Colombian president calls for wider U.S. military aid

BOGOTA, Colombia -- President Andres Pastrana called Tuesday for expanded U.S. military aid to Colombia and said he hoped a recent breakthrough in peace talks would lead to a full cease-fire by April.

In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Pastrana said the Colombian government wanted U.S. soldiers to train Colombian troops to protect oil pipelines, bridges and other infrastructure from rebel attacks. Currently, U.S. aid is restricted mainly to counternarcotics operations.

Pastrana said he would try to hold the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to an April 7 target date for reaching cease-fire terms. The deadline was agreed to in talks last weekend in a rebel safe haven, but skeptics doubt the two sides can reach a cease-fire so quickly in the 38-year war.

In the interview in the presidential palace in Bogota, Pastrana cautioned that achieving peace will require many years of work by Colombians, supported by the international community.

Unusual impatience

The United Nations and other foreign diplomats played a key role in reaching last weekend's accord, but Pastrana said he does not plan to invite them to be formal mediators.

Pastrana showed uncharacteristic impatience last week with the guerrillas as the peace process teetered on the brink of collapse. He said firmness is now called for, and that today's world has little tolerance for terrorism.

"The FARC must understand, as we have all understood, that the world changed on September 11 ... and if there is something that has united us, it is precisely the fight against terrorism and narco-terrorism."