Blair visits America to build anti-terror coalition

British Prime Minister Tony Blair was today gearing up for a coalition-building visit to Washington and New York later this week as the world waits to see what action the United States will take over the terrorist attacks.

The trip will come amid increasing tension between Afghanistan and Pakistan after President George W Bush said the US was determined to get prime suspect Osama bin Laden ‘‘dead or alive’’.

Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban regime is expected to decide today whether to hand over bin Laden in a desperate attempt to stave off American military action - which could happen in the next few days.

Both Pakistan and Afghanistan were said to be massing troops along their border and there were even reports that the Taliban had deployed Scud missiles.

Pakistan sealed its side of the frontier, preventing hundreds of thousands of Afghans fleeing possible US air-strikes from entering the country.

Mr Blair held a ‘‘purposeful discussion’’ by telephone with Pakistan’s President Pervaiz Musharraf yesterday.

He will fly to Washington on Thursday for talks with President Bush before seeing for himself the carnage inflicted by last week’s attacks on the World Trade Centre.

The visit, which was at President Bush’s invitation, was being seen as a significant step in building an international coalition to round on the terrorists.

On Friday, on returning from the US, Mr Blair is set to take part in an emergency summit of EU leaders in Brussels to discuss the implications of the attacks.

And G8 leaders are likely to travel to the United States soon for a special meeting to discuss the terrorist outrages.

Meanwhile Mr Blair was today hosting a meeting of several African leaders at his country residence Chequers in which he is expected to touch on the repercussions of the terrorism in the US.

The leaders of Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana, Tanzania and Mozambique will discuss African development issues with the Prime Minister, International Development Secretary Clare Short and foreign office minister Baroness Amos.

Announcing the US trip last night, a Downing Street spokeswoman said Mr Blair wants to visit New York to show support for the emergency services and to meet relatives of British victims.

‘‘Mr Blair welcomes the fact that the American administration is consulting widely and building a coalition of international support for any response to last week’s atrocities,’’ the Downing Street spokeswoman said.

‘‘The Prime Minister hopes to be able to travel to New York both to express his support and gratitude to the emergency services there and also to meet some of the relatives of the British people who so tragically lost their lives in the attacks.’’

The exact timetable of Mr Blair’s visit is to be finalised tomorrow.

Mr Blair is expected to go ahead with a pre-planned trip to Germany for talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Wednesday.

He will then travel to Paris early on Thursday morning for a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac before flying to Washington for a working dinner with President Bush.

It is expected Mr Blair will go to New York from there, before returning for the EU summit on Friday.

Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange reopened yesterday for the first time since last week’s attacks following the market’s longest closure since the Great Depression.

After a day of nervous trading, the Dow Jones index closed down 684.81 points at 8,920.70 - a fall of 7%, the biggest one-day drop ever recorded.