Austin hosts German defense minister, as Washington resets relationship with Germany

Now that President Joe Biden has countermanded the punitive measures, relations are back on an even keel. During a fence-mending trip to Berlin last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stood beside German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a frequent foil of Trump’s, going out of his way to praise her “remarkable leadership.”

“I think it’s fair to say that the United States has no better partner, no better friend in the world than Germany,” Blinken said. “Germany and the United States share a conviction that we have to find ways to work together and work with others.”

WELCOME BUT WARY: Germany sees Biden as sunshine after the rain, but they remain wary that the change of tone from Washington could just be a temporary respite from Trump’s combative “America First” policy.

In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Blinken was asked point-blank by journalist Rene Pfister the question on the minds of many German officials. “There is the fear that the Biden administration might be only a brief return to normal before Trump or a Trumpian figure will take over the White House in ’25,” he said. “Do you share the concern that the U.S. democracy is still in a fragile condition, and Europe should therefore try to stand on its own feet?”

“We all have to deal with the here and now,” Blinken replied. “If we demonstrate that our democracies can deliver effectively for people, then I think the approach that we’re taking will be sustained. So our obligation is to actually deliver results.”

Blinken faced a similar line of questioning from Ingo Zamperoni of the German broadcaster ARD, who noted, “it takes two to tango,” and said Germans are not ready to take Blinken’s rosy pronouncements at face value. “Just by saying that alone, it doesn’t mean that allies trust that, because after especially the last four years, a lot of trust has been shattered.”

THE NORD STREAM 2 SORE POINT: The biggest bump in the road to better relations with Germany is its deal with Russia to buy energy through the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which the U.S. says is a tool for Russian President Vladimir Putin to undermine European energy security and threaten the security of Ukraine and other countries in the region.

Blinken argues the pipeline was a fait accompli by the time Biden took office, and the decision to waive U.S. sanctions against German entities, but not Russian, is a bid to convince Berlin to adopt strict rules that would prevent Moscow from using the pipeline a geopolitical weapon.

“We’re determined to see if we can make something positive out of a difficult situation that we inherited and to do what we can to make sure that the end result is that Europe’s energy security is not undermined,” Blinken said at a news conference with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas.

“Washington has expectations of Germany and that expectations are that we make sure that President Putin cannot misuse the pipeline to exert pressure on Ukraine,” said Maas. “We are quite aware of this, and we want to make our contribution in that regard.”

“There are a series of very practical things that we’re looking at, that we’re talking about, and my expectation is that we’ll agree on important measures that, again, can mitigate any damage that could be done,” Blinken said in the Der Spiegel interview in which he also warned the waiver granted by Washington could be rescinded.

The goal is to reach an agreement by the time Merkel visits Biden in Washington next month.

BIDEN CANCELLATION OF NORD STREAM 2 SANCTIONS CALLED ‘TERRIBLE’ FOR UKRAINE AND BOOST TO PUTIN

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STUCK AT OVER 50%:  For the fourth week in a row, the update on withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan issued by the U.S. Central Command says the “retrograde process” is more than 50% complete.

In other words, the U.S. military is no longer saying how far along it is in the process because in reality it’s almost done, well before the Sept. 11 deadline. When the pullout passed the 50% mark at the end of May, CENTCOM began adding a disclaimer to its updates, stating, “For operational security and to preserve force protection, we will not be updating the specific percentage of the exit process going forward.” Thus rendering the “updates” useless.

“From a military standpoint, it’s going very well,” said Army Gen. Scott Miller at a news conference in Kabul yesterday, noting that so far, the Taliban have refrained from attacking the departing U.S. and coalition partner forces.

One sign the end is near is that Germany has announced all of its forces are out, according to Reuters. “Our last troops left Afghanistan this night after almost 20 years and are on their way home,” said German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer late yesterday in a statement. “This is the end of a historic chapter, of an intensive mission which has tested the Bundeswehr and in which the Bundeswehr has proven itself in combat.”

‘CIVIL WAR … CAN BE VISUALIZED’: Miller has kept a low profile during his time as the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, but now that the end of the mission is near, he has been speaking out about his fears the country is on a trajectory to civil war.

Miller granted an exit interview with ABC’s Martha Raddatz Monday, and yesterday he met with reporters at the now nearly vacant NATO headquarters in Kabul, soon to be subsumed into the U.S. Embassy compound.

“What we’re seeing is the rapid loss of district centers,” Miller said, referring to the districts that have been falling to the Taliban like dominoes. “Civil war is certainly a path that can be visualized if it continues on the trajectory it’s on,” he said. “That should be a concern for the world.”

TALIBAN STRATEGY ‘PAYING DIVIDENDS’: The Taliban have doubled the number of districts they have taken over the past two months from 40 to 80, according to an analysis by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Bill Roggio.

“In many cases, Afghan security forces have turned over district centers, abandoned military bases, surrendered to the Taliban and handed over their weapons, vehicles and other war material without a fight,” Roggio writes. “The Taliban’s multi-year strategy of gaining influence in rural districts to then pressure the population centers is paying dividends.”

“The Afghan government’s strategy of abandoning rural districts has played directly into the Taliban’s strengths. The Taliban has used its mastery of these remote districts as a springboard to take the fight to more populated areas,” he says. “The Taliban has overrun key districts on the outskirts of major cities and provincial capitals, and is preparing to encircle Kabul because its patient, multi-year strategy is now coming to fruition.”

BIDEN DEFENDS SYRIA, IRAQ STRIKES: In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Pro Tempore of the Senate Patrick Leahy, President Joe Biden is defending his decision to bomb two sites in Syria and one in Iraq Sunday in response to drone and rocket attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq.

“I directed the June 27 strikes in order to protect and defend the safety of our personnel, to degrade and disrupt the ongoing series of attacks against the United States and our partners, and to deter the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iran-backed militia groups from conducting or supporting further attacks on United States personnel and facilities,” Biden says in the letter. “I directed this discrete military action consistent with my responsibility to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct United States foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive.”

IRAQ HEDGES ITS BETS, COZIES UP TO IRAN AS US PULLOUT LOOMS

‘IF YOU ARE IN SOMEONE’S BACKYARD, CAN YOU SAY YOU ARE DEFENDING YOURSELF?’: Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, one of the left-wing members of Congress known as “the Squad,” questioned Biden’s rationale for launching airstrikes in an interview on CNN yesterday.

Omar, a Somali refugee and one of only two Muslim women elected to Congress in 2019, said she has yet to clearly hear what those justifications are and why the strikes were launched over the objections of Iraq, which is hosting U.S. troops.

“This is an administration that has said they want to lead the international world as an administration that believes in the rule of law and respects international law. And we find ourselves where we are being rebuked by a country that we say has invited us, that has been asking us repeatedly to leave,” Omar told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “And so the question that should be asked is, why are we still there? Is it OK for us to continue to engage in proxy war with Iran and Syria while our troops are in Iraq? And is it time for this administration to come before Congress to ask for authorization?”

“We have seen this administration and other administrations talk about the powers that they have in Article 2 in defense,” she continued. “But what should be considered defense is a question that we need to talk about. If you are in someone’s backyard, can you say you are defending yourself?”

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Calendar

WEDNESDAY | JUNE 30

8 a.m. — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hosts an enhanced honor cordon to welcome German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer to the Pentagon.

9:30 a.m. — Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association International and the U.S. Naval Institute virtual West 2021 Conference: “What is the Promise and Progress of Naval Integration,” with Jennifer Edgin, assistant deputy commandant for information at the Marine Corps; Rear Adm. David Dermanelian, assistant commandant for command, control, communications, computers and information technology at the Coast Guard; Vice Adm. Jeffrey Trussler, deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare; Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger; Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday; Adm. Karl Schultz, commandant of the Coast Guard; former Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work; Rear Adm. Kelly Aeschbach, commander of Naval Information Forces; Vice Adm. William Galinis, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command; Brig. Gen. Arthur Pasagian, commander of the Marine Corps Systems Command; Rear Adm. Carola List, assistant commandant for engineering and logistics at the Coast Guard; Rear Adm. Douglas Small, commander of the Naval Information Warfare Systems Command; and Vice Adm. G. Dean Peters, commander of the Naval Air Systems Command; Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno, director of staff of the Space Force; and Adm. Sam Paparo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. https://www.westconference.org/WEST21

3 p.m. 2118 Rayburn — House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces Hearing: “Fiscal Year 2022 Rotary Wing Aviation Budget Request,” with Douglas Bush, acting assistant secretary of the army for acquisition, logistics and technology; Maj. Gen. Walter Rugen, director, Future Vertical Lift Cross Functional Team, Army Futures Command; Frederick “Jay” Stefany, acting assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development, and acquisition; Lt. Gen. Mark Wise, deputy Marine Corps commandant for aviation; Rear Adm. Andrew Loiselle, director, Air Warfare Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations; Darlene Costello, acting assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology, and logistics; Brig Gen. Mark August, director, Air Force Global Reach Programs. https://armedservices.house.gov/hearings

THURSDAY | JULY 1

11 a.m. — Heritage Foundation virtual discussion on “Critical Race Theory in the Military,” with Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Dakota Wood, senior research fellow for defense programs at heritage. https://www.heritage.org/defense/event

11 a.m. — National Press Club Newsmaker Program with House Foreign Affairs ranking member Michael McCaul, R-Texas; and Rep. Al Green, D-Texas urging the Biden Administration to work to free Austin Tice, a freelance journalist that was abducted in Syria in 2012. https://www.press.org/events/npc-headliners

3:30 p.m. — Atlantic Council virtual discussion: “Fight and Flight in Modern Air Warfare,” with Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr.; Vivian Salama, national security reporter at the Wall Street Journal; Michael Andersson, head of strategic partnerships and international affairs at Saab; and former Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, vice chair of the Atlantic Council’s Center for Strategy and Security https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/event

FRIDAY | JULY 2

1 p.m. 16th St. and Constitution Ave. N.W. — UFO Activists rally on the Ellipse to protest “the secrecy regarding extraterrestrial life.” https://www.eventbrite.com/e/world-ufo-day-2021