The United States in talks with its old nemesis Cuba? Impossible.

America in a "war on terrorism" alongside Syria? America has sanctions on Syria and accuses it of sponsoring terrorism.

America asking for help from Sudan, which president Bill Clinton attacked with cruise missiles three years ago? Who would have thought it?

The coalition of nations to "rid the world of evil" has tossed into the air America's relations with other countries. Secretary of State Colin Powell says cooperation is a new benchmark for good relations with America, and there is a country-by-country struggle to flesh out what that means.

The administration's role in the world is also changing rapidly, analysts say, with the terrorist attacks ending its unilateralist tendencies. Former president George Bush said the attacks should "erase the concept in some quarters that America can somehow go it alone in the fight against terrorism or in anything else for that matter". His remarks were interpreted as a quiet rebuff to segments of the Republican Party.

Suddenly, multilateralism is in and nations are either with America or against it. There is a parallel to the Cold War, wrote international affairs analyst P. Edward Haley in the Los Angeles Times, "when US policy makers thought and acted on the premise that neutrality was immoral".

President George W. Bush characterises the conflict as a struggle between "good and evil", but other nations are keen to see the details. French President Jacques Chirac visited Washington yesterday and pledged "complete solidarity" with America. Yet he called a battle against terrorism a "conflict" and not a "war", an important distinction in the eyes of many Europeans.

Because of the need for good intelligence about where terrorist groups are, the administration is reaching out to hitherto scorned nations. Yesterday, Mr Powell spoke to Sudanese Foreign Minister Osman Ismail Mustafa, the first contact between the two nations in years. Sudan, on America's list of countries that harbor terrorists, was "suddenly much more interested in working with the United States", Mr Powell said.

America has asked Cuba for "any information it might have about the terrorist attacks". Almost every country is worth wooing, and the White House says Mr Bush has spoken to more than 20 leaders since last week.

Washington wants a coalition that extends beyond Western allies. It is a more ambitious task than the 38-nation group former president Bush gathered for the Gulf War a decade ago, although that coalition also included Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Syria.

But as international leaders begin to stream into Washington, they are bargaining. Arab and Muslim states, in particular, fear militant uprisings in their countries, and are determined to see a more active American approach to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. After a hands-off approach for months, the administration moved, getting a ceasefire between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The United States is also doing some demanding, warning bluntly what non-cooperation might mean for the seven states it accuses of harboring terrorists - Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Cuba, Libya and North Korea - and pressuring other nations to strongly support American action on terrorism.

"The approach of the government will involve both a carrot and a stick," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "And in different nations, the carrot may be bigger, in other nations, the stick may be bigger."

The administration is not speaking at this stage of military strikes against any nation except Afghanistan, which has supported suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden for many years. The world's largest economy can exact revenge in other ways.

"There are things and measures that we can take - sanctions or other kind of barriers to our markets here," said Commerce Secretary Donald Evans.

The bargaining goes both ways. Pakistan wants the removal of American sanctions imposed after its nuclear tests in 1998. Iran, a long-time foe of America but no friend of the Taliban, is a possible coalition member, according to Mr Powell. Teheran wants help in shedding its international pariah status.

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri wants the renewal of American military ties with Indonesia. Arab nations friendly to the United States, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, want America to re-engage with the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned against pitching Christians against Muslims, and against military strikes without hard evidence of who was responsible.

President Jiang Zemin, of China, is also demanding irrefutable evidence, which the administration is yet to provide. Some European nations express the same concerns.

Washington insists it will act unilaterally if necessary. In the meantime, Mr Bush is urging other nations to stop hand wringing.

"We are called to respond to terror now," he said. "This is the time."