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 A Wholesale Reassessment Of The Strategy - Waldorf Astoria New York, New York Press Briefing by Robert Gibbs 9/23/09 — Friday, September 25, 2009 —  Q Can I follow up on Afghanistan? In March, the President laid out a comprehensive strategy that was in part based on a civilian surge and new money for training. Is that now being reevaluated?MR. GIBBS: The President said in that speech that we would constantly assess and evaluate where we were in achieving the defined goal that he laid out in that speech in March. That's -- I think we've all, in the past several years, watched conflicts that we didn’t assess where we were and how we were getting there and where we were trying to go. In many ways, that's why we find ourselves where we are in Afghanistan. The President is determined not to repeat that, and instead, to assess constantly where we are. I think the President understands that decisions like this put our men and women in harm's way. And I think he owes it -- as he said over the weekend, he owes it to the parents of the men and women that we put in harm's way to constantly assess and evaluate where we are. I would point out a few things. The effort in Afghanistan continues robustly. The very last portion of the additional resources that the President okayed in March are beginning to arrive in Afghanistan. I think obviously this administration has taken our efforts against al Qaeda and extremist allies -- has taken the fight to them on many fronts, be it in South Asia, be it in the Indian Ocean area, be it in addressing threats with state and local authorities in the United States. So I sometimes get the feeling or the notion that because of this discussion and this assessment that somehow everything is on hold, and I think obviously that's not the case. Q If I could just follow up, I mean, it's one thing to reassess tactics, but this sounds like it's a wholesale reassessment of the strategy -- MR. GIBBS: Well, no, no -- Q -- the military thought they were -- understood what it was, European allies thought they understood what it was. MR. GIBBS: Well, again -- well, first of all, understand this is also being done in conjunction with European allies. Right? I mean, NATO is briefed on and working through the McChrystal assessment just as the national security team in the United States are. So the notion that somehow this isn't being done in conjunction with all of those that have equities or troops in the area I think is inaccurate. The President has, and continues to have, a defined goal for our mission in this region, and that is to disrupt, dismantle, and destroy al Qaeda and its extremist allies. There is an evaluation and assessment of the best tactics -- the best way tactically to achieve that, again, taking into account the assessment of where we are on the ground with a new commander, as well as different things like, as we mentioned, the outcome of recent elections -- all of which -- again, I think the President believes strongly we have to take into account moving forward and assess where we are, rather than simply continue in many ways as we did to get us where we are today. Afghanistan | NATO | Military | President Obama | Press Briefing | Robert Gibbs | War on Terror | White House Press Corps Labels: Afghanistan, Military, NATO, President Obama, Press Briefing, Robert Gibbs, War on Terror, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 5:46:00 AM  Shirking Responsibility - Air Force One Press Gaggle by Robert Gibbs 4/3/09 — Saturday, April 04, 2009 —  Q Does the President think -- General – excuse me, Secretary Gates said something about this over the weekend -- does the President think that leaders of NATO countries need to do more to convince their publics to contribute more troops? And how will he be communicating that?MR. GIBBS: Well, I think you’ll hear some of this, quite frankly, in his speech today in Strasbourg because, as I outlined earlier, I think he will talk about a strong partnership with Europe, but in that partnership, there have to be mutual responsibilities. Q This is the town hall event? MR. GIBBS: Yes. That we have -- in those mutual responsibilities that we have to understand there are real threats out there in this world. You’ll hear the President obviously outline those -- Afghanistan and Pakistan make real the threats that we have -- and that in understanding that this is more than just the concern of the United States but rather the concern of the world, that, yes, the responsibility is there for Europe to step up. Q So we should read that language in the speech today as an effort to motivate and convince the governments to do more? MR. GIBBS: Yes, I mean, I don't -- and I guess I'd phrase it partly this way -- you know, the criticism of the United States for the past few years was a go-it-alone diplomacy, but if you -- Q And you guys made that criticism during the campaign. (Laughter.) MR. GIBBS: I may have read that in a few of your publications or seen it on a couple of your news channels, but I appreciate your simply regurgitating what I say on such an easy basis. But with -- with a partnership, again, there have to be those shared responsibilities and you can't just have -- you can't have just one person bearing the entire load or responsibility in a partnership. Q Does that mean that the United States -- MR. GIBBS: And I think that's the importance, quite frankly, of NATO. I think we've seen that over -- you know, tomorrow we celebrate the 60th anniversary of NATO. The whole idea of that was shared responsibility. Q But does that assume then that the United States' position is that to date the other countries have been shirking that responsibility? MR. GIBBS: Well, I don't think that will be the tone. I think, again, we've only -- the strategy that we've outlined is only a little less than a week old. And, again, I think our process is to build an agreement on that strategy and then to meet that strategy with the appropriate resources, focusing, as I said, on -- partly on trading and partly on security around these elections. Afghanistan | Air Force One | NATO | Pakistan | Press Gaggle | Robert Gibbs | War on Terror | White House Press Corps Labels: Afghanistan, Air Force One, NATO, Pakistan, Press Gaggle, Robert Gibbs, War on Terror, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 4:30:00 PM Press Briefing by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley 4/3/08 (NATO Summit Results) — Thursday, April 03, 2008 —  Q With these decisions today by NATO, do you think that President Bush and President Putin will be able to settle their differences this weekend on missile defenses, or do you think it could be more of a broad, strategic statement that they're going to come to?SECRETARY RICE: Well, I certainly think that there will be a -- we expected that there would be a strategic framework about which we've talked. And a part of that has to be some discussion of missile defense. We are hopeful that Russia will take the opportunity to express the views that have actually been expressed to us about the usefulness and the importance of the measures that the United States has been willing to take, concerning the third site in the Czech Republic and Poland, that are meant to allay Russian concerns that somehow this missile defense system, the nine interceptors and radar sites, are somehow aimed at the Russian deterrent. And so that opportunity obviously arises, and already when we were in Moscow the Russians said that these were useful and important. We hope that we can move beyond that to an understanding that we will all have an interest in cooperation on missile defense, but we will see. Yes. Q As far as Afghanistan is concerned, are you -- you said you're satisfied with the result. But is this the end of your pressure of the other allies to provide more commitment, more troops, and I think about Italy, Germany and Spain, or you just satisfied with this result, and that's the end of it? MR. HADLEY: Well, interesting your question is -- "the end of our pressure." I think one of the things that was interesting about that meeting today was the NATO allies are all putting pressure on themselves. And NATO ally after NATO ally said, we have got to succeed here; it is important for the credibility of the Alliance; more to the point, it's important for the security of our people, and we need to succeed and we need to do more. This isn't just President Bush's line. This is now the line of everyone there. It's what we heard of President Karzai: a lot of progress was made; we all have to do more. Same thing from Secretary General Ban Ki-moon: progress -- need to do more. And as you know, the United Nations is stepping up. So I think everyone recognizes we need to do more. And it's not like we're going to come to a level and that's it, success is around the corner. This is going to be a long commitment. This is a hard fight. We are going to have to assess our requirements, modify our forces, modify our tactics and strategy, and do it over the long term. So I think what you are seeing is a much more focused engagement in Afghanistan, and a commitment that we cannot fail, and therefore are going to have to, in a very focused way, do more, and work more effectively with the forces that we have, both military and civilian. Afghanistan | Condeleezza Rice | NATO | President Bush | Press Briefing | Stephen Hadley | White House Press Corps Labels: Afghanistan, Condeleezza Rice, NATO, President Bush, Press Briefing, Stephen Hadley, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 8:00:00 PM Press Gaggle by Dana Perino 4/1/08 (Ukraine and Georgia Membership Action Plans) — Tuesday, April 01, 2008 — Q Is there any compromise -- short of a MAP plan -- that would be acceptable, that would still be a positive signal, but that everybody might get on board with?MS. PERINO: Certainly not one that we're focusing on. The President was very clear today in response to a question at the press conference that while some might have suggested that the President would trade MAP for better relations with Russia, that he was very clear to President Putin that he supports Ukraine and Georgia being given MAP; this is their chance for NATO membership, it is not NATO membership. At the end of that process, those countries might decide that it's not for them. And so he thinks that they should be given a chance. And so we're not focusing on anything short of that, but continuing to have discussion with our allies across the board, both from the State Department level all the way up to the President. Q What are the odds at this point? I mean, the Germans have been pretty strong on this, saying they don't think this is appropriate, this morning. Q And the French, as well. Q And the French, too. MS. PERINO: I saw one of the things that the French Foreign Minister said today, that -- something along the lines that Europe and Russia need to have discussions about possible MAP for Ukraine and Georgia. The last time we checked, Russia didn't get a vote. And this is a NATO discussion, a NATO exercise, and it will be a NATO decision. And again, the President's position is very clear. We understand that other people may have disagreements, but we believe that giving these two states that want to be democratic, independent and sovereign a chance to join NATO is important and it should not be derailed. Q What does it say about the state of the Alliance today, that they're probably not on the same page when it comes to this next step, that the future is still under some debate within the -- especially between East and West? MS. PERINO: I couldn't tell you about all the NATO summits going all the way back. These are healthy, independent, sovereign countries that get together and have robust debates about various issues. And so I think that the fact that we can all have these frank and open discussions is a good sign. And that's one of the reasons the President enjoys coming to these meetings, because they're clarifying moments where people can fully express themselves and lay it out on the table. The President has made himself very clear, that the door to NATO should remain open, and especially for countries that have shown that they have the will and the determination, and they, on the merits, deserve to be considered for membership -- a Membership Action Plan. Dana Perino | Georgia | NATO | Press Gaggle | Ukraine | White House Press Corps Labels: Dana Perino, Georgia, NATO, Press Gaggle, Ukraine, White House Press Corps >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 9:08:00 PM
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