Leadership will be testifying before congress in the coming days as we continue to brief thehill on the departments fy2021 budget request. I was in afghanistan with president ghani and nato secretary stoltenberg where we announced a joint declaration on bringing peace to afghanistan which reaffirms United Statess partnership with the government of afghanistan. This was an important first step toward a political solution to end the war in afghanistan. As i reiterated to our afghan partners, this is a conditionsbased agreement. A conditionsbased agreement. Were watching the talibans actions closely to assess whether they are upholding their commitments. I also had the opportunity to address our troops and Coalition Forces while i was in kabul and speak with m. S. O. , v. S. O. Groups while back to the United States. We must not forget this agreement was enabled by the tremendous sacrifices our service men and women have made over the past 18plus years. They continue to do great work, supporting Afghan Security forces and taking terrorists offer the battlefield whenever they emerge. My message to the coalition was to stay vigilant because we still have a long and Difficult Mission ahead of us. Before i close, id also like to provide a brief update on what d. O. D. Is doing to address the coronavirus. For the past six weeks, weve had a daily working Group Meeting at the general officer level, including the joint staff, the services, the combat and commands and o. S. D. As a result, we issued a variety of memorandums and directives advising the force on how to deal with coronavirus. At the end of last week, did i a deep dive with civilian and military leadership, including all of the Service Secretaries, the cocommanders to ensure all troops can deal with all scenarios. Commanders of individually affected geographic commands have all the authority they need and will provide specific guidance to their troops as the situation continues to evolve. Meanwhile, north comm remains the global integrator for all the leader in all entities. My number one priority is to protect our forces and their families. Second, to safeguard our mission capabilities. And third, to support the interagency whole of government , approach. We will take precautions to ensure our people are safe and able to continue their very important mission. With that ill turn it over to chairman milley. General milley thanks, secretary. Good morning to everyone. First, i want to say as a veteran of multiple tours in afghanistan, former commander of i. J. C. , i fully support the agreement that we signed over the weekend. And i know i speak for those of us in uniform. Negotiated political settlement is the only responsible way to end the war in afghanistan and this was an important step. This agreement would not have been possible without the thousands of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines that have served and sacrificed over the last 18 years. We owe an extraordinary debt of gratitude to americas sons and daughters who made the ultimate sacrifice and their families who have given their all to this nation. And this is not only includes the military but also the dedicated men and women of the state department and the intelligence community. As well as our allies and partners from over 40 nations. This agreement, as the secretary said, is conditionsbased, and the best opportunity to end the war is now. Protect u. S. National security interests is foremost in this agreement, and it provides the best hope for a peaceful future for the people of afghanistan. Id also like to highlight the potential impact of coronavirus and echo what the secretary just said. On our military force and on our operations and preparations. The department of defense, under the secretarys direction, has standing plans to respond to Infectious Disease outbreaks and were executing those plans at our bases and operating locations around the world in order to, one, protect the soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and their families, to sustain our ability to defend the United States, and support the whole of government response to the outbreak. Were communicating regularly with our operational commanders to assess how the virus can impact our exercises around the world to include our readiness, including those of our allies and partners as well. The u. S. Armed forces remains ready to defend the homeland and provide support to our interagency allies who are currently leading this effort and with that, ill happily take your questions. Reporter hi. Mr. Secretary, theres already been some violence violent attacks, particularly on the coast. Is there now an opening to conduct any violence for the next, you know, several days until whatever agreement is reached . Is the group able to conduct attacks now against afghan or the u. S. . General, can you just address the u. S. Efforts from now on . Will you continue to assess c. T. , particularly against other groups . And does this idea of now new attacks against potentially Afghan Forces restrict the u. S. Ability to train with the afghans . Secretary esper ill take the first question. Our expectation is a reduced level of violence would occur and it would decrease over time as we move forward. As we see these things happen, first of all, we have to verify that an action an attack happened. We have to figure out attribution. Well evaluate each day and im positive in general milleys capabilities on the ground and give us feedback with regard to the implementation of the base agreement. General milley two things. One is, the taliban is not a monolithic group. I know the attack youre talking about. Got some initial reports on it. We dont know exactly who did that yet. Thats first point. Secondly, i would caution everybody to think that theres going to be an absolute cessation of violence in afghanistan. That is probably not going to happen. Its probably not going to go to zero. This is a significant step forward, this agreement, and its going to lead to interafghan dialogue and leads to a peace agreement. To think its going to go to zero immediately, that probably is not going to be the case. So on the c. T. Piece, the United States will stay committed to secure our National Security interests and thats been the commitment of this administration and previous administration. Well maintain whatever capability is necessary to defend the United States against terrorists. Secretary esper i spoke to this in kabul on saturday. We still are going to conduct Counterterrorism Operations against isis, k, our groups out and other groups out there. Reporter can you update us on either of you on the drawdown of u. S. Troops in afghanistan . When will it begin and can you give us a timeline of the three to five months, is that correct . The president also said over the weekend hell be meeting with the taliban soon. Do you have any details about how thats going to happen . Will you be present . Secretary esper i have no details on it at this time. The state department will be working on that with regard to your second question, courtney. On the first question, the agreement says we would reduce to 8,600 within 135 days, if i recall correctly. That drawdown would begin in the first 10 days. But my instructions to the commander was, lets get moving. Lets show our full faith and effort to do that. As you know, i said on many occasions im comfortable we can still conduct all the missions we can conduct at 8,600. Reporter it has begun then, the drawdown . Secretary esper the general had my ok to begin at his pace. Certainly within 10 days. The requirement said the agreement says within 10 days, it should begin. Reporter could you be specific about the impact of coronavirus on Ongoing Military Operations . And also, what youre doing here in the United States to prevent the spread of the virus among troops . General milley yeah, david, thanks. Overseas, we have a variety of exercises, operations ongoing. Right now the overall broad impact to the uniformed u. S. Military is very, very minimal. Its not to say its zero but its very, very minimal. Very few cases have been diagnosed, etc. Thats not surprising because we have a very young demographic in the u. S. Military. Healthy demographic. Lots of immunizations, so on and so forth, and we hope to keep it that way. We have, however, modified exercises on the korean peninsula. There was a c. P. X. Scheduled and my counterpart in korea, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, asked it be postponed. Well go ahead and do that. We will take a look at some other exercises to see if can be modified or changed. Cobra gold in thailand is ongoing. We have someone saying thats kicked in. Right now we dont see a significant, negative impact on that. Here in the United States, we are making all due preparations to protect our bases, camps, stations and to act in support of health and human services. Weve got lots of capabilities, medical capabilities, housing, if required by the secretary of defense well do our part. Reporter some countries, a lot of countries are closing their borders. Is that having an impact on supply lines . General milley for us, no. Not in any significant way yet. Were able to, for example, in korea, the secretary directed some additional medical personnel sent over there, additional equipment, masks, gloves, gowns, those sorts of things. So were doing all that. In addition, our Research Labs, our military Research Labs are working feverishly around the horn here to try to come up with a vaccine. So well see how that develops over the next couple months. Theres a whole wide variety of things were doing and well make available whatever assets and resources we have thats necessary and directed to do so. Reporter two questions. Could you shed any further light on what the conditions will be for the 14 months withdrawal period . Preceding with that. What happens if theres a delay to the start of the initial afghantoafghan talks that are supposed to begin march 10 but it appears theres already a disconnect over the prisoner in withdrawal and what has been agreed to visavis that. Would the initial drawdown be paused if the talks dont begin on or about march 10 . Thanks. Secretary esper again, well take it one day at a time. We are in day two right now. Day two, hour 39. We got to work our way through that. Our agreement was to enable to facilitate that exchange of persons between the taliban and the government of afghanistan. And as ive said over and over, its all conditionsbased. But we are going to show good faith and begin withdrawing our troops and we can stop that at any moment. We can pause it based on, again, changing circumstances. Reporter ok. What are the conditions for the 14 months withdrawal period . Secretary esper well, youd have to go back to the base agreement. I think you have access to that at this point. You can read what we committed to do but then theres what the taliban committed to do and there are some other things in there. What we want to do is make sure those are what well do is go to 8600 and well stop and well assess the situation. Not just tactically on the ground. Also, are all the parties living up to their obligations, their commitments, are they acting in good faith, showing good effort . I dont want to get too far ahead at this point. Well go to that point and assess the situation with all the particular players. Reporter general milley, i want to go back to coronavirus. A couple things you mentioned. You started off by saying you were doing planning for all scenarios. So is it correct, be then, youre aligned with civilian several Health Authorities that would include a planning scenario for the military facing a pandemic . Is that part of your planning scenario . Did i understand you that military labs are also working on Vaccine Research . And a lot of enlisted families, of course, dont have a lot of spare cash to stockpile supplies and all of that. Im just wondering if theres any thinking going on as this potentially goes on whether theres some assistance being thought about spouses may not be able to take leave if theyre sick, their children still may have to go to childcare. Is there any thinking what might need to be ready to go to help with enlisted families if they who dont earn as much s others may have issues with this, could you start by telling us if pandemic is in fact one of your planning scenarios since you said you were looking at everything . General milley the United States military looks at best case, worst case, middle things. That sort of thing. Pandemic is the worst case. That has not been declared by the world health organization. In terms of executing, no. Yes, we do all kinds of planning in the department of defense. We take inventory of all our resources, storks, what we have stocks, what we have to be done. Short answer, yes. With respect to the vaccine, yes, the military labs are in fact working, you know, very consistently. Not only on that vaccine but all kinds of things. The military labs have capability to do that and working with health and human services. Your last point, barbara, taking care of soldiers and families. Its one of the Top Priorities of secretary as defense. Its one of the Top Priorities of all of us in uniform. Its one of our solemn responsibilities to take care of our soldiers and families and we intend to do that. Well provide whatever assistance is needed including time off, if they are working with civilian employers, to include supplemental help if they lack supplies in the home. If they get infected and have to be at home for, say, two, three weeks, Something Like that. Yes, well work with our families and troops. Reporter how many u. S. Personnel have been tested for covid19 . Could you give us a sense, you said laboratories are working on a vaccine. Which laboratories . Are they working in conjunction with private industry as well . Are they working on their own and hoping for the best . Secretary esper on the testing we have to get back to you. Were testing in korea, for example, given the numbers there. With regard to labs, fort dietrich helped provide given their expertise and capabilities. Reporter a quick followup. There have been exercises. Cobra gold is going on. Is there special training from member stations . Are there special precautions . To isolate them from the outbreak in italy . Secretary esper this is unique to every situation and every location. We sent out, as i said, memorandums, directives, the commanders have information they need. We are relying on them to make good judgments. We will continue to deal with those. We have another meeting at the end of this week with all the Service Secretaries and combat and commanders. General milley access to bases is being restricted such as northern italy and south korea, as an example. Secondly is travel restrictions. The soldiers on these bases or airmen on these bases are being restricted in terms of their travel inside the a. O. R. , inside the community. Central command, ucom and indopacom. The last piece is with respect to the protective gear and test kits being distributed. We are pushing that forward going to the peninsula of korea. Reporter secretary esper, what will the u. S. Do if turkey invokes article 5 in syria . General milley, were russian warplanes involved in killing those turkish troops on the ground in korea . Warplanes part of the secretary esper turkey is engaged in combat operations over there and well take it one step at a time. I had a brief conversation with secretary general stoltenberg. We take this one step at a time so were prepared for what may happen. General milley we dont have clear unambiguous intelligence exactly who was flying what plane. Point one. Point two, i called my counterparts in turkey in russia and urged deescalation as quick as possible. Reporter did they close it to greece what are you calling n turkey to do . General milley with respect to whom . Reporter with regards to the border with syria and the people, 900,000 who want to cross into safety, do you think they should open their border to that . Do you think they should close their border and stop pushing immigrants turkey is going to make that decision. My conversation with the defense minister last week was to share with him our support for turkey as a nato ally and member and to point out the simple fact that russians arent always good partners. And so and so that was the extent of my conversation with them. They need to do with regard to their borders. That involves the e. U. And their neighbor countries and they have to work their way through that with them. Reporter one more question. Secretary esper the United States is looking to increase humanitarian aid for the persons in syria thats one thing i had a conversation with secretary of state about that. Reporter \[inaudible] secretary esper no. Reporter also on coronavirus, there may be a cluster it seems in the pacific northwest. Are soldiers at, say, joint base louis mccord, are you doing additional precautions there to test and maybe test to see if theres any exposure there . Secondly, for base supplies like the commissaries, what are you doing to make sure those remained stocked . Secretary esper we are relying on local commanders because each one is different with regard to the impact on the community, their resources, their stocks, all that. What im prepared to do is resource them as need be so we put out the call. What authorities do you need . What resources . How can i surge the whether its d. L. A. Or other parts of the medical community is to provide the commanders the support they need in order to do those three things . Number one, protect the Service Members and their families. Number two, ensure our mission is safeguard, that we can conduct our missions. Number three, support the interagency with the whole of government approach. General milley commander at joint base lewis mcchord, they shut down some large widely attended gatherings. People that you get large numbers of people colocated. Other than that, they havent had outbreaks. Hes taken appropriate mitigation measures. Isent shape even though her there is a concentration of it up there, too. Quickly, a clarification, when you said there were why the reportt report was skipped by the uss eisenhower in italy . You have had said there were going to be reductions in violence. A taliban spokesperson said operations will continue as we will continue attacks on cabell administration forces. Is this what you agree to . Expectation is the reduction in violence would continue, it would taper off. Negotiations would ultimately consummate in the ceasefire. With the we will deal issue, make sure we understand attribution and it will be a constant engagement. This is going to be a long, bumpy road. There will be ups and downs and we will start and stop. That will be the nature of this over the next weeks and months so i will not get too excited about what happens at the moment. We will deal with each situation as it arises and stay focused on the mission. The mission is to make sure afghanistan never becomes a safe haven for terrorists to attack this country. For the been successful past 18 years for doing that and number two, support our afghan partners in process and number three, bring our troops home and withdraw our presence in the country. That is what we intend to do and we will stay focused on that. The only path forward is through a political agreement between the warring parties. Something iing me havent seen or read. I dont know what they are saying. Heres a look at our live coverage tuesday. On cspan, the houses back at 10 00 am eastern for general speeches followed by legislative business at noon. Members are considering four bills from the House Foreign Affairs committee including one that would condemn continued violence against civilians in the Central African republic. Evening, campaign 2020 includes the results of super tuesday, which has the remaining democratic president ial candidates competing for pledged delegates in 14 states and one u. S. Territory. That gets underway at 7 00 p. M. Eastern. On cspan2, the center is working on the geo senate the senate is working on the Geothermal Research bill. Cdc, theeastern, the National Institutes of health, and fda testify on capitol hill about the coronavirus outbreak and the federal response. During this election season, the candidates beyond the talking points are only revealed over time, but since you cant be everywhere, theres cspan. Our campaign 2020 programming differs from all political coverage for one simple reason. It is cspan. Weve brought you your unfiltered view of government everyday since 1979 and this year, we are bringing you an unfiltered view of the people seeking to steer that government this november. In other words, your future. This election season, go deep, direct, and unfiltered. See the bge
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