EU foreign ministers have expressed support for the US-led attacks on Afghanistan but stressed that military action represented only one part of a broader strategy. The ministers, who were meeting in Luxembourg, heard a report on the attacks from Britain's foreign secretary, Mr Jack Straw, who described Sunday's strikes as the first of a number of phases of military action.
Mr Straw appeared to contradict Washington when he insisted to reporters after the meeting that military action would be confined to Afghanistan. The US government has suggested in a letter to the US Security Council that the number of targets could be broadened to include other countries suspected of sponsoring international terrorism.
"There are always statements coming out of Washington. Washington is a very large place. But this military action, this military coalition is about action in respect of military and terrorist targets in Afghanistan," Mr Straw said.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, who is the current chairman of the UN Security Council, indicated he would support US attacks on countries other than Afghanistan.
"As of now, the threat has been identified as being in Afghanistan. If there were evidence to suggest that other regimes were a threat to international peace and security, such action would be admissible," he said.
EU diplomats believe that broadening the targets to include such states as Iraq would shatter the international coalition against terrorism and make it impossible for Arab countries to support the West. The ministers repeated after the meeting that the strikes were not an attack against Islam or the people of Afghanistan.
"The EU and its member-states are responding urgently to the humanitarian crisis in and around Afghanistan and have already decided to make available €316 million. The Afghan people deserve a government which is truly representative and which responds to their needs and aspirations," the statement said.
Ireland has already allocated more than €5 million in aid to Afghanistan.
The ministers agreed that the United Nations should play a central role in facilitating a post-Taliban government in Afghanistan. However, the Belgian foreign minister, Mr Louis Michel, who chaired the meeting, declined to back a French proposal that a new government should be headed by Afghanistan's exiled King Zahir Shah.
"It would be unbelievable if we should now choose a particular scenario. We must wait and evaluate the situation," he said. Mr Michel said the EU would remain in touch with many non-European countries which have supported the international coalition against terrorism. He promised that Europe would do all in its power to support the US in fighting against international terrorism.
"Let there be no doubt about our resolve to fully and unreservedly play our full role and take our full responsibility in the fight against terrorism," he said.
The ministers asked the European Commission to examine the possibility of signing a co-operation agreement with Pakistan and to intensify talks about co-operation with Iran. Mr Michel said Tehran's tone of condemnation was unexpectedly moderate.