GAME ON: Angered by the Taliban’s deadly attacks on civilians and United States troops, President Trump declared negotiations over an American withdrawal from Afghanistan “dead” and promised to make the Taliban regret its “mistake.”
“You can’t do that with me. So they’re dead, as far as I’m concerned. And we’ve hit the Taliban harder in the last four days than they’ve been hit in over 10 years,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
On a visit to Afghanistan, the U.S. Central Command chief, Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, brushed off Taliban threats that “Americans will suffer more than anyone else for canceling the talks.”
“We’re certainly not going to sit still and let them carry out some self-described race to victory. That’s not going to happen,” McKenzie told a group of reporters traveling with him, according to Reuters. “Whatever targets are available, whatever targets can be lawfully and ethically struck, I think we’re going to pursue those targets.”
MORE AIRSTRIKES?: McKenzie seemed to be hinting that the U.S.-led coalition and Afghanistan’s fledgling air force would be stepping up attacks against Taliban targets.
While a Sept. 3 United Nations report said strikes in Afghanistan were up 57% over last year for the period between May 10 and Aug. 8, numbers posted by U.S. Air Forces Central Command show the number of actual munitions dropped by 5.7%.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed the U.S. had killed 1,000 Taliban fighters over the previous 10 days. The Pentagon yesterday did not confirm that number.
Asked yesterday about the way ahead, Trump didn’t have a clear answer. “We beat them militarily, but as soon as we leave, it seems to form again. We would beat them very easily militarily if we wanted to by doing certain things, and I’m not talking nuclear,” he said “We could have that over with very, very rapidly, but you’d lose millions and millions of lives, and I don’t want to do that.”
TRUMP TOOK HIS OWN ADVICE: Whose idea was it to invite the Taliban to Camp David the week of the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks?
“I took my own advice. I like the idea of meeting. I’ve met with a lot of bad people and a lot of good people during the course of the last almost three years,” Trump said yesterday. “It was my idea, and it was my idea to terminate it. I didn’t discuss it with anybody else.”
Trump stopped short of ruling out a future agreement. “We’re talking to the government, we’re talking to a lot of different people, and we’ll see.” he said. “But I canceled Camp David on the basis that they did something that they sure as hell shouldn’t have done.”
WITHERING CRITICISM: Even after it was rescinded, the invitation to the Taliban outraged many members of Congress, including some in Trump’s own party. “Camp David is where America’s leaders met to plan our response after al Qaeda, supported by the Taliban, killed 3000 Americans on 9/11,” tweeted Wisconsin Republican Rep. Liz Cheney over the weekend. “No member of the Taliban should set foot there. Ever.“
But yesterday on Fox News Channel, she softened her criticism. “I think that the important thing is to look at what actually transpired. And what has transpired now is the president has done exactly the right thing,” Cheney told Bret Baier. “This president has shown that he is willing consistently to walk away from bad deals.”
But Cheney also said negotiating with the Taliban is a mistake. “We shouldn’t be. And that’s why I am very glad that the president said these talks are dead, we’re not going to be negotiating with them. You can’t trust the Taliban.”
“You know, we’ve been talking to the Taliban for years. But the notion that somehow we think they’re going to be a partner for peace, that somehow they’re going to give us counterterrorism assurances that we can count on — well, it’s wrong.“
A WAY FORWARD?: Meanwhile, four former national security professionals, including two retired generals, have penned an open letter to Trump advocating a new approach for securing Afghanistan, which they say is based on a “special operations model” and would dramatically lower the U.S. footprint in the country.
The concept would rely on “relatively small units of highly skilled professionals backed by reliable airpower, sophisticated intelligence capabilities and logistic supply,” according to the letter signed by retired Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, former acting assistant defense secretary Frank Gaffney, and a former leader of a Vietnam-era counterinsurgency program, Stephen Young.
“This would reduce the existing 15,000 U.S. forces currently in country to approximately 2,000 and the number of contractors there from 37,000 to roughly 6,000. Associated costs would be reduced from $62-plus billion per year to under $10 billion per year,” they say.
Good Tuesday morning and welcome to Jamie McIntyre’s Daily on Defense, written and compiled by Washington Examiner National Security Senior Writer Jamie McIntyre (@jamiejmcintyre) and edited by Kelly Jane Torrance (@kjtorrance). Email us here for tips, suggestions, calendar items, and anything else. If a friend sent this to you and you’d like to sign up, click here. If signing up doesn’t work, shoot us an email and we’ll add you to our list. And be sure to follow us on Twitter: @dailyondefense.
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HAPPENING TODAY: The White House has penciled in an Oval Office ceremony for 5:30 p.m. to swear in Kelly Craft to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N. That depends, of course, on the outcome of a scheduled Senate vote set for 10 a.m.
The post has been vacant for almost a year, since Nikki Haley announced she was stepping down last October and exited Dec. 31.
ALSO TODAY: The Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee will be marking up the appropriations bill for the Defense Department amid fears that the final measure won’t be approved in time for the Pentagon to get its money by the Oct. 1 start of the fiscal year.
“DoD’s senior leaders will be meeting with members of Congress throughout the month to discuss the importance of passing a budget no later than Oct. 1,” chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said yesterday. “Passing a budget on time is crucial to the department’s ability to implement the National Defense Strategy.”
Yesterday on the Senate floor, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated that three weeks may not be enough time to get all 12 spending measures passed. “I’m confident we can make significant progress on regular appropriations this month and then pass an interim continuing resolution to prevent any funding lapse while that work continues,” he said.
ABOUT THOSE STAYS AT TRUMP’S PLACE: House Democrats are gearing up to try to block the use of Pentagon funds for military personnel to stay at any properties owned by President Trump.
Yesterday, the Pentagon offered a spirited defense of a recent trip in which Air Force personnel overnighted at the president’s Turnberry resort in Scotland. “As our aircrews serve on these international airlift missions, they follow strict guidelines on contracting for hotel accommodations and all expenditures of taxpayer dollars,” said Hoffman in a briefing for reporters. “In this case, they made reservations through the Defense Travel System and used the closest available and least expensive accommodation to the airfield within the crew’s allowable hotel rates.”
“The President has already shown a willingness to violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, and Congress has a duty to use every tool we can to stop him,” said Virginia Rep. Don Beyer in a statement to Politico. “The House sent a clear message by adopting our amendment in July that we will not allow taxpayer funds, including the defense budget, to be used to enrich the President.”
NOTHING TO DO WITH ME: “I know nothing about an Air Force plane landing at an airport (which I do not own and have nothing to do with) near Turnberry Resort (which I do own) in Scotland, and filling up with fuel, with the crew staying overnight at Turnberry (they have good taste!),” Trump tweeted yesterday. “NOTHING TO DO WITH ME.”
Later speaking to reporters, he said, “I’m going to be giving out a financial report of me and it’ll be extremely complete. … And you’ll be extremely shocked that the numbers are many, many times what you think. I don’t need to have somebody take a room overnight at a hotel.”
THERE’S ALSO THE AIRPORT: The New York Times, citing government records released through Scottish freedom of information law, reports that the Trump Organization, starting in 2014, entered into a partnership with Glasgow Prestwick Airport to try to increase private and commercial air traffic to the region.
“As part of that arrangement, the Trump Organization worked to get Trump Turnberry added to a list of hotels that the airport would routinely send aircrews to, even though the Turnberry resort is 20 miles from the airport, farther away than many other hotels, and has higher advertised prices.”
MIXED MESSAGE: North Korea launched two more “projectiles” into the sea today, at the same time it made noises about restarting nuclear talks with the U.S.
The test — believed to involve short-range missiles — is North Korea’s eighth since late July, all of which have been dismissed by Trump as insignificant.
The latest launches came just hours after the North’s First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui expressed a willingness to resume denuclearization talks with the United States in late September but warned North Korea needed to see some new U.S. proposals.
“It just came out over the wires that he’d like to have a meeting. I have a very good relationship with Chairman Kim, Kim Jong Un, and it just came out,” Trump said in reaction to Choe’s statement.
“I just saw it as I’m coming out here — just came out that they would like to meet. We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “But I always say having meetings is a good thing, not a bad thing.”
PENTAGON’S 9/11 MEMORIAL TO CLOSE FOR REPAIRS: The Pentagon will hold its annual Sept. 11 observance tomorrow at the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial but will then close the site for repairs a few days later until next May.
“This project will address re-occurring failures of the lighting systems in the pools under the memorial benches from water seeping into the fixtures,” a Pentagon statement said. “This project will also replace the entire electrical system at the Pentagon Memorial, including all of the bench lighting, as well as the entire electrical conduit that feeds power to the light fixtures.”
REP. SUSAN DAVIS RETIRES: California Democrat Susan Davis, one of the House Armed Services Committee’s most senior members, has announced she will retire at the end of the 116th Congress following nearly two decades of service.
“During her tenure as Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Military Personnel, she advocated for issues that have had an undeniable, lasting impact on all service members,” said committee chairman Adam Smith in a statement.
The Rundown
Washington Examiner: Three DHS secretaries disagree with Trump: Mexico border not a top security threat
AP: Trump’s Afghanistan decision pushes country toward vote
New York Times: Weary of War, but More Wary of the Taliban
AP: Analysis: North Korean tests put pressure on Washington
Bloomberg: Iran’s Dark Tanker Fleet Poses the Oil World’s Biggest Mystery
New York Times: Israel’s Leader Says Iran Hid a Nuclear Weapons Site
Military.com: Marco Rubio Says Navy Ships Should Be Sent to the Bahamas ‘As Soon As Possible’
Stars and Stripes: Pentagon Says 1,200 Troops Have Been Mobilized to Assist Dorian-Ravaged Bahamas
USNI News: Navy Claims A Strong Technical Foundation Ahead Of Testing New Classes Of Unmanned Ships
Wall Street Journal: Professor Linked to Huawei Is Charged
Talk Media News: Longtime allies France and US weave in and out linguistically on critical challenges
Washington Post: Naval Academy opens investigation into reports of a noose
Washington Examiner: Holes poked in CNN report blaming Trump for alarm that led to extraction of Kremlin informant
Washington Post: In the Army’s new museum, the soldiers look alive and the battle scenes are all too real
Calendar
TUESDAY I SEPTEMBER 10
9:30 a.m. 300 First Street S.E. Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies discussion on “Restoring U.S. Military Competitiveness: Mosaic Warfare,” with Tim Grayson, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Strategic Technology Office; Jan Javorsek, program manager of the DARPA Strategic Technology Office; retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, dean of the Mitchell Institute; and Heather Penney, senior resident fellow at the Mitchell Institute. www.mitchellaerospacepower.org
10 a.m. 192 Dirksen. Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee markup of legislation making appropriations for the Defense Department for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2020. appropriations.senate.gov
12 p.m. 1030 15th Street N.W. The Atlantic Council discussion with Iraqi Ambassador to the U.S. Fareed Yasseen, with Abbas Kadhim, director of the Atlantic Council’s Iraq Initiative. www.atlanticcouncil.org/events
2 p.m. 2118 Rayburn. House Armed Services Committee Intelligence and Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee and House Oversight and Reform Committee National Security Subcommittee joint hearing on “Securing the Nation’s Internet Architecture,” with Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary for Cyber Policy B. Edwin Wilson; Jeanette Manfra, assistant director for cybersecurity in the Homeland Security Department’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency; and Diane Rinaldo, acting commerce assistant secretary and administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. armedservices.house.gov/hearings
5 p.m. 616 Rhode Island Avenue N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies book discussion on Dividing America: How Russia Hacked Social Media and Democracy, with author Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Suzanne Spaulding, senior adviser for homeland security at CSIS. www.csis.org/events
WEDNESDAY | SEPTEMBER 11
8:30 a.m. 2043 Rayburn. The Air Force Association’s Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies discussion on “Light Attack Aviation: A Current Operational Partner Perspective,” with Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colorado; Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Florida; Brig. Gen. Ziad Haykal, commander of the Lebanese Air Force; Afghanistan Col. Abdul Hadi Barakzai, military attaché at the embassy of Afghanistan; Phillip “Convoy” Clay, test pilot for the Navy’s Imminent Fury/Combat Dragon technology demonstration; and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Larry Stutzriem, research director at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. www.mitchellaerospacepower.org
9 a.m. Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. Ceremony marking the 18th anniversary of the September 11th attacks of 2001.
9 a.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies summit examining violent extremism in the Sahel region in Africa. www.csis.org/events
12 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. The Hudson Institute holds a discussion on “Reinforcing the U.S.-Taiwan Defense Alliance,” with former Taiwanese defense minister Michael Tsai; Mike Kuo, president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs; and Seth Cropsey, director of the Hudson Center for American Seapower. www.hudson.org/events
12 p.m. 1000 Massachusetts Avenue N.W. Cato Institute discussion on “The Human Costs of War: Assessing Civilian Casualties since 9/11,” with Daphne Eviatar, director of the Amnesty International USA Security with Human Rights Program; Dan Mahanty, director of the Center for Civilians in Conflict U.S. Program; Emily Manna, policy analyst of Open the Government; and Christopher Preble, vice president for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. www.cato.org/events
THURSDAY | SEPTEMBER 12
8 a.m. 2401 M Street N.W. Defense Writers Group breakfast, with R. Clarke Cooper, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs. nationalsecuritymedia.gwu.edu
8:30 a.m. 1777 F Street N.W. Council on Foreign Relations discussion with Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., on a progressive foreign policy vision and national security interests in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, with Margaret Talev, politics and White House editor at Axios. www.cfr.org
9:30 a.m. Dirksen SD-G50. The Senate Armed Services Committee holds a confirmation hearing on the nominations of Ryan McCarthy to be Army secretary and Barbara Barrett to be Air Force secretary. www.armed-services.senate.gov
10 a.m. 1030 15th Street N.W. Atlantic Council discussion on “Political Crisis in Hong Kong and the Future of ‘One Country, Two Systems,'” with former U.S. consul general to Hong Kong and Macau Kurt Tong, partner at the Asia Group; former assistant treasury secretary for international affairs Clay Lowery, executive vice president of the Institute of International Finance; Richard Bush, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; Sarah Cook, senior research analyst for China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan at Freedom House; and Olin Wethington, non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. www.atlanticcouncil.org/events
2 p.m. 1775 Massachusetts Avenue N.W. Brookings Institution discussion on “The Counter-ISIS Coalition: Diplomacy and Security in Action,” with Brett McGurk, nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Middle East Program; Susan Glasser, staff writer at the New Yorker; and John Allen, president of the Brookings Institution. www.brookings.edu/events
2 p.m. 1201 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Hudson Institute discussion on “Defending the Baltics: Alternative Approaches,” with Latvian Defense Ministry State Secretary Janis Garisons; Stephen Flanagan, senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation; and Tod Lindberg, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. www.hudson.org
2 p.m. George Washington University holds a Korea Policy Forum with the theme “Next Steps in U.S.-Korea Economic Relations,” with Wendy Cutler, vice president and managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute, and Yonho Kim, associate director of the GWU Institute for Korean Studies. elliott.gwu.edu
3 p.m. 1211 Connecticut Ave. N.W. Stimson Center discussion on “Lessons from Taiwan: Disinformation, Cybersecurity, and Energy Security.” www.stimson.org/content
3 p.m. 1616 Rhode Island Ave. N.W. Center for Strategic and International Studies discussion on “Taiwan Goes to the Polls,” with Nathan Batto, associate research fellow at the Academia Sinica Institute of Political Science; Susan Lawrence, specialist in Asian affairs at the Congressional Research Service; and Scott Kennedy, senior adviser, China studies chairman, and director of the CSIS Project on Chinese Business and Political Economy. www.csis.org/events
4 p.m. 1521 16th St. N.W. Institute of World Politics lecture on “The Fight So Far,” a “strategic review of the U.S. Government’s efforts against terrorism, both past and present,” with retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Nagata, former strategy director at the National Counterterrorism Center. www.iwp.edu/events
FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 13
10 a.m. 1030 15th Street N.W. Atlantic Council discussion on “Hizballah and Iran’s Illicit Financial Networks,” with Assistant Treasury Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea. www.atlanticcouncil.org/events
10 a.m. 2301 Constitution Ave. N.W United States Institute of Peace discussion on “The Potential U.S.-Taliban Deal: A Step Forward for Peace in Afghanistan?” with Clare Lockhart, director and co-founder of the Institute for State Effectiveness; Barnett Rubin, associate director of the New York University Center for International Cooperation; Michael Semple, visiting professor at Queen’s University Belfast; Scott Worden, director of Afghanistan and Central Asia programs at USIP; and Nancy Lindborg, president of USIP. www.usip.org
MONDAY | SEPTEMBER 16
4:30 pm. 1740 Massachusetts Ave. N.W. The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies hosts a session titled “American Diplomacy in a Disordered World” with former deputy secretary of state Ambassador William J. Burns and Eliot A. Cohen, dean of Johns Hopkins SAIS. www.eventbrite.com
FRIDAY | SEPTEMBER 13
10 a.m. 1030 15th Street N.W. Atlantic Council discussion on “Hizballah and Iran’s Illicit Financial Networks,” with Assistant Treasury Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea. www.atlanticcouncil.org/events
10 a.m. 2301 Constitution Ave. N.W. U.S. Institute of Peace discussion on “The Potential U.S.-Taliban Deal: A Step Forward for Peace in Afghanistan?” with Clare Lockhart, director and co-founder of the Institute for State Effectiveness; Barnett Rubin, associate director of the New York University Center for International Cooperation; Michael Semple, visiting professor at Queen’s University Belfast; Scott Worden, director of Afghanistan and Central Asia programs at USIP; and Nancy Lindborg, president of USIP. www.usip.org
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We’re going to provide the State Department as much maneuver space as possible for them to negotiate a successful settlement. With regard to potential troop drawdowns or potential numbers, those are hypotheticals that we’ll look at once an agreement is in place.”
Chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman, answering a question about whether the planned withdrawal of 5,400 U.S. troops from Afghanistan is on hold.
