US Department of State Press Briefing January 6, 2012 (Full Transcript)

Victoria Nuland

Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC

January 6, 2012

Index for Today's Briefing

• DEPARTMENT
  • Welcome to Students of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces
  • 21st Century Statecraft Month
  • Department of State Twitter Accounts
• SYRIA
  • Bombings in Midan / Arab League Monitoring Mission
  • Consultations with Arab League and the UN / Arab League Meeting Sunday
  • Hamas
• IRAN
  • U.S. Navy's Rescue of Iranian Hostages
  • Iranian President's Visit to Latin America
  • Sanctions / P-5+1
• MISCELLANEOUS
  • U.S. Anti-Piracy Efforts
• NICARAGUA
  • Inauguration of President Ortega
• TURKEY/IRAN
  • Visit of Foreign Minister Davutoglu to Iran
• PAKISTAN
  • U.S.-Pakistan Relationship / Arrival of Ambassador Sherry Rehman
  • Former Ambassador Haqqani
• AFGHANISTAN
  • Bagram Airbase
• ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS
  • Secretary Clinton's Calls to President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu Last Year
• TURKEY
  • Arrest of the Former Chief of the Armed Forces of Turkey
• SOUTH SUDAN
  • Conversations on Border Security
• COLOMBIA
  • Return of U.S. Citizen Teenager Deported to Colombia
• EGYPT
  • Assistant Secretary Feltman / No Meeting with Representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood

TRANSCRIPT:

MS. NULAND: Afternoon, everybody. Happy Friday. Before we start, I have a couple of little things. First, a big welcome to the State Department and a shout out to the students from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces of National Defense University. They’re not in the room, because they can’t stay for the whole thing. We didn’t want it to look like a walkout, but we’re very glad to have you here.
Second, as we discussed off camera yesterday, it is 21^st Century Statecraft Month here at the State Department. As you know, Secretary Clinton has made the use of new technology and innovation a key part of our foreign policy agenda around the world. So here at State, and at AID, we’re adopting new approaches to meet the diplomatic and development challenges that we see. Part of this effort is making sure that we’re making full use of digital networks and technologies to more quickly and more directly engage people and audiences at home and abroad around the world.
So this month we’ll be showcasing some of the ways that we are using new technology and that our diplomats in Washington and our embassies around the world use technology. For example, we now have more than – we have about 193 social media accounts connected to the State Department, either at home or abroad. We have more than a hundred of our embassies which use social media, have accounts on Facebook or on Twitter.
As some of the examples of our 21^st Century Statecraft Month, today and each Friday during the month of January, in a separate and distinct event from this daily press briefing, which is obviously for accredited journalists, we will be having a separate Twitter session, taking questions from the Department of States’ 10 official Twitter feeds from citizens around the world. They can submit their questions directly to us on Twitter using the hashtag #askState.
Next week, we’ll also have the Secretary’s Senior Advisor for Innovation Alec Ross participate in a Live at State video chat with journalists and bloggers from around the world. As another example of the kinds of things we’ll be doing this month, our Embassy in Port-au-Prince is going to hold a Twitter Q&A session on our ongoing partnership with the people and Government of Haiti two years after the January 2010 earthquake. And you can take a look at all of the other events that we have planned for this month by checking out our Facebook page or our @StateDepartment Twitter feed, the DipNote blog, State.gov – our official website. So welcome to the 21^st Century Technology Month.
What’s on your minds?
QUESTION: Well, I was going to ask all about Baluchistan, but since you seem to – it looks like you’re going to be answering questions about Baluchistan for about a day and a half when this briefing is over, so I won’t ask about that.
MS. NULAND: Excellent.
QUESTION: So then I was going to ask you about the MEK, but I think that might be the same thing. I don’t really have anything to ask.
MS. NULAND: Okay. Amazing. It must be Friday.
QUESTION: The suicide bombing in Syria – any ideas about who might be behind it, what this means for the Arab observer force, what it should be doing?
MS. NULAND: Well, first let me say that we categorically condemn the attack that took place near the police station in Damascus’ neighborhood of Midan today. It was located about three kilometers away from the U.S. Embassy, and apparently about 25 people were killed and at least 46 more were injured. We are unable, though, to directly verify those casualty numbers.
What’s interesting here is that as with previous attacks, the Assad regime has blamed just about everybody. They’ve blamed the opposition, they’ve blamed al-Qaida, they’ve even blamed the United States. Meanwhile, the opposition, including the Free Syrian Army, has denied carrying out the attacks, and has itself accused the regime of staging these things. At the present time, we can’t say one way or the other how this happened, but what we can say is that obviously we condemn the attack. We do not think violence of any kind at anybody’s hands is the right answer to the problems in Syria. The right answer is for a democratic transition of power, for Assad to step aside, and for a national dialogue to begin.
QUESTION: Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood called for an international and Arab probe into the attack. Could you see the Arab League playing a role on doing this?
MS. NULAND: Well, I would anticipate that when the Arab League meets on Sunday, it will be evaluating the work of its own monitors. It’ll also be evaluating the situation in Syria writ large. We have called for more international eyes on the street. The Arab League observers, the international press, obviously anything like that that opens up the country would make it more transparent and make it clearer where the violence is coming from.
QUESTION: On the monitors --
MS. NULAND: Kirit.
QUESTION: The – some of the monitors appeared to break away from some of their government minders according to one report, and were able to talk to some Syrians individually and they were able to get some accounts of the violence. I mean, does this kind of validate in your mind their mission? Are you more at ease with what they’re doing over there?
MS. NULAND: Look, we really do believe that the monitors are doing their very best. I think the question here is whether the Syrian regime is cooperating fully with the monitors across the broad spectrum of commitments that it made. We see that in places where monitors are present, Syrian activists have been able to hold big rallies. But we also see that in other places, the regime is firing on peaceful protest. It’s not clear to us, and we’ll wait for the Arab League report, whether their various requests to see political prisoners have been granted. Clearly, we don’t have some of the other things that we’re looking for, which is a full withdrawal of Syrian forces from towns and villages around the country, allowing the free press back in, et cetera.
So again, we’re not going to prejudge this except to say that we look forward to the Arab League’s own account of this, and we do have concerns about whether the regime is cooperating fully with the commitments that it made to the Arab League.
Said.
QUESTION: Victoria, a spokesman for the Syrian – the Free Syrian Army, Colonel Riad al-Asaad, in fact promised that by the end of the week there will be major operations across the country. So why shouldn’t he or the Syrian Free Army or the opposition be a suspect in this case?
MS. NULAND: Again, we’re not in a position to assess who is responsible. What I would reiterate is that we condemn violence of any kind. It’s not the right way forward in Syria.
QUESTION: Okay. Now yesterday, Hamad bin Jasim, the prime minister of Qatar, was at the United Nation and he was exploring and discussed some things with the secretary general of the UN about UN measures. Are you aware of any of these measures? Has he discussed any of these measures or possible measures with you?
MS. NULAND: We have broad consultations with all of the leaders of the Arab League. We also have been talking to the UN about the situation. I think what we are going to await is the conclusion of the Arab League meeting on Sunday. Our understanding is that the consultations you mentioned were preparatory to that Arab League meeting, and then we’ll see where we go. I mean, we continue to believe, and we continue to consult in New York, that a strong UN Security Council resolution could be helpful here, and the Arab League has also been supportive of that. But I think serious consultation will probably await the results of their ministerial on Sunday.
QUESTION: So he talked about some technical support. What kind of technical support, in this case, the UN could provide?
MS. NULAND: Well, the press reports that we saw indicated that the Arab League would like more training for its monitors. The UN has done this kind of monitoring, as have other international organizations and regional organizations like the OSCE around the world before. U.S. also has programs to train these kinds of monitors. So our understanding was that if the Arab League is going to be getting into this kind of business – this is its first, as I understand it, monitoring mission of this kind – that they are open to training from experienced organizations and entities around the world, and that’s a good thing.
QUESTION: And Toria, what do you expect from the UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday? Do you expect any resolution?
MS. NULAND: I think this is going to be the next stage in consultations. I’m not sure that we’re expecting to finalize anything on Tuesday, but we’ll get you more on Monday and Tuesday as those meetings gear up.
QUESTION: Another subject?
QUESTION: No. On Syria.
MS. NULAND: Still Syria?
QUESTION: You said that the blast was, like, three miles away from the Embassy or three blocks?
MS. NULAND: About three kilometers away from the Embassy.
QUESTION: Three kilometers away from the Embassy?
MS. NULAND: Some of our personnel were able to hear it.
QUESTION: Are there any added security measures, like blast walls or other what they call T- walls and so on?
MS. NULAND: Well, I’m not going to talk about the specifics at the Embassy as you can imagine, but we have very strict protocol on embassy security around the world, including some of the types of measures you mentioned.
QUESTION: Iran?
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
QUESTION: The U.S. Navy has rescued an Iranian hostage. So are you handing him back to Tehran, or is there an asylum? What is the latest?
MS. NULAND: This is an incredible story. This is a great story. Our brothers at the Pentagon have spoken about this earlier today. George Little and Captain Kirby spoke about it. The very same ship and set of vessels that the Iranians protested on its last voyage through Hormuz, the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, just rescued this Iranian dhow from pirates. There were actually 13 Iranians onboard who claim that they had been held hostage by these pirates for some 40 to 45 days. As our colleagues in the Pentagon advised you earlier today, the U.S. Navy took the Iranians onboard, provided them with food, with water, with medical care – they were obviously very grateful to be rescued by these pirates – and then returned them –
QUESTION: From these pirates. Rescued from.
MS. NULAND: Rescued from. What did I say?
QUESTION: By.
MS. NULAND: Rescued from. (Laughter.) Rescued from. Sorry, crew of the Stennis. Rescued from these pirates. And then they returned them – they returned the Iranians to their fishing vessel, and they went on their way. With regard to the pirates, they are still onboard the Stennis. We are reviewing the options for prosecution. We’re consulting with international partners. Sadly, this is not a new thing. We have more than a thousand pirates who have been picked up at sea who are under prosecution in some 20 countries. So this – it’s always a questions of where to send them and who will do the prosecution.
QUESTION: So this serendipitous incident should be like an opening, perhaps, for the Iranians to thaw whatever tensions or lower the tension and so on?
MS. NULAND: Well, you have to speak to the Iranians about that, but this is – it was obviously a humanitarian gesture on the part of the crew of the Stennis to take them onboard and to feed them and to ensure that they were in good health before setting them off. So –
QUESTION: Where did this happen?
QUESTION: Have you been in touch with the Iranian officials? Sorry.
MS. NULAND: When did this happen?
QUESTION: No, no. Where – the location?
MS. NULAND: Where did it happen? I’m going to – let’s see. Do I have it precisely?
QUESTION: North of (inaudible)?
MS. NULAND: I don’t have it precisely here, but I think the Pentagon briefed on this quite extensively earlier today. We have not been in direct contact with the Iranian Government on this. These are private citizens.
QUESTION: Okay. A follow-up on that? How did –
QUESTION: Are the Swiss (inaudible)?
MS. NULAND: I don’t – we don’t --
QUESTION: How did you decide that these are Iranians? From any papers they had? You contacted Tehran? How was it decided that these are Iranians?
MS. NULAND: Well, I can’t speak to that precisely. I don’t have the details, but my expectation would be that they declared themselves to be citizens of Iran, and they may have been carrying Iranian travel documents.
QUESTION: But they – your understanding is they didn’t know when they went to go rescue them what nationality these people were. Correct?
MS. NULAND: I think that they anticipated that they were intercepting a pirate vessel. I don’t think that they thought that there were hostages aboard.
QUESTION: But they weren’t rescued because they were Iranians?
MS. NULAND: We –
QUESTION: They were rescued because they were in distress.
MS. NULAND: They were rescued because they were in distress, as we and our allies and partners involved in these anti-piracy missions always take care of innocent civilians who’ve been victims of piracy.
Please.
QUESTION: Could you update us a little bit more on the anti-piracy efforts since the Maersk Alabama incident? I know you – that the Department has made some efforts, but what’s the status of them?
MS. NULAND: You mean, in general what are we up to and what do we do? Well, since 2009, we have worked with some 70 nations and international organizations as part of the International Contact Group on Piracy off the coast of Somalia. Some of those accomplishments include facilitating the coordination of international naval patrols. Currently, we have more than 30 countries working together to protect transit vessels. We coordinate closely with other multilateral coalitions. We work, obviously, in the NATO effort through Operation Ocean Shield and the European Union’s Operation ATALANTA, and we coordinate with others in that regard. China, India, Russia also participate in these international efforts.
We are also promoting shipping self protection so that ships going through can be better defended. We are partnering with the shipping industry to improve the practical steps that merchant ships and crews can take to avoid, to deter, to delay and counter pirate attacks, including when and how to use private security in this regard. We’re also working with the shipping industry on its best practices, management practices, et cetera. We’re also championing regional capacity building. We’re strengthening the capacity of Somalia and other countries in the region to combat piracy, to prosecute suspected pirates through the UN Trust Fund Supporting the Initiatives of States Countering Piracy.
And finally, we’re also – we’ve also tried to target the business model of the pirates, if you will. We’ve launched a new initiative aimed at disrupting their enterprises ashore, including their financial networks through their – through the banking systems of organized crime, et cetera. So we’re trying to do all of these things, and I think it’s been one of the under-sung success stories of international cooperation, as you can see, involving a huge number of countries and a huge number of navies around the world.
Please.
QUESTION: Iran?
QUESTION: A question about Iran, actually. I know we talked earlier this week about Ahmadinejad’s upcoming trip to Latin America next week. But just wanted to – as he goes there and these relationships on defense and economic cooperation expand with these countries, does the U.S. Government view this trip and these relationships as really nothing more than just a provocative thumbing your nose at the United States, since it’s in the U.S.’s backyard? How do you view this coming trip?
MS. NULAND: Well, as the regime feels increasing pressure, it is desperate for friends and flailing around in interesting places to find new friends. We are making absolutely clear to countries around the world that now is not the time to be deepening ties, not security ties, not economic ties with Iran. Rather, it’s in the entire international community’s interest to make clear to Iran that it’s got a choice. It can remain in international isolation or it can comply with its obligations and start cooperating and rejoin the community of nations.
QUESTION: And you made that clear to who in Cuba, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Nicaragua?
MS. NULAND: Well, I think if anybody here listens to the statements from the U.S. Government, whether they are at the top level, whether they’re at the secretarial level, or whether they’re from this podium, they know exactly where we stand.
QUESTION: So you haven’t made – you’re not aware of any specific and separate entreaties made to President Chavez, President Ortega --
MS. NULAND: With regard to this particular --
QUESTION: -- Castro?
MS. NULAND: With regard to this particular --
QUESTION: We’re making it clear to countries that now is not the time to be deepening ties with Iran. Have you made those specific points to senior officials in Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and – where is the other one – Venezuela?
MS. NULAND: I can’t speak to Cuba and Venezuela, but we’re obviously in close touch with the other two governments about the upcoming trips.
QUESTION: And what about – the European Union has already put the sanctions. Have you got any success with India and these other countries which are still dealing with Iran?
MS. NULAND: Well, as we discussed yesterday, the European Union is in the process of looking at tightening its own sanctions. It’s made some decisions in principle, hasn’t made final moves yet. We expect those at the end of the month. We are also in close consultation with India, with China, with Russia, with countries around the world about strengthening their implementation of the international sanctions regime and about curbing, curtailing their dependence on Iranian crude oil.
QUESTION: Any particular – like, the last time, when was the Indians consulted or this topic was brought up?
MS. NULAND: Well, since the new legislation is passed in the Congress, our Embassy has been quite active with the Indian Government. I would anticipate we’re going to have some more intensive consultations in the weeks and months ahead.
QUESTION: Just a follow-up: Turkish foreign minister was --
QUESTION: No, hold on. Why don’t we stay with Iran and Latin America to --
QUESTION: No, I am – it’s Iran.
QUESTION: And Latin America or Iran and Turkey? Can we – I just – I know this is a White House thing, but can you say if you expect a high-level U.S. delegation to attend President Ortega’s inauguration on the 10^th or --
MS. NULAND: I can’t speak to that until the White House makes an announcement one way or the other.
QUESTION: Well, given the fact that President Ahmadinejad is going to be a guest there --
MS. NULAND: I don’t have anything to announce at this point. If we have something to announce, we’ll let you know.
QUESTION: You do not expect a – will the Secretary of State go?
MS. NULAND: I would strongly doubt that the Secretary of State would go.
QUESTION: Okay. So you wouldn’t expect a high-level, cabinet-level delegation to go to be there at his nomination?
MS. NULAND: Again, as you said, this is a White House decision, so let’s await their announcement.
QUESTION: The specifics of it I know, but the level as well? You can’t --
MS. NULAND: Again, it’s a White House decision what the level is. I think – I can simply tell you that our own boss, I don’t think, will be going.
Please.
QUESTION: Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu was in Tehran yesterday. A couple of questions: They stated – Irani foreign minister state that their goal is to double the trade between Turkey and Iran between – foreseeable future. How do you assess these new goals in terms of isolation of Iran, just the context you described earlier?
MS. NULAND: Well, we’ve seen some of the announcements primarily from the Iranian side of the results of this visit. We have begun consultations with the Turkish side on what it gleaned, what its messages were, and what it learned when it was – when Minister Davutoglu was in Tehran. Our Ambassador in Ankara was in to see the minister today. I frankly don’t have a report on that meeting, but one of the subjects that they were discussing was a debrief on this trip.
There is no question that the United States and Turkey share the goal of bringing Iran back to the table and back into compliance with its international obligations. We don’t always have an identical view on tactics, but the strategic goal is the same, so I – that’s why it’s so important that we consult on what the minister saw on his trip and next steps that he sees.
QUESTION: In the past, there were similar goals stated by both countries, and at the time you stated from this podium that it is not a problem, obstacle, whether Turkey’s increasing its trade with Iran. In general, if this is the case, do you think it’s a problem now?
MS. NULAND: Again, I think we wanted to consult with the Turkish side on its intentions. If we’re talking about baby food, it’s not a problem, but – there could be other issues, but I don’t want to prejudge Turkish intentions before we’ve had a chance to consult with Turkey.
QUESTION: Iran foreign minister yesterday also said Turkey could be the best venue for the next round of talks on the nuclear program. Do you have a view on this?
MS. NULAND: Well, let’s start with the fact that public statements notwithstanding, the Iranian side has not yet formally advised us that it is ready for the next round of P-5+1 talks.
Please.
QUESTION: Although, they have not formally advised you, but the Iranian foreign minister yesterday did say that they are ready, and I guess they might in due time (inaudible) notify Catherine Ashton’s office. But in the meantime, during the past few years, the West has come to realize that this is – every time Iran’s come to talks, it’s been a delay tactic, and the talks have never really gotten anywhere. How can you ensure that this is not another one of those attempts?
MS. NULAND: Well, again, we haven’t seen the commitment in writing, so until we see the commitment in writing, we don’t have the next round of discussions. What we have said is that we are prepared for another meeting of the P-5+1 if Iran is prepared to seriously discuss its nuclear program without preconditions. So we need to see where Iran is if, in fact, it accepts our invitation to talk. That doesn’t change the fact that we’ve always said we have a two-track policy: We are prepared to talk if the Iranians are prepared to be serious, but at the same time, we’re going to maintain the pressure on the regime until the issues are resolved.
QUESTION: Is the suspension of enrichment a precondition for the start of talks?
MS. NULAND: Again, I’m not going to get into the details of our private discussions with Iran, just to say that they know there’s an offer on the table to talk, they know that we would be prepared to do so if they were serious and if they were not setting preconditions for coming to the table. But we haven’t had them formally come across and say they’re ready.
Please.
QUESTION: The Parliamentary Committee on National Security in Pakistan has finalized recommendations on strategic review for relationship with the United States. Are you aware of the process that is going on in Pakistani parliament? Have they shared anything with you officially? What kind of demands are they making?
MS. NULAND: We’re – obviously, we’re aware that there was quite a bit of discussion ongoing in the Pakistani parliament. As of coming down here, I was not aware that they had reached any conclusions. Our understanding was that, at the appropriate moment, we would hear from the Pakistani Government about these things. Unless it happened in recent hours, I don’t think we’ve yet had consultations of that kind.
QUESTION: Ambassador Sherry Rehman is expected to reach Washington this weekend. What kind of challenges do you think she will be facing? Because she comes at an important time when there is a sort of deadlock.
MS. NULAND: She does indeed come at an important time. We’re looking forward to having her here in the United States. We will, obviously, make clear to her that we consider this relationship extremely important. And although it is challenging, although it is difficult, we continue to believe that the United States and Pakistan and citizens throughout the region have an interest in the closer cooperation of our countries, and particularly in defeating the threats that challenge us both, and particularly the threat from terrorism.
QUESTION: Any updates on the supply routes?
MS. NULAND: Any – I don’t have anything for you today, no.
QUESTION: On the subject of Pakistani ambassadors to the U.S., is there anything more than the very little that you’ve had to say this week about former Ambassador Haqqani?
MS. NULAND: Well, just to say again what we’ve been saying, but perhaps a little bit more clearly, while it’s obviously an internal matter for Pakistan and we respect Pakistan’s constitutional and legal processes, we expect that any process for resolving the matter of Ambassador Haqqani will proceed in a way that is fair, that’s transparent, that is as expeditious as possible. We also expect that Ambassador Haqqani will be accorded all due consideration under Pakistani law and in conformity with international legal standards. And we will be watching and monitoring the situation closely.
QUESTION: Could I ask why the change in tone? When I first asked about it this week, you – there was no answer at all. And then it shifted a little bit to we hope that he gets a fair trial, basically. And now, why the amplification today? Pressure from the Hill?
MS. NULAND: Well, again, I think we’ve been watching the situation evolve in Pakistan. We didn’t want to prejudge what the legal situation for him would be. As we’ve watched the situation, we have concluded that it is important for us to speak out, as we do around the world, about the – an appropriate constitutional and legal process for him and to make clear that we’re watching.
QUESTION: Okay. Does that mean --
QUESTION: Has anybody --
QUESTION: Excuse me. Does that mean that you are now more concerned about his case and his position than you were, say, several days ago? That there have been developments which lead you to believe that some – that he might not get a fair, transparent, and expeditious process?
MS. NULAND: The situation is obviously evolving in Pakistan, so we want to see it evolve in a manner that meets the highest international legal standards.
QUESTION: I understand that, but are you more concerned today than you were two days ago about this?
MS. NULAND: I think we’ve always wanted to see this process handled properly. I think there’s a question simply about whether these messages were conveyed privately or whether it wasn’t also appropriate to convey them publicly.
QUESTION: But I guess I’m going to – I’m asking you is – has there been some development to this that has --
MS. NULAND: No. There’s nothing.
QUESTION: -- led you – your concern to grow?
MS. NULAND: There’s nothing in particular.
QUESTION: Okay.
QUESTION: Has anybody from this Department spoken to Ambassador Haqqani since that meeting in this Department before he left?
MS. NULAND: I don’t think we’ve had any official contact with him, no.
QUESTION: Unofficial?
MS. NULAND: I can’t answer that.
QUESTION: What you’re saying from this podium, has this message been conveyed to the Pakistani officials as well?
MS. NULAND: It has, of course, yes.
QUESTION: His wife is in Washington, and she is reaching out to the officials and people, expressing concern for his life in Pakistan. Has she met anybody in this building? Has there been any kind of communication?
MS. NULAND: She has. We have regular contact with her, and we have since he went home.
QUESTION: A new topic? I should have asked it when we were on Syria, but just to go back there, the Arab League chair said today that he was going to ask Hamas to do what they can to get the Assad regime to back down. I’m wondering if you think that’s a viable proposition.
MS. NULAND: It’s an interesting choice. Hamas itself has been an instrument of violence in the past. Frankly, the Syrian people deserve any opportunity for the violence to end.
QUESTION: So in that –
QUESTION: Including from Hamas? Encouragement from Hamas?
MS. NULAND: Look, I’m not going to – we’re not going to get into the middle of the Arab League’s diplomacy. The Arab League’s goals and our goals are the same, which is for the violence to end and for the Syrian people to have the future that they deserve. It is a strange choice, but it’s their choice.
QUESTION: But when you say the Syrian people deserve any opportunity, and we’re talking about Hamas, you’re essentially saying that even having a group that you have formally designated as a terrorist – foreign terrorist organization encourage the Syrians to stop doing violence to their people would be a good thing?
MS. NULAND: If you’re asking, Arshad, whether we think Hamas talking to Assad is going to be the silver bullet that changes the situation in Syria, I would have to say no. That said, we’d like to see as many voices as possible calling for the violence to end.
QUESTION: The silver bullet? Really?
MS. NULAND: You don’t like that – its sense?
QUESTION: Well, I don’t know. It just would lead one to believe that you’re encouraging Hamas to assassinate --
MS. NULAND: Oh, my goodness. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: -- President Assad.
MS. NULAND: Oh, my goodness. All right. Wrong metaphor. Is going to be the golden parachute that is going to – thank you, Matt, for my way out of that misstep.
QUESTION: A quick clarification. You said that Ambassador Haqqani’s wife has reached out to this building. What exactly – has she expressed her apprehension about his safety, about – what --
MS. NULAND: I’m not going to speak for Mrs. Haqqani. I think you can contact her yourself.
Please.
QUESTION: Can we go back to Syria? The Syrian interior minister has threatened that Syria would strike with iron fist after the attacks in Damascus. What do you expect?
MS. NULAND: Well, as far as we’re concerned, the iron fist has never let up from the Assad regime. So our concern is that matching violence with violence on any side by anyone is not the answer.
QUESTION: But do you actually agree with the – with Syria’s right or with the Syrian regime’s right to go after terrorists, in this case, that have exploded bombs and killed innocent people?
MS. NULAND: In the past, we had quite – we had appropriate counterterrorism cooperation with the Government of Syria. As I said at the top, when we first started talking about Syria, we don’t know who did this. The accusations are flying in all directions from all types.
So, please.
QUESTION: But Syria does have a right – I mean, to exercise that right in pursuit of such terrorists, correct?
MS. NULAND: All countries have the right to countermand terrorism on their territory, but appropriately and within international law.
QUESTION: A new topic?
MS. NULAND: Please.
QUESTION: Afghanistan.
MS. NULAND: Mm-hmm.
QUESTION: President Hamid Karzai has demanded that the Bagram detention center be closed and the detainees be --
MS. NULAND: We talked about this at length yesterday. We did. So I don’t think we --
QUESTION: Is there anything new for us? No?
MS. NULAND: I don’t think so. We’re going to continue to work with the Afghans on this. We need to do it in a manner that ensures that it’s done right, and that’s our plan.
QUESTION: He asked for one-month deadline in seeking one entire thing (inaudible) one month, and you said you didn’t give us any deadline for the timeline for that.
MS. NULAND: Again, we don’t want to --
QUESTION: Are you meeting that one-month timeline?
MS. NULAND: We’ve been having these consultations for some time. There are a huge number of technical issues that are involved. We’re not going to set an artificial deadline, but we’re obviously as interested as the Afghan side is in doing this right and doing it expeditiously.
Please.
QUESTION: The other day on Wednesday, you said that your memory – although you noted you hadn’t checked it – was that the Secretary had spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas in December. Have you now had a chance to check? Do you have the dates on which – can we ask what are the dates when they last spoke?
MS. NULAND: Arshad, I knew you were going to do this at the podium. I should have brought my dates. I don’t have my dates, but I can confirm that she last spoke to President Abbas in November. I believe it was in late November. If you need the date, we’ll get it for you. I misspoke when I said yesterday it was inside December. She has spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu more recently. She’s obviously talked to Tony Blair a number of times as well and to Foreign Minister Judeh in the context of the latest round.
QUESTION: My impression was that both those conversations with Abbas and Netanyahu were in – although Netanyahu was indeed after Abbas, that both were November, correct?
MS. NULAND: There were conversations with both Abbas and Netanyahu in November. There were – there was at least one conversation with Netanyahu in December, which was on other subjects.
QUESTION: Can you get us the dates on all those?
MS. NULAND: We will. We will.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: On Turkey quickly, yesterday former Turkish military chief got arrested. Do you have any read on that?
MS. NULAND: On the arrest of the former chief of the armed forces of Turkey?
QUESTION: Yesterday, yes, last night.
MS. NULAND: Well, we’re obviously monitoring developments in this case as well. It’s quite a high-profile case in the ongoing Erdogan case. We have urged the Turkish Government to ensure that the investigations, any prosecutions in this – in these cases proceed in a transparent manner, that all the defendants be assured due process in accordance with international standards, and that should be the case, obviously, with regard to the former chief of staff of the armed forces.
QUESTION: When did you urge them of this? Today?
MS. NULAND: Well, we’ve been urging it all along since this round of prosecutions began. I don't have specifics, but I’m confident that the Embassy has, again, made those demarches to the Turkish Government in recent days.
QUESTION: Is there any way you can (inaudible) as what kind of respond have you been receiving? It has been about a couple years now that you have been urging Turkish Government.
MS. NULAND: Well, I think the Turkish Government obviously knows that we’re monitoring this closely and that we want to see the Turkish constitution upheld and international standards upheld.
Andy.
QUESTION: Just as new one, a quick one on South Sudan: The White House put out a statement today the President has deemed South Sudan eligible to receive defense articles and defense services from the U.S. I’m wondering if you can tell us, does – is there – are there any discussions underway to actually get them defense articles and defense services? Is that something that they have asked for or that we contemplate doing in the near future?
MS. NULAND: For South Sudan?
QUESTION: Yes.
MS. NULAND: Well, we have, from the beginning and even before we got to statehood, been open to conversations that they wanted to have with us about how they would secure their borders, defend themselves in the future. So those conversations are ongoing. I am not aware that we’ve come to any conclusions about what they might need and about how – what we might be able to provide. They are still, as you know, in the process of looking at their national security forces, et cetera.
QUESTION: And would – I’m sorry. Would those discussions be held through – done through the State Department or be done through the Defense Department?
MS. NULAND: Well, generally, these kinds of military-to-military things are done in both channels. But with regard to acquisition and those kinds of things, it is our officials here who do that.
Anything else?
QUESTION: Yeah. I’ve got one more.
MS. NULAND: One more.
QUESTION: Would you explain what the State Department’s role was in this case of this child who was accidentally or mistakenly deported to Colombia?
MS. NULAND: I can’t do too much on our specific role for the reasons that always drive you crazy, Matt. But we can confirm that Ms. Turner has now departed Colombia. She’s on her way back to the United States. Can also confirm that throughout this incident, the U.S. Embassy in Bogota worked very closely with Colombian authorities and with officials in Dallas on her case. This began, obviously, in mid-December, when the case was first brought to our attention.
QUESTION: How did a mistake like this happen?
MS. NULAND: Well, I’m not, again, going to get into the details. I can’t get into the details because of some of the Privacy Act considerations. But her family’s had quite a bit to say about how they believe it happened, and we’ll see what the young lady herself has to say when she arrives back in the States.
QUESTION: Can you explain why – can you explain at least a little bit why – what the State Department’s role was outside of the Embassy assisting?
MS. NULAND: You mean what was done here in the Department?
QUESTION: Yeah. Because there seems to be a big blame game going on here between ICE, which refers questions to the State Department, and then the State Department refuses to answer them until you just gave that response just now.
MS. NULAND: I don’t --
QUESTION: I mean, somebody screwed up here big time. And hiding behind the Privacy Act on accountability issues – I don’t know. I mean, whoever is to blame, whether – I find it hard to believe it’s the State Department’s fault because you don’t deport people.
MS. NULAND: Correct.
QUESTION: But that’s why I want to know what the State Department’s role was outside of the actual Embassy going to find her, make sure she was okay.
MS. NULAND: I mean, my understanding was that we didn’t have any involvement at all in this case until it came to light that there may be a problem with an American minor in Colombia, and that – and then we became involved both with Colombian authorities and with folks in Dallas. With regard to the circumstances of the deportation and all of the events that happened before she arrived in Colombia, we’re going to send you back to the Department of Homeland Security and the Customs Enforcement.
QUESTION: Okay. But you – the – so the first time that this building or the Embassy there became aware of this was when – it was after this person was already in Colombia.
MS. NULAND: That is my understanding. If that turns out to be incorrect, we will fix it.
Okay.
QUESTION: One on --
MS. NULAND: Lach. Yeah.
QUESTION: Yeah. You – yesterday, you didn’t know if Assistant Secretary Feltman was discuss – was meeting with the Muslim Brotherhood. Do you have any ideas --
MS. NULAND: He did not meet with any party representatives during this trip. Obviously, our Embassy does regularly.
QUESTION: Why not? They’re --
MS. NULAND: Well, we’re in the middle of an election season. I think if he had met with one, he would have had to meet with all of them, so – please.
QUESTION: Yeah. But what does that say about the historic shift?
MS. NULAND: As I said, our Embassy’s in – has got an open door for these parties.
QUESTION: Can I ask you a question on 21^st Century Statecraft before we go on Twitter?
MS. NULAND: Yes, before we go and do our 21^st Century Statecraft.
QUESTION: You said you have 193 social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and other things. Does it include the hundred embassies or just the State Department?
MS. NULAND: No. We have 193 total for the Department and its embassies and consulates abroad. About a hundred of our embassies make use of these sites, so some 90-ish on the home front, and some hundred-ish around the world.
QUESTION: And you have invited these Twitter questions in 10 different languages. In how many languages do you have these social media accounts? Do you have any --
MS. NULAND: Well, the Department manages Twitter feeds in these 10 languages. In addition to that – and I can give you the languages. It’s English, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, French, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Urdu at the moment, and we’re looking to expand. This means that when I come and see all of you, the key interesting nuggets from this briefing get translated by the Department and sent out in the languages on our Twitter feed. When the Secretary speaks, when our principals speak, the same thing, and we take questions back in those languages.
But in addition to that, a number of our embassies – not all of them with Twitter and Facebook, but a number of them – also have national language accounts and use their local embassy staff to support those.
QUESTION: And can you also give us the kind of feedback that you give – get of the response in terms of the number of followers you have both on Twitter and Facebook, all clumped together?
MS. NULAND: We tried to look at some of the numbers. We’ve got more than 200,000 here on the Department’s accounts. Just in the last 24 hours, since we announced this Ask State initiative and the Twitter briefing, we’ve had more than 500 tweets using the #askState hashtag, and we’ve generated more than 4.4 million impressions, and we’ve reached, we believe, about 3.7 million people.
QUESTION: How many of those tweets are asking about Baluchistan?
MS. NULAND: They’re all asking about Matt Lee and when his vacation begins. We wish you a great vacation, Matt. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you.
MS. NULAND: Thanks, everybody.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:40 p.m.)

US Department of State Press Briefing January 5, 2012 (Full Transcript)

Victoria Nuland

Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC

January 5, 2012

Index for Today's Briefing

• DEPARTMENT
  • Bureau of Counterterrorism
• ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS
  • Meeting/Quartet
• IRAN
  • Oil Imports/EU Continuing to Consult
  • Sanctions
• AFGHANISTAN
  • Bagram/Detention Operations
  • Support Afghan-led Peace Process
• IRAQ
  • Condemnation of Violence
• EGYPT
  • Assistant Secretary Feltman's Meetings in Cairo
  • Judicial Proceedings/International Standards
• CHINA
  • Assistant Secretary Campbell's Meetings
• CONGO
  • U.S. Supports Freedom of Speech
• BAHRAIN
  • Implementation of Commission Report
• TURKEY
  • Press Freedom Issues
• PAKISTAN
  • Ambassador Haqqani

TRANSCRIPT:

1:01 p.m. EST
MS. NULAND: Good afternoon, everybody. Happy Thursday. I don’t have anything at the top, so let’s go to what’s on your minds.
QUESTION: I have three very brief housekeeping items and then, really, nothing else. One is the taken question on the – yesterday’s scintillating briefing on the counterterrorism bureau. The TQ didn’t answer the question, which was whether or not the salary rise – a salary for an assistant secretary is higher than a coordinator for an office.
MS. NULAND: I am told that Ambassador Benjamin, because he’s already a presidential appointee and because he’s already Senate-confirmed for his ambassadorial title, will have an equivalent salary when he becomes an assistant secretary.
QUESTION: So there’s no change in any salary for those --
MS. NULAND: To my knowledge, no.
QUESTION: All right. Okay. Second thing is yesterday, you said that you expected the Israelis and Palestinians would meet again tomorrow --
MS. NULAND: Yes, that --
QUESTION: -- January 6^th in Amman. It’s looking like that’s not happening.
MS. NULAND: What --
QUESTION: Why? And is there a new day – is there a date for a next meeting?
MS. NULAND: I’m not sure whether I was incorrect yesterday or whether things have moved so that negotiators have a chance to consult with capitals, but the next meeting is now on Monday the 9^th. So the good news here is we do appear to be in a process where the parties will be meeting directly, and we hope that this will continue even beyond Monday the 9^th.
QUESTION: All right. And then the last one is that you were asked a question yesterday about the EU apparently coming to an agreement on a ban on Iranian oil imports. You responded by saying you thought this was a good thing, but haven’t – is it your understanding that the EU has moved beyond where it was on December 1^st when it said it was going to do this?
MS. NULAND: Our understanding is that the EU is continuing to consult, that it has not made final decisions, that it expects to bring these issues forward at its ministerial meetings closer to the end of the month. But you saw the – some of the press reporting out of Brussels that talked about an agreement in principle. So that’s what I was responding to, but you are correct, Matt, that it is not yet completely signed, sealed, and delivered.
QUESTION: Well, but isn’t it your understanding that that agreement in principle was actually reached on in early December, when they said that they were going to do this?
MS. NULAND: My understanding is that there were pieces of it that were agreed in early December and that work continued throughout December, and that’s why you’re seeing new press reporting about agreement in principle.
QUESTION: Well, can you describe what your understanding is of what is changed between then and – that and yesterday?
MS. NULAND: Well, there are a lot of details that have to go into this kind of thing when you take 27 countries and try to get them to harmonize their approach. So my understanding is that in early December, they agreed that they would work on this throughout the month of December. They have been working with technical experts, et cetera, to try to put together a package. That’s the package that’ll be finally looked at at the end of the month. But what you saw coming out of Brussels was an effort to say we’re making progress at that level.
QUESTION: But your understanding is that a package – a final package is ready – is now ready for approval at this meeting that could be on January 30^th or --
MS. NULAND: I think to get to that level of detail, I’m going to send you to the EU.
QUESTION: All right.
MS. NULAND: Okay?
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: I have a quick follow-up on the earlier one on the Israel-Palestinian meeting. Is that going to be in Amman as we previously understood?
MS. NULAND: I believe so, yes.
QUESTION: Okay. And it’ll involve the same interlocutors that we had in the past round?
MS. NULAND: Yes. They’re going to meet directly and they’re going to meet under the sponsorship of the Jordanians and, particularly, Foreign Minister Judeh. So we very much welcome the Jordanian leadership on this issue.
QUESTION: Victoria, what value will these meetings have? The Palestinians issued a statement yesterday that the settlements must stop for them to go back into direct negotiations.
MS. NULAND: Well, you know where we’ve been on this, Said – that we believe that the parties talking directly together is the best way forward. We’ve had one round of that. We’ll have another round next Monday. We’ve called on both sides not to set preconditions, not to negotiate in public. So we – but we are encouraged that they are both coming to the table, that they’re talking directly. We think that’s the best path forward.
QUESTION: Okay. But if there is still the entrenchment of positions, as we have seen, both by the Palestinians and the Israelis, how could you move forward? What kind of incentive can you give them, or, in fact, a threat can be issued to them so they can move the process forward?
MS. NULAND: Said, nobody said that this was going to be easy. This is hard work. They have to do that hard work primarily together. What the Quartet has tried to do, what the United States has tried to do, what the Jordanian Government is trying to do is provide a positive environment for them to work in to give them some ideas, to be supportive, et cetera. So – but from our perspective, the fact that they are now meeting face to face is a very good thing.
Please.
QUESTION: The president of Afghanistan today ordered for – that the U.S. prisoners in Bagram Air Base be transferred to the Afghanistan Government. He’s saying that there have been violation – human rights violation at prison by the U.S. authorities. What do you have to say on that?
MS. NULAND: Well, we’ve obviously seen President Karzai’s comments on Bagram. We have been working, as you know, for some time with the Afghan Government on appropriate timing and pace for transfer of the detention facilities. We’re going to continue to work with the Afghan Government to implement the transition that we have both agreed needs to happen of detention operations in Afghanistan. We need to do this in a manner that is maximally responsible. That’s what we want to do, and we’re going to keep working on it.
QUESTION: And what’s the timeline for this transfer?
MS. NULAND: Again, it’s a matter that we have to work on with the Afghan Government as appropriate mechanisms are put in place for the transfer. So those discussions are still ongoing, but when we have something further to announce, we will.
QUESTION: And what about his charges that – violation of human rights in these prisons?
MS. NULAND: Well, you know that we take seriously any charges or allegations of detainee abuse. We respect the rights of detainees who are in facilities that the United States manages, and we ensure that all detainees in U.S. custody are treated in accordance with international legal obligations, including Geneva Common Article III. Any specific allegations of detainee abuse are investigated fully by the Department of Defense and by ISAF.
Please.
QUESTION: Is there a number how many detainees are there in the Bagram --
MS. NULAND: That’s an issue that I would give – ask you to raise with DOD. I don’t have that.
QUESTION: Okay. And Mullah Omar yesterday said that they are negotiating with the United States on the proposed peace deal. So this is the --
MS. NULAND: I’m sorry. I didn’t hear the first word. Afghanistan --
QUESTION: Mullah Omar yesterday said that they are negotiating for a peace deal with the United States. This is the first time he has made this statement, so what have you – do you have some comment on it? What kind of peace deal is being negotiated? Do you think some headway has been made?
MS. NULAND: I don’t have anything further to what we’ve been saying all week, what we’ve been saying for months, which is that we support an Afghan-led process of reconciliation. This is something that the Afghans have to lead. We are pleased to be supportive of that process. We are pleased to participate as appropriate and when necessary, but this has to be an Afghan-led process.
QUESTION: Do you (inaudible) is that they are negotiating with the United States?
MS. NULAND: This is not a peace that can be negotiated by us. It has to be negotiated primarily among Afghans.
QUESTION: And are you considering removing him from the list of Rewards for Justice Program, the 10 million award that he has (inaudible)?
MS. NULAND: I certainly don’t have anything to announce on that.
QUESTION: Iraq?
MS. NULAND: Please.
QUESTION: Yes, ma’am. There was a tremendous spike in violence today. There was the killing of 60 mainly pilgrims in Nasiriyah. Another (inaudible) there were several explosions. Are there any particular efforts that Ambassador Jeffrey is going to be doing to sort of bring about positions that are – pulls apart or – in the effort of reconciliation? Are there – are you advising the Government of Iraq or the government of Maliki perhaps to retract some positions taken against the Vice President Hashimi?
MS. NULAND: Well, first, with regard to this latest spate of terrorist violence, we condemn these acts. We consider them acts of terror. They are desperate attempts by the same kind of folk who have been active in Iraq, trying to turn back the clock.
With regard to your larger question about our involvement in trying to support the Iraqis in settling their disputes peacefully through political means, as we’ve said for a number of days now, Ambassador Jeffrey’s been very active, Vice President Biden’s been active, in encouraging Iraqi politicians to talk to each other, to meet. And as I’ve said, we are quite encouraged that a number of Iraqi politicians are also calling for such a meeting which we hope takes place soon.
QUESTION: Another subject? A couple on Egypt: Firstly, do you have any updates on Assistant Secretary Feltman’s meetings there? Who has he talked to, what about? And then I have a couple of follow-on.
MS. NULAND: Yeah. First of all, he is still in Cairo. He has had meetings already with senior Egyptian and Arab League officials, including from the Egyptian ministries of foreign affairs and defense. He did his own press backgrounder in Cairo earlier today, so I call your attention to that, but I believe he has more meetings in Cairo tomorrow and on Saturday. He noted that in addition to discussing U.S.-Egyptian issues, including the situation with the NGOs, he’s also discussed a number of regional issues, including Syria, Israel-Palestinian issues, et cetera, during his meetings.
He has obviously, with regard to the ongoing election season in Egypt, reiterating our support for the Egyptian people’s quest for a democratic transition there, including a peaceful and legitimate transfer to representative government, which is committed to all the universal human rights of their people. He’s also been consulting with other foreign ambassadors in Cairo, taking soundings about the situation there. And he will – I think his next stop is Riyadh, where he goes, I believe, on Sunday.
QUESTION: Did he or will he have any meetings with any representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood given the (inaudible)?
MS. NULAND: I don’t have anything specific on that. I think his meetings today were with the government, but as I said, he’s got meetings tomorrow and on Saturday.
QUESTION: Okay. We have the deputy head of the Muslim Brotherhood in an interview with Al Hayat saying that they don’t regard the peace treaty with Israel as binding, that they didn’t sign it, and if they come to power, they might put it to a referendum. Do you have any reaction to that? Are you – is this something that you’re trying to seek more clarification on from them?
MS. NULAND: Well, we’ve seen this press report. I would say that it is one member of the MB. We have had other assurances from the party with regard to their commitment not only to universal human rights, but to the international obligations that the Government of Egypt has undertaken. As we’ve said again and again, not only with regard to Egypt but with regard to other states in that region in transition, we expect that legitimate parties will not only support universal human rights, but will also (inaudible) continue to support international obligations made by their governments.
QUESTION: So as far as you understand, this isn’t officially the Muslim Brotherhood position that was reflected in that interview. You still think that they are bound to uphold the treaty?
MS. NULAND: We – they have made commitments to us along those regards, and as I said, we will judge these parties by what they do.
QUESTION: Can you give us a bit of flavor from the meeting? I mean, did – from Feltman’s meetings? Did he – what – particularly with the Egyptian officials at the defense and foreign ministries, did he hear – what did he hear from them? Did they renew their pledge, which apparently wasn’t very serious, that was made to Ambassador Patterson last week on the crackdown of the NGOs? What was the other side of the conversation like?
MS. NULAND: I’m not going to get too much into details other than to say that he is continuing to work, as is Ambassador Patterson, to resolve these issues. Our perspective remains that these NGOs have cooperated fully with Egyptian judicial authorities. They continue to do so. He made the point that all of these parties are committed to – all of these organizations are committed to democratic principles, and they have been willing to register, et cetera, and it’s the Egyptian Government that hasn’t made a decision whether it wants to register them.
With regard to the assurances that he heard back, my understanding is that that conversation is ongoing.
QUESTION: So in other words, your concerns of yesterday or the day before earlier this week still exist and still --
MS. NULAND: This issue has not yet been resolved.
Please.
QUESTION: Just curious: Was Assistant Secretary Feltman planning to meet with any representatives from the NGOs themselves while he was on the ground in Cairo?
MS. NULAND: I don’t believe he’s done that yet. I know that our Ambassador Anne Patterson did meet with representatives earlier in the week. I don’t know whether Assistant Secretary Feltman also plans to do that, but I’m sure she’s heard from our Embassy folks and –
QUESTION: Can I ask a question about Iran? I mean –
MS. NULAND: Let’s just stay on Egypt.
Yeah.
QUESTION: As you’ve no doubt seen that the prosecutor in the trial of former President Mubarak has said that they’re seeking the death penalty, and I’m just wondering if you have any comment on that. Do you think that’s an appropriate punishment to be looking for in this case?
MS. NULAND: Not going to comment specifically on that issue. I think you know where we have been, that we want to see this judicial proceeding and any judicial proceedings go forward in conformity with Egyptian law and with international jurisprudence standards.
QUESTION: Victoria, a follow-up on Andy’s question on the Muslim Brotherhood. Now, they gave you these assurances in casual conversations, or are they stated policy – the party policy line, or how did they give you their assurances to abide by internationally agreed –
MS. NULAND: Well, let me say that among the reasons that we are trying to meet with different political actors in Egypt, including with the Muslim Brotherhood, is that this isn’t a monolithic organization. None of these groups are monolithic. We want to make sure that we have an open dialogue where we are being clear publicly, but we’re also being clear privately about our hopes and expectations for Egypt’s future, our hopes and expectations that any political actors will respect human rights and will uphold the international obligations of the Egyptian Government. So we have, in that context, had some good reassurances from different interlocutors, and we will continue to seek those kinds of reassurances going forward.
Let’s go to Iran in the –
QUESTION: I just want to go back to your answer on the Mubarak question.
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
QUESTION: You said you want to see this judicial proceeding as well as any other judicial proceeding go forward in accordance with – what’s your – with dot, dot, dot. What’s your opinion of the Egyptian judicial system at the moment? Is it capable of meeting these standards?
MS. NULAND: Well, I think the international community is looking to Egypt to set a high standard with this trial and with other procedures going forward now.
QUESTION: But – yeah, but right now do you have confidence –
MS. NULAND: I’m not going to give them a report card, Matt.
QUESTION: Well, in general, what’s your feeling about the Egyptian judicial system? Is it capable of delivering a just and fair and – verdict?
MS. NULAND: It is our expectation that they will meet international standards, and that’s what we’ll be looking for.
Iran.
QUESTION: So I mean, recently there’s a congressional letter requesting that the State Department to investigate Chinese company, Huawei, still in Iran, and this letter came at a time when the U.S. Government is working very hard to try to talk with the Chinese Government and get their support on the new rounds of sanctions on Iran. So the question is that: Do you think the release of this congressional letter at this time would add up to the U.S. negotiation power when dealing with – or when the U.S. is talking with the Chinese?
MS. NULAND: Well, first of all, you’re right. We are talking to China. We’re talking to other countries around the world about the importance of strengthening sanctions against Iran, which we think is important for all of us as we try to bring Iran back into compliance with its international obligations and truly ready to demonstrate the peaceful intent of its program. These are goals that we share with China.
Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell was just in Beijing earlier this week. Among a broad range of other things, he certainly talked about Iran, and he talked about the implications for our partners and friends of the new legislation. That said, we already have legislation on the books, which the Chinese Government is well aware of, which could come into force in this case. We’ve received the letter from the Congress. We are looking at it. We have been aware for some time of these kinds of allegations, and we are following up on this. This is a complex issue. It’s going to take time. And as we have already explained to the Chinese Government, if we assess that the company involved was engaged in sanctionable activity involving the export of technology to Iran that was used specifically to disrupt, monitor, or suppress communications with the people of Iran, we will have to take appropriate action under the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, Divestment Act of 2010.
So we’ve been through these cases before with China, with other partners. I think what’s important in this case is that we maintain strong communication about our shared bilateral goals, our shared multinational goals with regard to Iran, but that we’re also clear about how U.S. law binds us in certain specific cases of – as I said, this one is under review. We’ll have to see where it goes.
QUESTION: That action that you –
QUESTION: May I do a follow-up on this? Because –
MS. NULAND: Say again.
QUESTION: May I do a follow-up on this?
MS. NULAND: Please.
QUESTION: I noticed that recently there are some former senior advisors from the State Department actually also raised concerns regarding the new rounds of sanctions, because the concerns basically think that this sanction might escalate the retaliation action from the Iranian side and also claims that the first casualty, if such escalation were to happen, would actually be the U.S. and European’s economic recovery. So I wonder – what’s your comment on this?
MS. NULAND: We’ve talked about this a little bit here. You’re talking about the – with regard to sanctions on companies that engage with Iran’s oil sector. We believe that it is important for countries around the world to look hard at their dependence on Iranian oil and to do what they can to diversify and to cut their ties. These are steps that we have taken; these are steps that we are encouraging of our partners around the world. This is not going to be easy; it’s not necessarily going to be quick, but it’s important, because this sector is a lifeline for the regime that is pursuing policies that are dangerous to all of us.
So this is a conversation that we’re having with our partners, including with China. But we believe that if we work together and if we also work to increase global supply generally that this will be an important next step in the global effort to tighten the noose on their regime.
QUESTION: You talked about that you would have to take appropriate action under the law. That would apply to China the country or the company?
MS. NULAND: The company.
QUESTION: So it would not apply to – and it’s not --
MS. NULAND: These are sanctions – these are company-designated sanctions. This is the CISADA legislation.
Yeah. Andy.
QUESTION: A follow-up just on China and Assistant Secretary Campbell’s trip. I know he’s been speaking out there and in Seoul about discussions on North Korea. But I’m wondering if the Taiwan election came up in his discussions with the Chinese? The Chinese Government has made some fairly strong pronouncements about how it wants to see the election turn out, calling the opposition a threat to peace and so on. And I’m wondering if – how the U.S. and China are squaring their positions on Taiwan’s upcoming election.
MS. NULAND: Well, we generally talk about cross-strait relations when we have these kinds of reviews at the level of Assistant Secretary Campbell. I don't have any specifics from those conversations. I think we’ve all seen the public statements from the Chinese Government. You know where we are, and I’m confident that he made clear our view that we want to see – we strongly support the – Taiwan’s democratic system and the will of the Taiwanese people to make their own choice in their upcoming election, that we’re not planning to interfere in it, we want to see it be free, fair, and open, we don’t take sides, and that we’ll continue to work with whomever the people of Taiwan elect within the current construct.
QUESTION: Does that – did that – did those conversations you mentioned this time around, where – that Assistant Secretary Campbell had with the Chinese – were they – did they go beyond the – what they usually are, which is the Chinese basically laying out the – laying out their objections to arm sales, to – and basically everything else and asking for a commitment to the one China policy?
MS. NULAND: I don't have any more details to share publicly --
QUESTION: I’m curious if your guidance, that the guidance there, that strongly supporting Taiwan’s democratic aspirations and that kind of thing, is related to his meetings or if that was just – if that was prepared just for the election and not having anything to do with --
MS. NULAND: No. I didn’t mean to imply that I was giving you the gist of his conversation with the Chinese. I’m --
QUESTION: Okay. This is just generally what you think about the Taiwan election?
MS. NULAND: This – correct.
QUESTION: All right.
MS. NULAND: Please.
QUESTION: Did the State Department provide any input to the Defense Strategic Review document, which was released in Pentagon today?
MS. NULAND: I’m sorry. One more time, slowly.
QUESTION: Did the State Department provide any input to the Defense Strategic Review document, which was released in the Pentagon today by the President?
MS. NULAND: Well, this was obviously a – primarily a Department of Defense effort to realign its own house to the current realities and to the global situation. Obviously we had input throughout the process. We are partners in implementing the national security strategy, and I would expect that the Secretary may have something further to say on this later in the day.
QUESTION: This document calls for a strong U.S. presence in Asia-Pacific region. What role do you see for India in that part of the world?
MS. NULAND: Well, I think we’ve spoken frequently and regularly – the President has, the Secretary has – about our desire for a strong, growing, robust partnership with India. I don't think I have anything particularly new there. I would refer you back to the strong statements that the President’s made and the Secretary’s made.
QUESTION: Right. So you said the Secretary’s going to say something about the --
MS. NULAND: I would expect she’ll have a written statement later today.
QUESTION: -- paper statement.
QUESTION: A question on Congo, if I might. Following last month’s election, you called on authorities in the government of Kabila Joseph to proceed with maximum openness and transparency. Can you give us any reaction to that government suspending broadcasts by RFI, allegedly because of their coverage of the opposition candidate Etienne Tshisekedi?
MS. NULAND: Well, we support freedom of speech around the world, in Congo included. We are concerned about these reports of Radio France International having been shutdown. We urge the relevant Congolese authorities to reinstate RFI’s frequencies immediately and we continue to advocate to all Congolese political leaders and their supporters to act responsibly and to renounce violence.
QUESTION: Could I question on Bahrain?
MS. NULAND: You may.
QUESTION: There was a very dismal report on the situation of the opposition today, that it was hammered pretty badly by the government. Is Bahrain and what is happening in Bahrain completely off your radar screen?
MS. NULAND: Of course it’s not off our radar screen. We continue to work with Bahraini authorities on the implementation of their own commission report, which calls for a number of significant reforms in the kingdom. We are working closely with them from the Embassy. We’re working with them here in Washington. I haven’t seen this report that you mention, but if we have anything further --
QUESTION: Are you able to meet with opposition figures in Bahrain?
MS. NULAND: We are. We are. Yeah. You know Assistant Secretary Posner for – Assistant Secretary for Human Rights, one of Under Secretary Otero’s bureau’s assistant secretaries, was in Bahrain – I think it was just before Christmas – and had a broad cross-section of meetings.
Please.
QUESTION: On the Rewards for Justice program, once a name is included in that list, is there any process to review it or remove it from the list?
MS. NULAND: You mean do we ever go back and take folks off the list?
QUESTION: Yes.
MS. NULAND: I’m going to have to take that one. I don't know how the process works.
QUESTION: And can you also include in that if any name has been removed from that list so far?
MS. NULAND: If any name has ever been removed from the list? We’ll take that one as well.
Andy.
QUESTION: Just another freedom of speech question. On the Turkish trial of the journalists – I know the Secretary brought that up in her visit to Turkey and that’s featured in your conversations with the Turkish Government in the past. They’re now going on trial. I’m wondering if you’ve made any new representations to the Turks about this trial. Is there – are you monitoring the process? What’s the story?
MS. NULAND: We are monitoring the process. I don't think the Secretary left the Turkish Government in any doubt about where we stand on the press freedom issues when she was in Istanbul. I think it was in October, November. She made some very strong statements about the ability of Turkey to realize its full potential as a vibrant democracy depending upon its support for openness and full freedoms, including a free exchange of ideas, free press, et cetera. So we are watching this carefully and continuing to make clear our strong concerns about press freedom in Turkey to the Turkish Government.
QUESTION: And are you concerned that the fact that this trial is going forward makes it appear as though the Secretary’s admonitions have fallen on deaf ears there.
MS. NULAND: Well, again, we have to see how this – whether this trial goes forward in a manner that is consistent with international standards, consistent with international human rights. So that’s the standard by which we’ll judge it.
QUESTION: Are you satisfied with the reaction of Turkish officials after you raised this concern with them?
MS. NULAND: This is an ongoing conversation that we are having and that, in fact, Turkish NGOs and Turkish members of the media are also having with their own government. So –
One last. Yeah.
QUESTION: Three U.S. Senators, including Senator John McCain, have issued a statement today saying that they are troubled by the reports of mistreatment of Husain Haqqani, the former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. Do you share their views, and have they (inaudible) to you on this issue?
MS. NULAND: I haven’t seen this particular statement. I think we’ve talked about Ambassador Haqqani a number of times, including this week. We want to see any judicial proceedings go forward in a manner that is open, transparent, consistent with the highest standards of international justice.
Thank you very much.
QUESTION: Thank you.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:31 p.m.)

US Department of State Press Briefing January 4, 2012 (Full Text)

Victoria Nuland

Spokesperson
Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC

January 4, 2012

Index for Today's Briefing

• ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS
  • Quartet Meetings
• INDIA
  • State Department Map
• QATAR/AFGHANISTAN
  • Taliban / Political Reconciliation
• YEMEN
  • President Saleh / Visa
• MISCELLANEOUS
  • U.S. Engagement with International Political Parties
• IRAN
  • Freedom of Navigation in International Waters
  • EU Sanctions
  • American Citizen Detained in Iran
  • Iranian Government treatment of U.S.-Iranian Dual Nationals
• SYRIA
  • Arab League Monitoring Mission / Violence / Opposition
  • Awaiting Arab League Report
  • Ambassador Feltman's Meetings
• EGYPT
  • NGO Raids
• DEPARTMENT
  • Establishment Bureau of Counterterrorism / Structure and Leadership
  • International Focus of Bureau of Counterterrorism
• ASIA
  • Assistant Secretary Campbell's Travel, Meetings in Seoul, Beijing

TRANSCRIPT:

1:02 p.m. EST
MS. NULAND: All right, everybody. I’m hoping we fed you so richly with that last meal that this one will be petite. I have nothing at the top, so why don’t we go to what’s on your minds?
QUESTION: Right. This will just be dessert?
MS. NULAND: This will be dessert. How’s that? I like that.
QUESTION: Absolutely.
MS. NULAND: Dessert in January. I thought there’s no dessert for anybody in January.
QUESTION: Right. No, for nobody, okay? So, good, that leads me into my first question about the Israeli and the Palestinian talks yesterday. They did have a meal. I guess they had no dessert since there wasn’t anything very exciting that Foreign Minister Judeh had to say afterwards. You promised us yesterday you would give us the American view of what happened, so what is it?
MS. NULAND: Well, first of all, again, to thank the Jordanians for this initiative that they took to get the parties together. From our perspective, the most important thing that’s happened so far and that’s continuing to happen is that these parties are talking directly.
As you know, that was something that the Quartet has called for for many, many months, but it was a key tenant of the proposal that was made in September that, really, the only way to get where we need to go, where they need to go, is for these parties to talk directly. So we consider that that first round of meetings was constructive, as were their interactions with the Quartet envoys. As you heard the Jordanian foreign minister say yesterday, we expect another round of these direct talks to pick up on January 6^th, and that is important that this dialogue is continuing. And we are, as Quartet parties, supportive of that, and we’ll see where it goes.
As I mentioned yesterday, the meetings also gave our envoy, David Hale, a chance to meet directly with President Abbas, with Prime Minister Netanyahu, with Foreign Minister Judeh. We continue to believe that the subject of the conversation needs to be focused on, first of all, territory and security, that both parties should be working towards making comprehensive proposals to each other that can become the basis of a negotiation. So that is what we’re looking to see as the next round moves forward, and that is the message that we are giving to the parties and that the Quartet as a whole is giving to the parties.
QUESTION: What – so do you know who is going to be meeting, at what level is this next meeting going to take place?
MS. NULAND: My understanding is that it is, again, the designated envoys for the two sides, Mr. Molho and Mr. Erekat.
QUESTION: My last one on this is that yesterday, I asked you what the U.S. believed was the Quartet deadline or timeframe for the two sides to present their proposals on security and borders. Is it January 26^th, as would be four months from the 26^th of September, which is what the Quartet outlined, or is there some wiggle room here?
MS. NULAND: Well, you are correct that when the Quartet put its proposal forward in September, the idea was 30 days for the first meeting and then 90 days thereafter for the parties to put forward their proposals. That remains the aspiration of the Quartet, that we see comprehensive proposals by the two parties by January 26.
But again, this is a live negotiation now. They are talking to each other. So what’s most important is that that conversation continue and that they work together on next steps that’ll increase confidence, that’ll increase trust, that’ll increase dialogue, that’ll bring us closer on the real issues. So --
QUESTION: So you don’t buy into the Israeli line that the deadline – that that four-month period or this second 90-day period only kicks in once direct talks are happening? In other words, it would be 90 days from yesterday?
MS. NULAND: Our --
QUESTION: Do you – you’re sticking with the January 26^th?
MS. NULAND: Our view remains that we would like to see real discussion based on real proposals begin within this month, which is why, though, we’re encouraged not only that they are talking directly, but that there is another direct meeting between them even this week, which can – we hope will give us some momentum, we hope will give us some grounds to increase the confidence, increase the trust, encourage the sides to really begin working this out themselves.
QUESTION: When you describe the talks as constructive, is it your understanding that in the discussions so far, they’ve gotten into any of the issues that you said you’d like them to bring up?
MS. NULAND: Our understanding is that they are talking about the real issues. One of the values of this session, in fact, was that we were not in the room for the direct session or for all of it. So it’s – they really need to talk to each other. That’s what’s going to settle these issues.
Said.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.) If you were not in the room, would you characterize your engagement as perhaps less engaged or more engaged or partially engaged? How do you shepherd, I mean, for the lack of better words, these talks? And would the next step be, let’s say, talks in Washington?
MS. NULAND: Well, let’s start with the next round at the end of the week in Amman, and see where we go from there. I think there’ll probably, thereafter, be some kind of a coordination session among the Quartet envoys to look at where we go later in January. But I think your word “shepherd” is a nice one. It’s a nice one for the season. Shepherd, support, encourage, provide a format, increase confidence – all of those things are goals and aspirations of the Quartet to stay with both parties, to help them work through their issues. As you know, the envoys met also separately with the parties, and as I said, our envoy met with leadership – both the Israeli leadership and the Palestinian leadership.
So our goal is to help listen closely, see if we can help them close the gaps, see if we can encourage them, and particularly encourage them in this area of talking directly to each other, because that’s the best path forward.
QUESTION: The Palestinians – yeah, sorry. The Palestinians feel that you’re becoming less and less enthusiastic about engaging yourself fully as you have been in the past. So should that word “shepherd” exacerbate their feelings at the present time that you are actually not as interested as, let’s say, in past years in seeing these talks through?
MS. NULAND: I think I would reject that characterization. I would say, though, that our view is that we cannot do this for the parties. They have to do this for themselves and they have to do it with each other. We can provide a supporting environment. We can listen to both sides and help them to hear each other. We can provide ideas, as we have done through the Quartet proposal. But at the end of the day, they have to make peace with each other.
QUESTION: And lastly, Victoria, the Palestinian Authority President Abbas said that, come the 26^th of January, he will make some really difficult decisions. Has he discussed any of that with you?
MS. NULAND: Again, I’m not going to get into our private diplomacy with President Abbas or with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Our view remains that we have some good momentum going now with the direct conversation. There’s going to be another round this week. We want to see real progress in January, without any kinds of brinksmanship or preconditions or any of that kind of thing. We want to preserve this good environment that’s been started in Amman.
QUESTION: Forgive me if I missed this by the way, but has the Secretary – when was the last time the Secretary herself had any direct conversations with her counterparts or others – Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Abbas – on these issues?
MS. NULAND: I would have to check the calendar, but my memory, Arshad, is that she spoke to both of them earlier in December but not since the new year, if that’s your question.
QUESTION: Well, my question – I’d be interested also to know how far back in December, whether it was December the 1^st, whether she had any conversations leading up to these meetings. Can you check that for us?
MS. NULAND: Yeah. We’ll have some more for you on that.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MS. NULAND: Yeah. But as her statement did make clear, she was in close contact with the Jordanians as they were midwifing this round of meetings, and our envoy was obviously in close touch with both sides to encourage and support it. In terms of her direct conversations with the parties, I’ll get that for you.
QUESTION: And did you say September or December?
MS. NULAND: December was what I said, but I didn’t have a date in my frontal lobe here, so – are we still on this subject? No?
QUESTION: Another subject. Do you have any updates on these controversial maps of the region – Southeast Asia, India especially?
MS. NULAND: I do. I’m thrilled and relieved to tell you that we have now put the revised maps up on our website. So please go and enjoy them. And what you will see when you look at these maps is that they reflect the fact that the United States takes no position on the dispute and urges all the parties to seek a peaceful resolution to resolving the claims. What you’ll see on the maps is consistent with what the U.S. geographic position has been consistently, that there is a dashed line representing the 1972 line of control, reflecting Kashmir’s unresolved status. We neglected to actually label that dotted line in the last round of maps. It has now been labeled.
What else do I have with regard to the maps? Oh, the maps also add our standard disclaimer with regard to Kashmir that says that names and boundary representations are not necessarily authoritative. As I said, that reflects the fact that this is in dispute and the U.S. takes no position on the dispute.
QUESTION: So what is the gist that we should take from this on the Kashmir policy?
MS. NULAND: That we made a goof and we fixed it, and we’re now back in compliance with our own cartographical policy.
What took so long, you’re going to ask me, Kirit; I do not know what took so long. We wanted to get it right so we don’t have to do this again.
QUESTION: But if you have no policy on this, I’m wondering why it took so long to change it.
MS. NULAND: To get the maps corrected --
QUESTION: It’s a Photoshop job.
MS. NULAND: I think until our fabulous colleagues in the third row pointed this out to us, it was not clear what had gone wrong, and we wanted to make sure --
QUESTION: Right. But that was, like, a month or two ago.
MS. NULAND: It was. We had Christmas, we had New Year’s.
QUESTION: But I thought there were two different – I thought there was – different maps going on here. Wasn’t there one that – where the problem was with the Chinese border and one would --
MS. NULAND: My understanding is --
QUESTION: In other words, when the question came up yesterday, you said that the questioner was talking about a different map.
MS. NULAND: No, no. What happened yesterday was that some folks in the room thought that we had put up a new map, when in fact, as of yesterday, we had one map that was correct and therefore was never taken down. What we did today was replace the other maps that had been wrong.
QUESTION: And it shows the line of control as a dotted line --
MS. NULAND: Correct.
QUESTION: -- suggesting that it’s in dispute. Well, that’s not going to please the Indians at all. I mean, that’s their entire point. That’s – was that – that’s the complaint is that it shouldn’t be – that it’s not disputed, according to them --
MS. NULAND: Well, again --
QUESTION: -- and that Kashmir is an integral part of India.
MS. NULAND: Well, again, it is consistent with longstanding U.S. policy.
QUESTION: Right. Okay. Okay. That’s fair enough. Now you said that the other thing is that the names and boundary lines are not what?
QUESTION: Necessarily authoritative?
MS. NULAND: Yeah. There is --
QUESTION: Well, then what the – I’m sorry. What’s the point of having a map if it’s not going to be authoritative?
MS. NULAND: There is an asterisk on this set of maps, which is also consistent with our standard policy when we are trying to make clear that there is a dispute here. And it says that the names and boundary representations are not necessarily authoritative, meaning that they are in dispute and we are not taking a position.
QUESTION: Can you just clarify that the – he was talking about the U.S. policy on Kashmir.
MS. NULAND: Correct.
QUESTION: Do you still believe that there should be an international intervention on that kind of thing? Or do you believe that it should continue with the bilateral talks?
MS. NULAND: The U.S. believes that this issue is best solved in bilateral channels. We’ve been very supportive of the work going on in bilateral channels, and we’d like to see it continue.
QUESTION: What is the Embassy entity that actually makes these determinations about the maps?
MS. NULAND: You have stumped me. I think it’s the U.S. Geological Service, but I’m not sure. Let us get that for you, Arshad.
QUESTION: Okay. Thank you.
MS. NULAND: Yeah. Please.
QUESTION: On a separate topic --
MS. NULAND: Yeah.
QUESTION: -- the U.S. seems to be moving toward official talks with the Taliban. I’m wondering if you have an update on that effort. And related to that, how would you characterize contacts between the U.S. and the Taliban up to this point so far? And there are concerns related to talk of possibly releasing detainees at Guantanamo Bay. How would you address concerns over that?
MS. NULAND: Well, first of all, Michael, we spoke to this extensively yesterday, so I would refer you to the conversation that we had yesterday. What we have here is a continuation of the policy that we’ve had straight through, which is that in addition to supporting and fighting alongside those Afghans who – alongside the Afghans to fight those Taliban who remain on the battlefield, we are also prepared to support Afghan-led reconciliation with those Taliban who are prepared to talk.
But the conditions for reconciliation held by the United States are the same held by the Afghan Government, namely that these – the Taliban have to be willing to renounce violence, break ties with al-Qaida, and support the Afghan constitution and all of its elements, particularly with regard to universal human rights, rights of women, rights of minorities. So what we said all along is with regard to this talk about potentially establishing a Taliban office, supporting an Afghan-led process, we are prepared to support those things on the understanding that what we seek, what the Afghans seek, is true reconciliation along the lines that I discussed, that they are ending the violence, we are supporting the democratic constitution of Afghanistan.
With regard to Guantanamo, simply to say that no decisions have been made with regard to any releases.
QUESTION: But can you also characterize contacts so far between the U.S. and the Taliban? How would you characterize?
MS. NULAND: We have made clear that in coordination with Afghans we have had some meetings. We also made clear when the Secretary was in Afghanistan and Pakistan that, at the request of the Pakistanis, we had one meeting with the Haqqani guys. Obviously, we’re going to do this in a way that supports an Afghan-led reconciliation process. This is not American-led, this has to be Afghan-led, and we will do it again in the context of trying to support a real reconciliation for those who are truly coming off the battlefield, truly ready to join a political process.
QUESTION: So Victoria, is it your --
QUESTION: Can I just follow up on that? Karzai released a statement referring to the U.S.-Taliban peace negotiations. Now how do you explain the discrepancy there and how he sees it and how you’re explaining it?
MS. NULAND: Well, I wouldn’t read too much into it. He also said on December 27^th that he supported the establishment of an address for the Taliban for this Afghan-led process. He makes reference in the statement that he made yesterday to the demands of the Afghan Loya Jirga, which he went to to say we want to continue this reconciliation process. The Afghan Loya Jirga said that it would be supportive of an Afghan-led process.
So I think what you see in Karzai’s statement is Karzai welcoming an American role in an Afghan-led process. He is, certainly, I don’t think asking us to do this independently of Afghanistan, nor are we interested in doing that.
Please.
QUESTION: Toria, you said that there are the militant Talibans that are waging war in Afghanistan, and then there are those that are pursuing peace. So are we to understand there are two Talibans in this?
MS. NULAND: Well, as in all such conflicts, there are folks who are not ready to come off the battlefield and there are some who are – who may be willing to consider doing so. So what we’ve said all along, and the Secretary said when she was in Afghanistan and Pakistan in October, that our policy would be to fight, to talk, and to build all at the same time. So you fight those who continue to insist on fighting and to fight the state of Afghanistan, and to support our Afghan partners as ISAF when those fighters are not prepared to lay down their arms.
But you also support an Afghan-led process of talking with those who are prepared to truly talk towards reconciliation. And then the last piece, of course, which we never forget, is building. And that means building a better neighborhood around Afghanistan. This goes to the Silk Road Initiative, where we’re trying to encourage better neighborly relations among Afghanistan and its neighbors, particularly Pakistan, but the states on all sides so that we can improve trade, improve cooperation, improve the lives of average people, and defeat the incentive for terrorism and for violence.
QUESTION: Can I change the subject?
MS. NULAND: Please. Cami.
QUESTION: Still one more.
MS. NULAND: Still on Afghanistan?
QUESTION: Have you received any formal requests from Afghanistan about releasing these prisoners from Gitmo? Any list they have sent it to you?
MS. NULAND: Well, first of all, we’re not today, we’re not in the future, going to get into the details of these Afghan-led discussions. That’s not productive to the process. What I’ve said to you is that we’ve not made any decisions with regard to releases. I don’t think I’m going to go beyond that.
Cami.
QUESTION: And secondly, previously this Administration had said that there’s no difference between a good Taliban and a bad Taliban; just Taliban is the Taliban. But now today it seems like you are differentiating between the Taliban who wants to talk and Taliban who is fighting. So how is it different between the previous argument and the new argument?
MS. NULAND: I don’t know what you’re referring to, but we’ve always made clear that
those-- we would support the Afghan people in defeating the enemies of the state. And in-- and we’ve been supporting them for 10 years on the battlefield against those who insist on waging war against the government. So I don’t think that there’s a change there.
Please.
QUESTION: Madam, where do you put the al-Qaida in this process as far as peace talks with the Taliban is concerned? And secondly, Talibans and Haqqani Network both have joined together that they will not attack anymore Pakistani civilians, but the attacks otherwise will continue.
MS. NULAND: Well, in your first question, we don’t see any place for al-Qaida in this process. With regard to Pakistani Taliban, I think that’s a better question addressed to them. I’ve – we’ve seen reports of a recent meeting – we’ve seen all kinds of different reports, but it’s a question addressed to them.
QUESTION: And secondly – if I may, one more. If I got back on this new bureau as far as Talibans are concerned. One, the timing of this bureau, and second, Talibans last week question also announced that they will open a new office in Qatar. So where do we stand as far as opening – are you going to allow for them to open a new office also in the U.S.?
MS. NULAND: I haven’t – I don’t think that that’s an issue even in the wind, Goyal. And again, with regard to the Qatar idea, it’s also not a formal proposal at this stage. And your previous – there was something before that, I think. I can’t remember (inaudible).
Okay. Kirit.
QUESTION: Two questions on Iran, if I may. I feel like we go through this every day when it – they ratchet up the rhetoric, but they’ve done it again and said that they – they’re going to require permission for any foreign warships to enter the Strait of Hormuz. That’s beyond where they’ve gone before. What do you have to say about that? Is the U.S. going to request any permission to enter?
MS. NULAND: Kirit, I think you know the answer to that question. We spoke to this from the Pentagon yesterday. We spoke to this from this podium yesterday. Jay Carney spoke to this from the White House. The U.S. --
QUESTION: Well, but they’ve gone (inaudible) beyond where they were yesterday, so --
MS. NULAND: They have, and this is the kind of bluster that indicates that they’re feeling pressure. But we believe that the United States needs to continue to play the global role that we have played for a long time in terms of ensuring and promoting freedom of navigation in international waters, and our policy will continue to reflect that.
QUESTION: And regarding their specific request for permission?
MS. NULAND: I think you know the answer to that. We consider this international territory.
QUESTION: Can I ask you about Yemen?
QUESTION: Well, hold on. I’ve got still – well, can I do --
QUESTION: Go ahead.
QUESTION: -- one more Iran question if you don’t mind? The EU has, in principle, agreed to impose some sanctions to ban the oil imports from Iran. Do you have anything to say about that?
MS. NULAND: Obviously, very good news and the result of lots of consultations among us, between the U.S. and EU countries, within the EU, very, very welcome and supportive of the intent of the Congress when it passed the new legislation at the end of the year. So these are the kinds of steps that we would like to see not just from our close allies and partners in places like Europe but from countries around the world, because we do believe that this is consistent with tightening the noose on Iran economically, and it also – we think that the place to get Iran’s attention is with regard to its oil sector.
QUESTION: May I ask you about Yemen, President Saleh?
QUESTION: May I follow up on this?
MS. NULAND: Let’s – Michel.
QUESTION: News stories coming from Iran have said today that Turkish foreign minister has delivered a letter from the United States to the Iranians regarding the situation in Strait of Hormuz. Can you confirm that?
MS. NULAND: I don’t think that is accurate, Michel. I think this is a bilateral visit to Turkey. I am not aware of any U.S. message delivered through Turkey, so --
QUESTION: On Yemen, this just was on the AP wires that a senior official from Yemen’s ruling party says President Saleh has decided not to come here for medical treatment or whatever his reasons were for coming here, and has decided to stay in Yemen. What is the U.S. position on that? Do you want him to stay there?
MS. NULAND: We’ve seen the same press reports you have. To date, we still have a visa application from President Saleh at our Embassy in Sana’a. It hasn’t been withdrawn. We also have not made a decision one way or another with regard to that visa. Our view is that President Saleh needs to step aside and allow the process to go forward as agreed and as he has signed up to, so we want to see the vice president and the opposition continue to work towards a democratic process in Yemen. So frankly, I’m not going to speak to his travel plans one way or the other. We --
QUESTION: I’m just wondering whether you think the process can go forward if he is still in Yemen.
MS. NULAND: Well, the process can go forward if there’s no interference with the process that’s been begun, yeah.
QUESTION: But would the United States help Ali Abdullah Saleh to go elsewhere, like in Europe or Canada or Australia for treatment?
MS. NULAND: Again, we’re not going to dictate his travel plans one way or the other.
QUESTION: On Syria, the Syrian foreign ministry has considered today your statement as a meddling in the Arab League work in Syria. Do you have any reaction to that?
MS. NULAND: What we have been saying here, both at the White House and from this podium, is that we want to see the Syrian regime live up to all the commitments it made to the Arab League – not some of them sometimes in some places – and that we remain concerned that despite promises, despite some sporadic improvements in some places, the violence continues in Syria, and it continues primarily at the hands of the regime. So we will judge the Assad regime by whether it lives up to all of its promises as the Arab League itself will judge the Syrian regime.
And as you’ve heard, there have been considerable questions within the Arab League about whether all of the conditions are being met. And just in recent days, we’ve had more deaths in Daraya, in Homs. We’ve had reports of security forces firing into peaceful demonstrations, et cetera, intimidating demonstrators from coming out into the streets, even when monitors may – might have been allowed to be present. So from our perspective, this is not about the Arab League mission. This is about the Syrian regime’s commitment to live up to all of its promises --
QUESTION: But you did --
MS. NULAND: -- which we consider lacking at the moment.
QUESTION: Yeah, but you did mention yesterday that, as we have noticed, whenever there are monitors present, people would come out and feel safer by demonstrating. So do you encourage the monitors to be there at every demonstration so people can feel safer?
MS. NULAND: Again, I think what you see is the Syrian people taking advantage of the presence of monitors to make their true views about their regime clear – where they feel safe, where there are enough monitors. In some instances, we are seeing large crowds, and we saw particularly large crowds over the weekend. I think, unfortunately, what we are also beginning to see now is the regime getting a little trickier and cannier about this because it isn’t happy with the large demonstrations that are coming out. And so in advance of its expectation of demonstrations, it’s beginning to intimidate people. It’s beginning to put folks in the square where demonstrations are expected. So that’s causing a deterrent effect, again, on crowds feeling safe even in the presence of monitors.
So again, this is not a regime that is behaving consistently with the commitments that it made to end the violence, end the attacks on its own people, release political prisoners, allow monitors from anywhere, allow journalists back in, and that’s the standard that the Syrian people are going to judge the regime by. It’s also the standard that the Arab League is going to judge the effectiveness of its own program by.
QUESTION: You also said that the Arab League mission should be allowed the benefit of time. They are coming up with their report on Saturday. So once they submit that report and that report is unsatisfactory, that the regime actually has not done anything to change the conduct of what it’s been doing in terms of pulling out forces, releasing prisoners, as you suggested, and you mentioned some names, would then – would that then cause you to take another step, perhaps go to the Security Council?
MS. NULAND: Well, we have also said that we want to wait for the Arab League to make its report. Our understanding now is that the Arab League ministerial will be not on Saturday but on Sunday, so we will await their own evaluation of their own mission.
We have, as you know, all along been looking at additional measures that we can take, that the international community can take, to continue to ratchet up the pressure on the Assad regime. We’ve made clear for many weeks now that we think its time for a strong UN Security Council resolution. We are continuing to consult in New York. New York is back to work today on what might be in that resolution. But I think we’ll also be guided in part by our consultations with the Arab League and how this monitoring mission concludes as it goes forward.
Please.
QUESTION: A question on – excuse me – a question on Egypt. The head of the IRI --
QUESTION: Before we go to Egypt, can we --
MS. NULAND: Anything else on Syria? Yeah.
QUESTION: Sorry about that.
MS. NULAND: Sorry.
QUESTION: The Turkish newspapers said that the Turks have deployed a – missile batteries, Hawk missile batteries along their border to counter, apparently, the deployment of Syrian missiles batteries. Are you concerned that this situation may deteriorate and we may actually have some sort of heightened tension or even conflagration along the – Syria’s northern border with Turkey?
MS. NULAND: I haven’t seen the reports that you’re citing on Turkish deployments. Obviously, it’s the sovereign right of Turkey to protect its own territory. We’ve been concerned all along with regard to the potential for – we’ve had significant refugee outflows, potential for even larger refugee outflows. The Turks have been enormously generous hosts in supporting those Syrians who have sought refuge there. And again, this is all part and parcel of the fact – of – that we’ve got to see the violence end in Syria. We’ve got to hold the regime – all of us – to the commitments that it’s made to end the violence.
Please.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MS. NULAND: Still Syria?
QUESTION: Well, it’s semi-Syria. It’s Feltman’s talks in Cairo with the Arab League. What’s – is that – the information the meeting is going to come on Sunday, not Saturday, is that from him?
MS. NULAND: Well, he’s --
QUESTION: And how did those talks go, if they haven’t --
MS. NULAND: Yeah. He --
QUESTION: -- if they’ve happened already?
MS. NULAND: He got on a plane last night. I don’t know whether he was starting his conversations this afternoon or whether they start tomorrow. We’ll see if we can get some preliminary information about his bilateral conversations and his Arab League conversations. They were designed to take place in advance of the meetings on Sunday, but I think he’s just beginning his consultations in Cairo.
QUESTION: Okay. And you don’t know if he’s met the Egyptians either, to read them the riot act or whatever?
MS. NULAND: Right. He was planning to do both while in Cairo, so I don’t have that.
Please.
QUESTION: A question on Egypt. The head of the IRI, International Republican Institute, said today that an Egyptian citizen and a U.S. citizen from his staff were called in today for questions from prosecutors, Egyptian prosecutors, and were accused of things they hadn’t done. I was curious if you have any reaction to that and if there was any update on contacts between the Embassy and Egyptian authorities since we last spoke on this yesterday.
MS. NULAND: Well, as you may know, some of the heads of the U.S.-based NGOs are now in Cairo talking to their own staff, working with our Embassy, meeting with Egyptian officials, so we are supportive of their efforts and continuing our own efforts to try to resolve these issues immediately. I had not heard this report of the IRI staffer. Obviously, we have called for many days now for the harassment to end, for property to be returned.
Our understanding is that all of these NGOs are willing to cooperate with appropriate judicial requests for transparency, for openness, et cetera, and they have been cooperating with Egyptian judicial authorities all the way through. So we want to see this handled appropriately within rule of law and within democratic standards.
QUESTION: Do you still see this as remnants of Mubarak holdovers as being part of the problem here?
MS. NULAND: We spoke to this yesterday, that we’ve had ongoing issues trying to explain to folks the role of NGOs, whether they’re international NGOs or whether they’re domestic NGOs, in a democratic society. And that’s part of the transition that Egypt needs to go through.
QUESTION: Can I ask you about the Mubarak holdover comments you had from yesterday? Isn’t the entire Egyptian Government, interim government, a Mubarak holdover? I mean, who’s new in that entire government?
MS. NULAND: Well, I’m not going to get into a who’s who of the Egyptian Government. There are faces in and out. I think the concern was simply that some of the rhetoric we heard was redolent of a different time and was not compatible with some of the – with even the electoral process that’s underway, and underway quite vibrantly now, in Egypt.
QUESTION: Well, you seemed to lay the blame at some individuals. You didn’t want to name them yesterday, but I mean, I’m just curious. I mean, when you say holdovers, I mean, it’s – they’re all holdovers, right?
MS. NULAND: Yeah. I think I’m not going to go further than I did yesterday on this one.
Said.
QUESTION: Victoria, there was a lengthy article today, a report in The New York Times, saying that your overtures toward the Islamists constitutes a historic shift in foreign policy held by successive American administrations. Are we on the cusp of an historic shift towards the Islamists? And if that is the case, how would you view their – their rhetoric is moderate as far as governing, but let’s say things regarding women, women’s rights, and so on?
MS. NULAND: Said, we’ve talked about this many times. It’s a different day in these countries as their citizens are allowed to go to the polls, as parties from across the political spectrum are allowed to register, are allowed to participate. So what we’ve said, whether we’re talking about Morocco or Tunisia or Libya or Egypt, is that we are going to judge these parties not by the names on their doors, the t-shirts they wear, but on their commitment to upholding universal democratic standards, universal standards of human rights, including the rights of participation of all their citizens, minorities, tolerance, and the rights of women. So those are the standards that we’re going to judge them by.
As you say, some of these parties have had quite moderate rhetoric, and we appreciate that in – and – but that rhetoric now has to be matched in the way they proceed. And frankly, we feel that the people in these countries are probably also going to judge them by whether they are bringing greater democracy, greater prosperity, greater enfranchisement, greater participation to the broadest possible collection of citizens rather than being exclusionary or intolerant.
QUESTION: When was the last time you saw a foreign policy analysis on the front page of The New York Times that didn’t refer to a historic or seismic shift or sea change?
MS. NULAND: Was that a crack at The New York Times or was that – (laughter).
QUESTION: I don’t know. I’m just wondering when the last time it was.
MS. NULAND: Steve has to defend himself. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: It seems to me that stories like that don’t get on the front page unless they’re referring to things like that.
Anyway, can I ask – go back to Iran for a second?
MS. NULAND: Yes.
QUESTION: Just – I wanted to know if there’s any update on your – the Swiss getting consular access to the American – the dual American citizen, and what – if there’s any change, what your understanding is about his case right now, where it stands.
MS. NULAND: Unfortunately, there is no change. Just to repeat where we’ve been, we had asked three times over the Swiss protecting power – in October, in November, in December – for access to him. The Swiss protecting power has asked at least twice, if not more, of the Iranians that they have access to him. All of those consular access requests have been refused.
I do want to say, though, Matt, that this is not, unfortunately, unusual in Iran when you’re dealing with a dual national. And this individual, Amir Hemati, is a dual U.S.-Iranian national, and the Iranian Government has historically not recognized our rights to access. That doesn’t change the fact that we will keep asking for it.
QUESTION: Does your current travel advice or travel warning for Iran include warnings to Iranian – to people who hold dual Iranian-American nationality that this is, in fact, a problem?
MS. NULAND: I don’t know the answer to that, but it’s available on our website. You can check.
QUESTION: A clarification on this Bureau of Counterterrorism. In the fact sheet that you’ve sent there are two things. One is strengthening counterterrorism diplomacy and building the capacity for foreign partners. And can you provide us with a list of countries that are partners now? And also, I suppose India was not – has it joined this bureau and this partnership?
MS. NULAND: Well, first of all, there is a difference between our global counterterrorism initiative that was launched in New York with a limited group of countries and the counterterrorism cooperation that the United States has bilaterally with some 100 countries around the world, if not more. And we do cooperate with India in counterterrorism. This can take the form of intelligence sharing, it can take the form of joint training, it can take the form of shared diplomatic initiatives, it can take the form of joint work to strengthen borders.
So if you’d like a list of the countries around the world that we cooperate in counterterrorism, we will ask our new bureau to provide that to you. But you shouldn’t confuse these initiatives. The U.S. has a robust counterterrorism relationship with, as I said, at least a hundred countries.
QUESTION: On this, and I’m sorry I wasn’t here for the briefing, but I don’t know if this was addressed – is my understanding correct that Coordinator Benjamin will now become an assistant secretary of State and that all of his minions – not meaning that to be a pejorative word – but all of his staff will then become --
MS. NULAND: All of his deputies, and his office directors --
QUESTION: -- deputy DASs and PDASs?
MS. NULAND: With regard to the assistant secretary status of Coordinator Benjamin/Ambassador Benjamin, as you may know, the Congress puts a limit on the number of Assistant secretaryships available in this building. We are short one for this new bureau. We have requested an additional slot for an assistant secretary from the Congress for Ambassador Benjamin. Assuming it is granted, he would then become an assistant secretary, so he is --
QUESTION: And they would then become deputy assistant secretaries and --
MS. NULAND: Correct.
QUESTION: Well, okay, because – and what is the corresponding increase in terms of money, in terms of salaries?
MS. NULAND: He did speak to that. There is no budgetary impact one way or the other --
QUESTION: Well, I’m curious about --
MS. NULAND: -- either on programs or on personnel.
QUESTION: You’re absolutely sure of that? When you (inaudible) --
MS. NULAND: You mean does he personally get a salary?
QUESTION: I’m not suggesting that it’s – he’s doing it for the money – but I just – but I believe that when you are moving from a coordinator to a Senate-confirmed position, there is an increase in salary, and that when one moves --
MS. NULAND: Would that it were true. I’m not sure it’s true, but we will confirm for you, Matt. He was asked a direct question with regard to budgetary impact and --
QUESTION: Overall budget impact. Not his --
MS. NULAND: Yeah. Yeah.
QUESTION: Yeah, but I think it’s (inaudible) – talking about programming.
MS. NULAND: Yeah. So I will ask him whether he’s expecting a salary increase with this.
QUESTION: Madam, my question was a clarification that as far as global war on terrorism is concerned, hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of people were killed around the globe by Taliban and also thousands in Pakistan, innocent Pakistanis. My question is the timing of this new bureau.
MS. NULAND: We’ve had an Office of Counterterrorism in this building for many, many years. When the Secretary came in and launched her Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review, patterned after the Pentagon’s similar four-year review, among the questions that she asked were: Is this building correctly aligned in terms of its offices and bureaus for its 21^st century responsibilities? And one of the overwhelming recommendations of the first QDDR was that we needed to upgrade this office, it’s no longer a coordinative office, it operates much more like a bureau, like many other functional bureaus that we have – Office of Oceans and Environment, Office of Counternarcotics, et cetera – and so it should be appropriately named and appropriately managed.
So that recommendation came forward with the QDDR early in, I think it was, January-February. We then, along with all of the other elements of the QDDR, had to consult closely inside this building, inside the interagency, with the White House, but especially with the Congress on the establishment of these elements in line with the recommendations. So that’s taken some time, and as we get these hatched, we are announcing them. So I wouldn’t read too much into the establishment of the bureau as compared to the news of today. But more broadly, it’s designed to help the Department better meet its strategic priorities.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MS. NULAND: Please.
QUESTION: Regarding these comments of President Chavez one week ago when President Cristina Kirchner was informed by his press secretary that she had a cancer problem, today she was intervened. I want to know if there’s going to be any official contact to Argentina to follow her state of health from the United States.
MS. NULAND: We are in close contact with her. The Secretary has a close relationship with her, obviously concerned for her, for her health, and – but I don’t have anything particular to announce today.
QUESTION: Just a question about that: There are reports apparently about – of a U.S. teenage girl from the Dallas area that was deported to Columbia recently, and local media in Dallas are saying that there’s a possibility of some mistake with ICE. And I was wondering, have you heard any of these reports or know anything about this case?
MS. NULAND: I don’t. It sounds like it’s a question for ICE, probably. Yeah.
Please.
QUESTION: Do you have any readout of Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell’s travel to China, Japan, and Korea, especially his talking points on Burma with these countries?
MS. NULAND: Well, he’s completed his stop in Beijing; I think he’s either in Seoul or on his way to Seoul for the second stop. He did give some press remarks in Beijing which I would call your attention to. Just in terms of what he did in Beijing, he met with Executive Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun, Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai. The meetings were obviously about the bilateral relationship; they were also about regional issues focusing heavily on close coordination with regard to North Korea at this important moment; Burma, outcomes of the Secretary’s visit, staying coordinated on how we can encourage reform in Burma; and they also talked about Iran, you won’t be surprised. And now he’s off to Seoul for consultations on the full range there.
QUESTION: And secondly, on Pakistan again: The former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, in an interview today said he feels he has threat to his life by the forces in the establishment. Are you concerned about his statement coming out?
MS. NULAND: Again, we spoke to this yesterday, that we want to see procedures in Pakistan go forward in a manner that’s consistent with the Pakistani constitution, consistent with international legal standards.
Please.
QUESTION: On L.A. arsons, are you able to flesh out the State Department’s role in identifying the suspect? I believe it was State Department agents – officials who identified him in the video.
MS. NULAND: We talked about this yesterday, so I would refer you back to that. And if you need more, we can put you in contact with the fabulous members of Diplomatic Security who were involved.
The last one in the back and then we’re going to – go ahead, Lach.
QUESTION: Will the State Department’s Bureau of Counterterrorism also be looking at U.S. extremist groups, or only foreign terrorist organizations? That’s the first part.
MS. NULAND: You mean American citizens extremists?
QUESTION: In other words will they also have – be coordinating operations against Army of God-type American extremist groups?
MS. NULAND: No.
QUESTION: No? Only foreign terrorist threats?
MS. NULAND: We are the State Department. We do international relations --
QUESTION: Oh, I know.
MS. NULAND: -- diplomacy, et cetera.
QUESTION: Yeah. I was just wondering if this would also – because the FBI, of course --
MS. NULAND: We obviously coordinate closely to the degree that any of these groups might have foreign contacts, et cetera. But U.S. domestic law enforcement is the responsibility of U.S. domestic law enforcement agencies.
QUESTION: Okay. Thank you.
MS. NULAND: Thank you all.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:50 p.m.)