Joint U.S.-Nordic Workshop on Nuclear Security and Forensics in the Nordic Region
Plus: Παρατηρήσεις του State Department σχετικά με τη συνεδρίαση του Συμβουλίου Ασφαλείας των Ηνωμένων Εθνών για το Αφγανιστάν- Ενημέρωση σχετικά με τη Συρία
More than 90 nuclear security experts participated in a workshop in Oslo, Norway, from January 17‑19, 2018, to strengthen best practices and promote international cooperation in the field of nuclear forensics.
The workshop, organized by the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA), the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM), and the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland (STUK), in association with the U.S. Department of State, brought together experts from the region, Europe, United States, International Atomic Energy Agency and Interpol to share best practices and review steps to further strengthen security. They discussed nuclear forensics concepts, techniques, and challenges as well as reviewed a variety of international case studies. The workshop also served to strengthen nuclear security on both the national level and within the broader Nordic region.
Nuclear forensics plays a key role, at both the national and international levels, in ensuring the security of nuclear and other radioactive materials. Nuclear forensic techniques and procedures help law enforcement and prosecutors determine the origin and history of nuclear and other radioactive materials. They also help to eliminate nuclear security vulnerabilities, and regional and international cooperation are critical in that respect. Access to nuclear forensics expertise, technology, and best practices helps ensure nations maintain robust and effective nuclear security infrastructures, and that in turn makes the global nuclear security infrastructure stronger and more resilient. Ultimately, effective nuclear security helps prevent radiological and nuclear terrorism.
State Secretary Maria Bjerke from the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services, Director Atle Midttun from the Norwegian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and Chargé d’Affaires Jim DeHart from the U.S. Embassy in Oslo opened the workshop.
• Η κυβέρνηση του Αφγανιστάν πρέπει να συνεχίσει τη μεταρρύθμιση, προκειμένου να προωθηθεί μια καλύτερη ζωή για τους Αφγανούς όλων των εθνοτήτων και για τη μακροπρόθεσμη ασφάλεια και τη σταθερότητα της χώρας
Παρατηρήσεις σχετικά με τη συνεδρίαση του Συμβουλίου Ασφαλείας των Ηνωμένων Εθνών για το Αφγανιστάν από τον John J. Sullivan Deputy Secretary of State
Allow me to take this opportunity to express my condolences to the governments of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and to the families of the victims of the tragic bus accident in Kazakhstan that claimed the lives of over fifty Uzbek citizens yesterday.
On behalf of the United States, President Trump, and Secretary Tillerson, I would like to thank Foreign Minister Abdrakhmanov [ab-drahh-MAH-noff] for convening this Ministerial meeting on the exceedingly important topic of Afghanistan Security and Development. Thank you to the Government of Kazakhstan for its leadership and for promoting stronger ties between Afghanistan and its neighbors in Central Asia.
Additionally, I’d like to express appreciation to the governments of the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan for their joint and individual efforts to draw the region closer together through our C5+1 partnership, as well as their deliberation on how the region might more closely engage Afghanistan, thus contributing to the region’s shared stability.
I would also like to thank Secretary-General Guterres and his UN team, especially the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), for their dedication and exceptional work. Secretary-General, your visit to the country in June, as well as this Council’s trip to Kabul last week, highlight the international community’s commitment to Afghanistan. I know that Ambassador Haley was impressed during her trip by the resilience of the Afghan people in the face of insurgent and extremist violence, as well as by the accountability of Afghanistan to take ownership of its challenges. The United States is heartened by the progress we are already seeing following the announcement of President Trump’s South Asia strategy.
Before we turn to its challenges, we must not forget that Afghanistan is a fundamentally different country today than it was 20 years ago; this should give the Taliban pause if they expect to roll back the progress that has been made. In Afghanistan today, millions of girls and boys attend school. The population has access to basic health services and 90 percent of the population has cell phone access. Citizens have dozens of independent radio and TV stations to turn to for information and entertainment – as well as hundreds of print media outlets. Such advancements instill confidence in the country’s commitment to continuing progress and increasing development.
Yet, despite this progress, the ongoing conflict continues to roil the country, causing severe political, security, humanitarian, and human rights challenges.
This year, the stakes are clear. The Government of Afghanistan must continue to reform, in order to foster better lives for Afghans of all ethnicities and for the long-term security and stability of the country. It is critical that preparations for parliamentary elections in 2018 and presidential elections in 2019 move forward on schedule, peacefully and democratically, and that the government continues to work towards its commitments to fight corruption and support inclusive governance.
Since announcing our strategy for South Asia last August, President Trump has underscored that the United States will continue to support the Afghan Government and its security forces in their fight against the Taliban, as well as in their efforts to combat al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups. The United States and our allies have suffered grave losses in this fight alongside our Afghan brothers and sisters. We will not allow Afghanistan to serve as a safe haven for terrorists as it did in advance of September 11, 2001.
The President has also made it abundantly clear that solving Afghanistan’s security and development challenges will depend on the commitment of Afghans themselves, alongside the steadfast support of Afghanistan’s regional and international partners. As we move ahead, we must continue to support the principle that an enduring peace for Afghanistan is one that is built, led, and ultimately maintained by the Afghan government and its people.
This Afghan-led and Afghan-owned approach, paired with firm international support for Afghan security forces, will make clear to the Taliban that victory cannot be won on the battlefield – a solution is and must be political. We have emphasized that our support is conditions based, not driven by timelines. Continued violence will only serve to perpetuate war, and in doing so, will hurt all Afghan people, including the Taliban. With a united international community standing firm, the Taliban will come to understand that the only way forward is to engage in a reconciliation process that ends in all parties working toward a tolerant, accountable, and united government of Afghanistan, set in a peaceful and successful nation.
A necessary outcome of any peace agreement must include an absolute commitment from the Taliban that they will cut ties to terrorism, cease violence, and accept the Afghan constitution – a constitution that includes the protection for the rights of women and minorities.
We must recognize the reality that, while the Afghan Government has been adamant about its interest in initiating peace talks with the Taliban, there has been no reciprocal interest on the part of the Taliban. That must change.
To achieve this end, we must work together to isolate the Taliban, eliminate their sources of revenue and equipment, and demonstrate with a united and unwavering commitment that the only place they can achieve their objectives will be at the negotiating table – not on the battlefield.
Unfortunately, the international community has thus far fallen short in providing that kind of unified support to the Afghan government. We have even seen certain countries pursue counterproductive strategies that provide support to the Taliban in the name of countering ISIS. This approach is misguided, or worse, pernicious.
The United States believes the two are not linked. We can – and must – fight ISIS in Afghanistan, while ensuring the Taliban is forced to the negotiating table. Working closely with our Afghan partners, we have made significant progress against ISIS in eastern Afghanistan. Together, we have maintained persistent pressure on ISIS, significantly reducing its territory and eliminating one-third of its fighters. Supporting the Taliban only serves to prolong the conflict and foster an unstable and insecure environment, one that ISIS exploits to threaten Afghanistan and the broader region.
Ultimately, to defeat ISIS in Afghanistan – and prevent the group’s spread across the region – each country at this table must be aligned in our strategy, and in our commitment to follow-through. Ineffective strategies that enable insurgent groups must cease – instead, we need to join together and provide unwavering support for the Afghan government.
We know that an important part of this unified approach is Pakistan. Pakistan has suffered greatly from the effects of terrorism, and thus the country can and should be an integral partner in our shared efforts to achieve peace and stability within the region. We seek to work cohesively and effectively with Pakistan, but cannot be successful if the status quo, one where terrorist organizations are given sanctuary inside the country’s borders, is allowed to continue. Stability and prosperity in Afghanistan will benefit Pakistan as well, since it will enable a return of refugees and remove the ability of ISIS and other terror groups to operate against Pakistan from outside the country. This is why Pakistan should join our efforts to bring a resolution to the conflict, also as spelled out in our South Asia strategy.
This strategy as I have outlined it today will prove successful with commitment and patience. As Afghans take ownership, as the international community isolates the Taliban, then peace, stability, and security will follow – as will development.
And, as Afghanistan stands taller through peace, it will naturally contribute to the larger regional economic and security environment, underpinning the long-term success of Central Asia. The United States shares with the countries of Central Asia a commitment to peace, stability, and prosperity. The only way we can achieve these shared goals is through a mutual understanding of the threats we confront and the opportunities we can cultivate together.
In closing, the United States welcomes this Council’s and the C5’s recognition that peace, progress, and development is ultimately attained through regional and international cooperation. We all have a stake in Afghanistan’s success. Increased stability, economic progress and regional integration will benefit every country represented in this room – and none more so than the countries in Afghanistan’s immediate neighborhood. But, it must start with the Taliban deciding to take their first steps toward peace. If we hold firm, and present a united front, we will come ever closer to the day when the promise of peace becomes a reality.
• Ενημέρωση σχετικά με τη Συρία
Special Briefing, Senior State Department Official
I’d like to open with a recapitulation of key themes on Syria policy, all of which were touched upon by the Secretary in his remarks. But I’ll go over them again and perhaps cast them in a slightly different way, and then you all can ask your questions on these and we’ll try to answer.
And I want to talk about an issue which has prompted, I think, the most comment after the Secretary’s speech, and that’s our military presence in Syria. And I’ll start with the point that the Secretary has underlined, because it is the fundamental piece of policy here. Our military presence, the activities of our military, support policy in Syria overall by ensuring the enduring defeat of ISIS. What do we mean by this? ISIS is still present. The military campaign against the so-called caliphate in the Euphrates Valley is not over. There is heavy fighting; it’s going on as we speak. But beyond the Euphrates, ISIS elements in northern Syria, also in northern Iraq, have chosen not to fight and die but have moved out of the combat area, regrouping. They’re still a lethal force. They still have the potential to disrupt and more than disrupt any attempts at stabilization, much less political transformation and transition in Syria. And so the enduring defeat of this malignant presence is an absolute requirement in Syria, as in Iraq, for any future progress.
Now, what is that future progress? We talk about political transition, a political process under UN auspices in Geneva in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254. Why is that important? Is it a hopeless goal? Well, it’s important because without a transformation or transition in the models of governance in Syria, Syria becomes predictably a source of generation of future radicalism, future threat, future challenge. Whether under the name of ISIS or some other movement, it will be back to being what it was in 2012 and in the sad years since – a source of violence, extremism, radicalization. It threatens Syria’s neighbors, it threatens Europe, it threatens the homeland. It’s why a political transformation is essential.
Now, we look to the UN to guide this process, but the UN doesn’t stand alone. The UN has our active support. It has the support of other key parties in the region and the international community. And that’s not a rhetorical or a theoretical concept; it’s very real. We are working with key partners now. We are working with the UN and the UN special representative on how we can constructively engage through and with the United Nations – we hope with Russia as a constructive partner. That’s a challenge of its own, but we hope with Russia as a positive element in helping move the Syrian regime to serious engagement in Geneva with the Syrian opposition to see a political transition take place. A very hard challenge, but one that is absolutely essential to see advanced.
On the military side, as we work to defeat ISIS in an enduring fashion, as we work to support the United Nations on a political transition, we’re also well aware of the need for basic stabilization. This is not Iraq in 2003. This is not nation-building. This is basic demining, removal of explosive devices, basic restoration of essential services that allow populations to return to their homes. That’s a critical element of any stabilization or political transition, getting displaced persons within and outside Syria to come back safely to their homes. That, we’re working on. And our military presence in the north and northeast helps sustain that basic stabilization.
And finally, another concern. And that is Iran’s malign activities in and through Syria. By “through Syria” I mean the qualitative enablement of Iranian and Hizballah threats and threat presence in Lebanon. We’re concerned about Iran’s malign activities in the region as a whole. We are particularly concerned with their presence and activities in Syria. They’re playing a destructive role there. They claim to be a guarantor of ceasefires. They are no such thing. They support this regime. They continue to engage in activities which we believe present an enduring challenge beyond this fight, beyond ISIS, to regional states – to Israel, to Jordan – to U.S. interest, to the interest of all our friends and allies, and to the interest of the international community. And we need to have a cogent approach to that threat.
Now finally, we’re not alone in looking at allies, friends, and support. And I want to turn here to the northeast. The Secretary has made clear; the Department of Defense has made clear that language about a border security force was a misstatement. We are working, Department of Defense is working on providing assistance, development, and training to internal security forces, internal security elements drawn from all of the ethnic populations of the north and northeast of Syria to better allow security for the stabilization efforts I referred to, hopefully to provide a stable platform in the north for positive engagement by all ethnic groups – Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, and others in the political process the UN is leading in Geneva.
There is no desire, no strategic intent to go beyond that purpose, and there is certainly no threat against Turkey in this development and training of internal security elements. And the Secretary has explained this to his Turkish counterpart. We will continue to engage with the Turkish Government on this. We fully understand Turkish concerns about the PKK. It’s a terrorist organization. We appreciate that. But we need to stabilize the north, and we very much hope that Turkey works with us and the international community in ways that we think advance Turkish interests. That would be a goal that serves regional stability and security in the broadest sense, and it’s a goal certainly that this administration would support.
