Q&A KIRBY - AFGHANISTAN USAGM
Metadata
- Q&A KIRBY - AFGHANISTAN USAGM
- February 3, 2023
- Content Type Interview
- Language English
- Transcript/Script 00;36 VOA: Mr. Kirby, thank you very much for sitting with VOA once again. I will start this interview with the current situation in Afghanistan. As we know the Taliban's restrictions on women are mounting. The U.S. administration says that the Taliban’s actions will have consequences. Can you tell us what could be some of these consequences for Afghanistan and Taliban? NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS JOHN KIRBY: Well, chief consequence is that the Taliban will continue to isolate itself from the international community. This is a group that says they want legitimacy. This is a group that says they want financial aid and investment in Afghanistan. They want to rejoin the community of nations. And they made promises. They made promises at Doha, and they made promises after they took over Kabul, that they would govern in a responsible way, and that they would respect the progress that women and girls had made in Afghanistan. They specifically said that, and here we see them reneging on those promises. So, if the Taliban wants to be considered legitimate, if they want the recognition of the international community, if they want financial aid and investment in their country, then they should meet their promises, meet their obligations, and behave accordingly. VOA: You signal to Doha agreement. How convinced is the administration about Taliban fighting ISIS and other terror groups? KIRBY: They are constantly under threat by ISIS in Afghanistan. How and when they're going to execute operations against ISIS, or how they're going after that's for them to speak to. We know that ISIS remains still a viable threat, a credible threat, not just in Afghanistan, but in other parts of the world too - Iraq and Syria, in the Horn of Africa, and we the United States, will constantly make sure that we are looking after our own national security interests in going after the ISIS threat. You know, we've got a small presence in Syria doing that. We're still partnering with Iraqi security forces. They're obviously in the lead, but we're in advise and assist mode. And you just saw last week, in an over-the-horizon counterterrorism operation, we took out a significant ISIS leader in in the Horn of Africa. So, we're gonna stay focused on that threat. 02;47 VOA: Also recently, we see some tensions between Pakistani Government and Afghan Taliban. Pakistan even claims that Pakistani Taliban leadership, or TTP, is based in Afghanistan. And even Islamabad has indicated attacks inside Afghanistan against these Pakistani Talibans. Could the U.S. or would the U.S. government support Pakistan to attack inside Afghanistan? KIRBY: First of all, there's no doubt that the people of Pakistan remain under threat from terrorism, particularly from the Taliban, Pakistan Taliban as you describe it. There's no question about that. And sadly, we've seen that borne out in recent days in a bloody, bloody way. And so of course, the government of Pakistan, Pakistani people have a right to defend themselves against that threat. And we know that that spine between Afghanistan and Pakistan remains a bit of a safe haven here for these kinds of groups. We obviously will continue to stay in touch with Islamabad to see what we could do, what might be possible, but ultimately, I mean, we also want to respect the sovereignty of Pakistan and Pakistan's decision making in terms of going after these terrorists. 04;10 VOA: Thank you. I know we have a very limited time, so I will move on to another topic. Now that the U.S. is not ready to provide F16s or American made fighter jets for Ukraine, would the U.S. oppose if other countries decide and send fighter jets to Ukraine? KIRBY: We have never tried to force another country to give something or to not give something and these are, again sovereign decisions that nation states make. I think it's important to remember that 143 nations at the UN voted to condemn Russia's annexation over the over the fall. And that more than 50 nations are meeting routinely with Secretary of Defense Austin as part of his contact group to provide contributions of security assistance and sometimes financial assistance to Ukraine. It's an international effort. It's not just European allies and partners. And each one of those nations contributes what they believe they can afford to provide. Because they also have their own national security interests to look after. So, if a nation decides that they wanna provide fighter aircraft, certainly that's their decision to make and we would respect that. We wanna see Ukraine get as much support as possible. In the meantime, we, the United States will continue to stay in lockstep with Ukrainians, talking to them almost every day about what their capabilities needs are, and we're gonna do everything we can to make sure that they can not only succeed on the battlefield today, but in the fight to come in future months. VOA: So, will the US provide training programs for Ukrainian pilots to fly these jets? KIRBY: I don't have any training or new initiatives to speak to today, you're gonna see and I think you'll See very soon, yet another announcement of support to Ukraine, again, aimed at helping them win the fight that they're in and expect to be in over the next weeks and months. VOA: Also, since we're talking about Ukraine, the Iranian drones that are being used by Russia in Ukraine, these drones contain Western made components. What is the administration doing to stop the flow of these components to reach into Iran especially through black market and can the United States disrupt the black market? KIRBY: We're always looking at options to try to limit the ability for nations like Iran to get their hands on US technologies. As you know, we have put many, many export controls in place specifically to limit the degree to which Iran and Russia can access US technology. And you're right, there's a black market here. And so, we're also in constant conversations with private tech companies about, you know, looking at safeguards to do the best we can to limit the proliferation of this technology. But let's not lose the forest for the trees here. There is a deepening, burgeoning defense relationship between Iran and Russia. Clearly that relationship is not good for the Ukrainian people, as Iran continues to provide drones that are killing innocent Ukrainian people and hitting civilian targets, and the regime in Tehran is responsible for that. But it goes the other way. The only thing we're concerned about is Russia providing military capabilities to Iran, because that will only further destabilize the Middle East. 07;35 VOA: Also, EU state members, they are considering listing Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. Is the administration urging them to do so quickly? KIRBY: These are decisions, again, that the EU parliament will have to make. We noted that members voted in that direction. I would just remind the United States still holds the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization. These are decisions that our European allies and partners have to make for themselves. In general, we want to see continued pressure on Tehran to further try to limit their ability to conduct these destabilizing activities. VOA: Thank you very much, Mr. Kirby. KIRBY: My pleasure
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date February 3, 2023 18:33 EST
- Byline Sayed Aziz Rahman
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America