But Powell made clear in an interview with Reuters that the United States would not reward Moscow's support for a global anti-terrorism coalition by silencing its criticism of Russia's military campaign against Muslim separatists in Chechnya.
Moscow has linked its battle against the Chechen rebels with Washington's fight against al Qaeda, a network of anti-Western cells led by bin Laden who is accused by Washington of being behind the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
"We are very pleased with the response we have received from the Russians," Powell said.
He said President George W. Bush and Putin had had "several very good phone calls, and we are pleased with the kind of support that was cataloged by President Putin today."
Putin said on Monday that Russia would arm Afghanistan's anti-Taliban opposition and offer its airspace to humanitarian aid flights if the U.S. launches retaliatory strikes. He also offered to share information on the bases and operations of people it categorizes as "international terrorists."
"To the extent that it causes weakness in the Taliban regime, which in turn might lead to the ejection of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and his associates, I would think that would be helpful," Powell said.
In a televised address Putin included no concrete offer of military assistance for Washington and his defense minister said Russian troops would not return to Afghanistan after pulling out in disarray in 1989.
However, Putin's offer to share information on "international terrorists" and take part in any search and rescue operations that were part of a global effort to eradicate them, meets U.S. requests.
"All of those items we were aware of before. We were pleased he made them public in this speech," Powell said.
However, he was less clear about how he viewed Putin's comments on Chechnya. Putin has linked Washington's "war on terrorism" with the conflict in Chechnya and given the region's rebels 72 hours to start discussing disarmament with Russian officials.
"With respect to Chechnya, I haven't studied the speech and I'm not sure what happens after the 72 hours," Powell said. "Of course we would follow that very closely."
The United States has long been a harsh critic of Moscow's campaign in Chechnya, urging Putin to conduct an investigation into reports of atrocities against civilians by his forces and to seek a political settlement over Chechnya.
"We still have a commitment to human rights but we also have a recognition that the Russians are dealing with a difficult internal problem," Powell said.
"I don't think he (Putin) said in his speech what he's going to do after 72 hours ... I'm not going to hypothesize on what our reaction might be to his hypothetical action," he added.
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