks.

When talks finally broke down in February, Mr. Pastrana ordered troops to
retake a demilitarized zone he had ceded to the rebels in 1998.

Since then, Colombia's presidential campaign has entered its final phase
against a backdrop of growing violence. Leftist rebels kidnapped one
presidential candidate, Ingrid Betancourt, and her campaign manager; last
week a bomb tore into the motorcade of the leading presidential candidate,
Alvaro Uribe.

Mr. Uribe, a deeply conservative former senator and governor who is far
ahead in the polls, was not hurt in the attack. Although he has reduced his
public appearances, Mr. Uribe, 49, is unbowed in his hard-line stance
toward the rebels, saying he will not support peace talks until they agree
to a cease-fire.

Mr. Uribe's closest rival, Horacio Serpa, a former interior minister, also
takes a tough line toward rebels.

Peter W. Rodman, the assistant secretary of defense for international
security affairs, said Colombians had undergone a "sea change" in their
thinking since the hope of talks with the rebels had collapsed.

"I think there were a lot of hopes invested in it, and perhaps that was an
excuse for not making this a larger military commitment or a commitment of
resources," Mr. Rodman said. "Now it seems that the society as a whole has
tested that option and found it wanting."

Administration officials say the Colombian government has spent $2.6
billion on Mr. Pastrana's anti-narcotics and development strategy, and $426
million on related investments. Mr. Pastrana had pledged to spend $4.5
billion in support of the $7.5 billion plan over five years; the remaining
$3 billion is to come from the United States and Europe.

Secretary Powell told lawmakers, "After the election, we will be pressing
the new leadership to make a more serious commitment of financial resources
of the Colombian people and government to this effort."

While he declined to make a prediction about the elections on May 26,
Secretary Powell added that "just watching the campaigns develop, it seems
to me that we're probably going to have a more aggressive leadership in
power in Colombia that might be more receptive" to spending more.

The United States has provided $1.7 billion in support of the anti-
narcotics and development plan and the administration's successor plan, the
Andean Regional Initiative. Most of the assistance has been in military aid
and training. The administration has so far provided 8 helicopters to the
national police and 35 to the Colombian armed forces and trained a
counternarcotics battalion that officials say is the most effective
fighting unit in Colombia.

The administration is currently asking Congress to finance another
battalion and provide $98 million to equip Colombian forces to protect the
Cano Limon oil pipeline. Rebel attacks on the pipeline shut it down for 240
days last year, costing the government $500 million in lost revenue,
officials said.