January 14, 2005 AID RESTRICTIONS U.S. Calls Indonesia Deadline for Troop Pullout Reasonable By RAYMOND BONNER JAKARTA, Indonesia, Jan. 13 - The American ambassador here said Thursday that the United States was not troubled by the Indonesian government's demands that aid workers in Aceh Province register and that all foreign troops be gone by the end of March, describing the restrictions as "reasonable" and "unremarkable." "It's their country," Ambassador B. Lynn Pascoe said at a news conference at the fortified American Embassy, adding that "they have every right to decide" how long American troops are needed. He said Indonesia's intention to have foreign troops leave and its own people take over the reconstruction after 90 days "sounds like a perfectly reasonable position to me." Mr. Pascoe's comments came as administration officials contended that Indonesia was not imposing a strict time limit, but rather giving an estimate of how long foreign soldiers would be needed. The Indonesian vice president, Jusuf Kalla, said Wednesday that foreign troops could stay "no longer than three months." In an interview Thursday on the PBS program "The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said he would not characterize the announcement as a deadline. "It was an expectation that the work would be finished and there would not be a need for foreign troops after three months," he said. This is a highly nationalistic country, and the Bush administration is clearly concerned about the reactions of Indonesians to the presence of the American troops. Ambassador Pascoe's comments were all the more significant given that American diplomats rarely speak publicly. Even at the senior level, they are not supposed to comment on the record without approval from Washington, and in the last several years, there have been fewer than a handful of on-the-record remarks by American diplomats here. On Thursday, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz sought to play down the decision, saying he expected American military relief operations to end well before then. "I would hope that we would not be needed as a military long before March," he told reporters traveling with him to Thailand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka to inspect damaged areas. Mr. Wolfowitz added: "For any country it is a sensitive issue to have foreign troops on your territory. It would be sensitive in the United States, and I can tell you that it is extremely sensitive in Indonesia." On Thursday, Mr. Pascoe, a career diplomat who took up his post three months ago, not only spoke on the record, but called a news conference, which was heavily attended by Indonesian journalists. He emphasized that this was an Indonesian operation, and went out of his way to defend the Indonesian government. The only criticism came when Mr. Pascoe, in response to a question, said the "high level of corruption" here was a "very serious problem." The Indonesian government has hired Ernst & Young to audit the foreign funds being sent for relief, said William Frej, director of the United States Agency for International Development office here. Mr. Pascoe also said the United States military did not have any problem with allowing an Indonesian soldier on American helicopters, another recent demand by the government. The Indonesian government has said its curbs on aid workers in Aceh are necessary for their protection. Aceh has been torn by a civil war between the government and separatist rebels for nearly 30 years. Many Indonesians do not accept the government's reason for the restrictions. It is more likely, they say, that the military wants to reassert control over the province. The New York Times ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> DonorsChoose. A simple way to provide underprivileged children resources often lacking in public schools. 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