White House Press Briefing - June 21, 2013

Q Thanks, Jay. Yesterday on CNN, Senator John McCain reiterated that he didn’t think the administration was doing enough to help the dire situation in Syria. And referring to the recent announcement by the administration to further assist the rebels, he said, "Light weapons do not do well against Scud missiles and tanks, and it's just shameful." Any reaction from this -- strong reaction from Senator McCain? MR. CARNEY: Under the President's leadership, the United States of America is the leader in the provision of humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people, and we have stepped up that assistance consistently over recent months. We have also significantly increased our assistance to the Syrian opposition, direct assistance, as well as to the Syrian Supreme -- the opposition's Supreme Military Council. And as you know, the President has authorized the expansion of our assistance to the opposition, including to the Supreme Military Council, and we will be consulting with Congress -- including, I'm sure, with Senator McCain -- on these matters in the coming weeks. The approach the President takes to these issues is to evaluate policy options, including options in the provision of assistance to the Syrian opposition, based on whether they would hasten the achievement of our goal here, which is to bring about a political transition in Syria. And the President is fully aware -- you've heard him address this recently -- of the circumstances in Syria, the fact that Assad continues to slaughter his own people, and aware of the fact that we need to work with our partners and allies and the opposition to strengthen the opposition. But the ultimate goal here is to bring about a political transition -- one that results in a governing authority that respects the rights of all Syrians; that maintains the state that combats terrorism and that reflects the will of the Syrian people -- all of the Syrian people. And we are working with our partners and allies and the opposition to help bring that about. And the President will continue to assess the options available to him, even as he, as you know, has authorized the expansion of our assistance to the Supreme Military Council. Q But he believes that the assistance so far, or what will be coming soon, is enough to deal with the current situation? MR. CARNEY: Well, again, Dan, I'm not going to -- I can't inventory to you the kinds of assistance that we are providing, or we will be providing. I can tell you that it reflects the assessment of the President and his team about what are the necessary steps now to be taken in terms of the assistance that we can provide to help the opposition. And we will obviously continue to assess our options when it comes to the provision of different kinds of assistance. But again, all of these decisions are made through a filter here that is designed to ensure that we are making choices and policy decisions that help move us closer to our goal here, which is a transition in Syria to a post-Assad governing authority. Q Shifting back -- shifting, rather, to something the President addressed in Berlin, but there’s been some intervening elements since then. Yesterday, there was scheduled to be the first direct meeting between U.S. representatives and the Taliban in Doha. Is there anything that you can tell us what came from that? And did that in fact happen? MR. CARNEY: I’m not sure. I would refer you to the State Department, which has the lead on this. But I’m not sure that was the case in terms of a meeting yesterday. I know that we have made clear that we believe that reconciliation is essential ultimately to the resolution of more than 30 years of conflict in Afghanistan. We’ve also made clear that this is going to be hard. The Taliban and Afghan security forces and coalition forces remain at war. And any process that would result in negotiations and efforts towards reconciliation is going to be fraught and difficult, and that is obviously going to be the case and is the case with the developments we’ve seen, which is the opening of an office in Qatar by the Taliban. So we’ll continue to watch this process. We’ll continue to work with the Afghan government and pursue reconciliation, but -- Q Has there been any attempt to get more clarity from President Karzai since his separation from the U.S. was announced? MR. CARNEY: On the Taliban talks? Q Yes. MR. CARNEY: Look, both President Obama and President Karzai have long agreed that a peace process is the best way to ensure the lasting stability of Afghanistan. And we also know that, as I was just saying, that there are years -- decades, in fact, of mistrust to overcome here. So President Karzai knows that reconciliation is essential for the future stability of Afghanistan. We certainly believe that. We also understand that this has been and will continue to be difficult. And we will continue to work with Afghan security forces as we engage in a military effort, even as we pursue this diplomatic -- Q But nothing that's gone on in the last couple of days to try to get a better sense of where he is on this? MR. CARNEY: Where -- Q Karzai is. MR. CARNEY: I would simply say that he believes that reconciliation has to be part of a process that leads to long-term civility in Afghanistan. We do as well. And we continue to work with him and with the Afghan government to help bring that about. Q Jay, going to back to Afghanistan, the Taliban has offered to release Bowe Bergdahl in exchange for five members of the Taliban who are currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. Is this something that the administration is considering? Is this something that the President would agree to? MR. CARNEY: What I can tell you is that the main dialogue that we support is the dialogue between Afghans -- between the Taliban and the Afghan government. However, there are some issues that we would like to discuss with the Taliban directly, and this includes the safe return of Sergeant Bergdahl, who has been gone for far too long. We continue to call for and work toward his safe and immediate release. We cannot discuss all the details of our efforts, but there should be no doubt that on a daily basis we are continuing to pursue -- using our military, intelligence and diplomatic tools -- the effort to return him home safely. And our hearts are with the Bergdahl family. With regard to the transfer of Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay, we have made -- the United States has not made the decision to do that, though we do expect the Taliban to raise this issue in our discussion, if and when those discussions happen. As we have long said, however, we would not make any decisions about transfer of any detainees without consulting with Congress and without doing so in accordance with U.S. law. Q So you haven’t ruled it out? MR. CARNEY: I’m simply saying that -- first of all, you have to separate the two issues. We are focused on the return -- the safe and immediate return of Sergeant Bergdahl, and we continue to use the tools at our disposal to help bring that about. We also expect the Taliban to raise the issue of their detainees in discussions that we have with them if those discussions take place. And at this time we’ve made no decisions about the transfer of detainees. And in accordance with law, we would be consulting with Congress should we make any decisions about that. So we remain committed to the closure of Guantanamo Bay, as you know. But separate from that on these specific issues about individual detainees, that would be a process that is done in accordance with law. Q So when do you expect those discussions to take place? Could they take place as early as Saturday? Secretary Kerry -- MR. CARNEY: Well, obviously, there have been some developments in that, and they're fairly fluid. I would simply say that this process is going to be hard. We’ve made clear, I think in the background that we provided to you, that this would be difficult, but that we continue to pursue this because we believe and the Afghan government believes and President Karzai believes and understands that, ultimately, lasting stability in Afghanistan can only come through a reconciliation process, a political process. That's how conflicts like these -- like this one come to an end, and that's been true throughout history. But this process has been difficult. It will probably continue to be difficult and run into obstacles, but we’ll continue to press it. There are other avenues to press for reconciliation beyond the office in Qatar. But we will continue to pursue that avenue, as well as others, even as we pursue the military effort with Afghan security forces. Q Was the White House disappointed with Russia’s response to the President’s call for nuclear weapons cuts? And if an agreement was able to be reached, would the President try to do this in a treaty? Or is there a way he could do it without doing so that would not need Senate ratification? MR. CARNEY: I don't want to get ahead of the process in terms of that. I can say that we had very -- the President had very constructive talks with President Putin on a whole range of issues, including the announcement that he made in his speech in Berlin. The fact of the matter is we will continue to work with the Russians and continue to pursue this as something that's in the interest of American -- United States national security. The processes and procedures that we follow, we’ll have to evaluate and provide more information about as we move along. But I think that amid all the other things that have been going on, it’s easy to lose sight of the progress we’ve made on these issues with the Russians and the significance of what the President announced in Berlin. Q Jay, a simple question: Why Africa? Why now? MR. CARNEY: First of all, as you know, the President hasn't made a trip -- this is now his second term -- to this very important part of the world where we have -- Q He went to Ghana. MR. CARNEY: What's that? Q Except for Ghana. MR. CARNEY: Yes, except I said a sustained trip; he made a brief stop in Ghana early on. In keeping with the trips that President Bush took in his time in office; in making clear the importance of Africa in a variety of ways -- the President will make a trip next week to engage in three countries with leaders in the region. This is a part of the world that’s seeing substantial economic growth, where there are substantial opportunities, and substantial national security and other national interests for the United States and our allies. So it's an important trip. We'll have more for you on that. We'll be providing preview information of the trip for the press very soon, but it's a kind of trip that is essential to promoting U.S. national security and economic interests globally. Q Might the President be visiting with Mr. Mandela while he's there? MR. CARNEY: I don’t have any specific schedule announcements to make today. Obviously, we're very mindful of President Mandela, former President Mandela's health conditions and the reports about them. But we'll have more details about the trip for you as we get closer to it. Q On Afghanistan, we were told that there was close coordination with President Karzai about the talks in Doha, Qatar, yet he sounded very surprised about the conditions and the formalities for these meetings. Is that -- he actually accused the United States of contradicting statements with acts. Is that President Karzai being President Karzai again? Or there was something that was overlooked in the preparation for this meeting actually? I want to ask you if the United States approved raising the Taliban flag over the office and having a sign that calls it the “Mission of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan”. MR. CARNEY: What I can tell you is that there is obviously a great deal of mistrust, as you would expect, between the Afghan government and the Taliban. This is a conflict that’s been going on for 30 years, and an active war that’s been going on for a decade. That mistrust continues and it will continue, and it will be difficult to bring the parties together to pursue a reconciliation process. But that process is essential to the long-term stability of Afghanistan. And President Karzai has stated that he believes that and understands that. It is certainly our policy and our position here in the United States that that’s an important element here and an important step that has to be taken. There are obviously -- that mistrust has been manifested in the way the opening of this office has played out. We hope that the issues that have caused concern here can be resolved, and that the office will be opened and that talks can be engaged in. But whether it's through this process or another, we will continue to pursue reconciliation, and so will the Afghan government because that is ultimately the only course to pursue for the long-term stability of the country. It is difficult -- friends don’t negotiate with each other, enemies do. And it is hard to do this, and I think conflicts throughout history demonstrate that. But in the end, it is the only way to ensure the peace and stability of Afghanistan in the future. Q Did you sign off on the sign on the name for the office and the flag? MR. CARNEY: Again, I would refer you to the Qataris, where the office was opened. There is no question that there's been some mistrust and misunderstandings here. That, as I understand it -- and the State Department would have more for you on it -- is being worked on. But I’m not going to predict an outcome to that process except to say that the difficulties and obstacles that we’ve seen reflect decades of conflict and mistrust that has to be -- if not overcome -- dealt with so that a reconciliation process can move forward. All the way in the back. Yes. Q Well, the LA Times is reporting that the U.S. has been training Syrian rebels in bases in Jordan and Turkey. I wondered if you had any comment on that specifically. And more, in general, do you know whether the U.S. has, indeed, been training -- not boots on the ground, not supplying weapons -- but certainly training Syrian rebels? MR. CARNEY: What I can tell you, Jim, is that we have stepped up our assistance. But I cannot inventory for you all the elements of that assistance. And as the President said, I cannot and will not get into some specifics about the assistance that we provide. Q But this story says that the training has preceded this decision by the President. MR. CARNEY: No, I understand that. But we can't comment on the specifics of -- around our programs, all of them related to the Syrian opposition. So I just -- we can tell you that we have provided and will continue to provide substantial assistance to the Syrian opposition, as well as the Supreme Military Council. And we will work with our allies, as well as the opposition, to make policy decisions that help bring about the ultimate goal that we seek, which is a transition there to a governing authority -- to an end of the violence and to a governing authority that reflects the will of all the Syrian people, that respects the civil liberties of all the Syrian people, and that maintains a functioning state in Syria because of the importance of ensuring that the conflict that we’ve seen there does not continue to spill into the rest of the region. Q So you don't feel a need to call that story inaccurate? MR. CARNEY: Again, I’m just not going to comment on the specifics of the kinds of assistance that we provide. Q Jay, it’s a very specific story and talks about the two-week courses with Russian-designed 14.5-millimeter anti-tank rifles and 23-millimeter anti-aircraft weapons at bases along the border, including one base -- a new base run by the United States. Are you denying the story -- MR. CARNEY: I’m simply saying that given the nature of the assistance that we provide, and the way in which we implement our assistance programs, I can't give you an itemized list or be specific about every single aspect of what we are doing. The important point here is that because of the actions we have seen the Assad regime take, we have decided to increase both the scope and scale of our assistance to the opposition, and we’ve been very clear about that over the last weeks and months.