MAN CHARGED FOR PROVIDING SUPPORT TO TERRORIST GROUPS IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT 
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Reno Man Charged with Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Terrorism Groups in India and Pakistan

A Reno, Nev. man has been charged with providing material support to terrorism groups in India and Pakistan in order to intimidate the Indian government and to harm persons that were not supporting their cause, announced John Carlin, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Daniel G. Bogden, U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada, and Laura A. Bucheit, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI for Nevada.

“A thorough investigation and cooperation among agencies led to these charges,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden.  “Investigating and prosecuting matters of national security is the top priority of the U.S. Department of Justice.”

Balwinder Singh, aka Jhajj, aka, Happy, aka Possi, aka Baljit Singh, 39, of Reno, is charged in an indictment with one count of conspiracy to murder, kidnap, and maim persons in a foreign country, one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, one count of making a false statement on an immigration document, two counts of use of an immigration document procured by fraud, and one count of unlawful production of an identification document.   Singh was arrested on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2013, in Reno, and is scheduled to appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge on Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, for an initial appearance and arraignment.

 “After an extensive investigation, the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) of Northern Nevada has disrupted an individual’s involvement in facilitation activities in support of a foreign terrorist organization, targeting an ally of the United States,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Bucheit. “We will continue to work with our international partners to prevent acts of terrorism on U.S. soil or, as in this case, on that of an ally. This investigation demonstrates the importance of law enforcement coordination and collaboration here and around the world.”

According to the indictment, Singh was a citizen of India who fled to the United States and claimed asylum.  Singh lived in the United States where he eventually obtained a permanent resident card from the United States.  The indictment alleges that Singh is a member of two terrorist organizations, Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZF), whose members aim to establish an independent Sikh state in part of the Punjab region of India known as Khalistan. These groups engage in bombings, kidnappings and murders in India to intimidate and compel the Indian government to create the state of Khalistan.  These groups also target for assassination persons they consider traitors to the Sikh religion and government officials who they consider responsible for atrocities against the Sikhs.

The indictment alleges that the object of the conspiracy was to advance the goals of BKI and KZF by raising money and obtaining weapons to support acts of terrorism in India.  It is alleged that the conspiracy began on a date unknown but no later than Nov. 30, 1997.  It is alleged that Singh used a false identity and obtained false identification documents in the United States so that he could travel back to India without being apprehended by the Indian authorities.  It is alleged that Singh communicated with other coconspirators by telephone while he was in the United States to discuss acts of terrorism to be carried out in India.  It is alleged that Singh sent money from Reno, Nev., to co-conspirators in India for the purchase of weapons that would be provided to members of the BKI and KZF to support acts of terrorism in India. It is alleged that Singh traveled from the United States to Pakistan, India, and other countries to meet with coconspirators to assist in the planning of terrorism in India, and that Singh provided advice to coconspirators about how to carry out acts of terrorism.

If convicted, Singh faces up to life in prison and fines of up to $250,000 on each count.

The case is being investigated by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force in northern Nevada, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sue Fahami and Brian L. Sullivan, and Trial Attorney Mara M. Kohn of the U.S. Department of Justice Counterterrorism Section.    

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt.  The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

U.S. SAYS IT WILL PARTNER WITH INDIA

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
09/18/2013 04:09 PM CDT
U.S., India to Be Partners on World Stage, Carter Says
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18, 2013 - Because they share common values and outlooks on a wide range of issues, the United States and India are destined to be partners on the world stage, Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter told Indian officials during a visit there this week, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said today.

n a statement summarizing the deputy secretary's visit, Little said Carter met with National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and Defense Secretary Radha Krishna Mathur.

Carter discussed with Indian officials the forthcoming meeting in Washington between President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and steps toward deepening the multifaceted U.S.-Indian defense relationship.

"They held in-depth consultations on the ongoing political and security transitions in Afghanistan and other regional security issues, common multilateral engagements, joint military exercises, and the significant and growing defense trade between the two countries," Little said. "They discussed steps the United States and India are taking to streamline their respective administrative processes and make bilateral defense trade more responsive and effective."

In addition to these meetings, the press secretary said, Carter was briefed by Indian air force pilots on India's co-produced C-130J transport aircraft and recently procured C-17 cargo jets. He also hosted a meeting of senior representatives from the U.S. and Indian defense industries that focused on additional steps the United States can take to remove barriers to bilateral defense trade, he added.

SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S REMARKS AT U.S. EMBASSY IN NEW DELHI, INDIA

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Meeting With Staff and Families at Embassy New Delhi
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Embassy New Delhi
New Delhi, India
June 25, 2013

AMBASSADOR POWELL: Mr. Secretary, please. A very big thank you to you. We are delighted that you came. I think yesterday advanced our relationship with India, this very, very key relationship, in very important ways. And I assure you that team India not only has prepared for your visit, but we will prepare for the next one by working on that action plan that you talked about, and we are delighted that we were able to welcome you. We hope the rain will hold off just a little while longer, but I want to say how very, very proud I am of my team, including those who didn’t see mom and dad for a while while we were preparing, and to say, "Please come again, and thank you very much."

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you so much, Nancy. Thank you very, very much. Thank you. (Applause.) Good to see everybody. Thank you. Thank you very, very much. Thank you all for taking time. I know it’s a trek to get over here to the Embassy, and it’s a little bit difficult and I’m really appreciative of – for all of you struggling to get over here. Does it get a little cooler when the rain comes or not? (Laughter.) I don’t know.

Hi, kids. How are you? You guys look great. Are you awake? (Laughter.) Are you? Come on up here. Come up here with me. I want all the kids to come up here. Come on guys. Come on. Come on up here. Because you guys are what this is all about. How are you doing, buddy? Are you doing all right? That a boy. (Laughter.) Come on up here, kids. Come on. Let’s just make a big crowd up here. You guys will make me look good. I can hide behind you. (Laughter.) Actually, I better get out of here so I can talk.

Anyway. How are you all? Are you guys having fun? Is this the – who’s first time trip to another country? Anybody here? So all of you have been somewhere else? This is your first time, right?

PARTICIPANT: Mm-hmm, yes.

SECRETARY KERRY: Where are you from?

PARTICIPANT: America. (Laughter and applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Okay. Where are you from?

PARTICIPANT: America and Thailand.

SECRETARY KERRY: America and China. That’s fantastic.

PARTICIPANT: Thailand.

SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, Thailand. I’m sorry. (Laughter.) Thailand. Okay. Gosh, shame on me. And how about you? Have you been to other countries, too?

PARTICIPANT: Five.

SECRETARY KERRY: Five countries. Wow.

PARTICIPANT: Including the U.S. (Laughter.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Including the U.S. Hey, all right. Well, I’m glad you’re including the U.S. That’s great. And who – how old are you?

PARTICIPANT: I’m 14.

SECRETARY KERRY: Fourteen.

PARTICIPANT: (Off-mike.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Thirteen?

PARTICIPANT: (Off-mike.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Eleven – twelve. (Laughter.) Well, did you just turn 12 today? (Laughter.) Okay. It’s hard to remember sometimes.

I was exactly his age when I went away as the son of a Foreign Service officer. And I went to Berlin, Germany, after the war in the – I’m going to date myself, now, guys. This was in the 1950s, and it was at the height of the Cold War, obviously. But it was really, really interesting. So you guys are going to have the experience of a lifetime and you’re going to have advantages over everybody else, because you’re going to know other countries and some languages and have a lot of fun, too, right? Right? Yeah. (Laughter.) Okay. Anyway.

Well, I want to thank everybody very, very, very much. It’s a privilege for me to be here at Embassy Delhi, and – no, stay up here guys. You can stay up here. Don’t go away. (Laughter.) Where you going? You got somewhere to go? (Laughter.)

PARTICIPANT: (Off-mike.)

SECRETARY KERRY: What did he say?

PARTICIPANT: Because they said so.

SECRETARY KERRY: Oh, they said so. No, no. That’s just the Ambassador. Don’t worry about her. (Laughter.) Ambassador. I want to thank – Ambassador Powell is one of our great professionals, and you all are very, very lucky to have her. She’s been in so many countries – Ghana and Africa and various places – Pakistan. We are very, very honored to have her expertise here in helping to build a relationship that is so important. And that goes for every single one of you. This is one of our largest embassies in the world, as all of you know. We have about 254 folks who are what we’d call direct hires, and a whole bunch of families over here, and about a thousand-plus local hires – and I see some of them here – (baby crying) – and I want to thank you because it’s time to eat over here. (Laughter.) He just wants to be part of the deal.

I really want to thank all of you who are from India or are from a third country because there’s no way possible for us to do what we try to do to build relationships with the people of your country without your help. And so everything that you do is so critical for us, and everybody, including those of you who are Indian or from another country, you’re kind of adopted in a way in terms of your responsibilities because you become ambassadors for us. And because you work with us and you work in this effort to try to build a relationship, every time somebody meets you they get a sense of you and they get a sense of us through you. And that goes, obviously, for every one of you who’s American, who is part of the Embassy – thank you on behalf of President Obama and your country.

This – India – I started coming here about 20 years ago – a little bit more actually – and I’ve always believed that the relationship with India is potentially down the – as we build it – literally one of the most important that we’re going to have on this planet. The reason for that is because this country is so teeming with energy and with innovation and a kind of excitement. There’s a freedom to talk about everything and anything. They love to debate, as you know. There’s a huge sort of confrontation with ideas, and yet there’s a huge diversity, this incredible diversity and pluralism that gets along. It works it. Not always; sometimes there are tensions. But there are tensions everywhere, including in the United States.

But fundamentally, this is a democracy, largest in the world, extraordinary place that is so important to everything that happens to the west of here, all the way to the Caspian Sea, what happens with Afghanistan, its relationship with Iran; all the way to the east, to China, to Japan, to the Asia Pacific. So its size of its economy, its values, and its aspirations and the energy of the people make India a vital partner to everything that the United States is fighting for and stands for.

So I just want to thank you, all of you, for everything that you do to do this sometimes lonely work, sometimes difficult – often difficult work as you carry the values of our country and try to build a relationship that makes a difference. What we’re working for is peace and stability and friendship and opportunity and a chance for people to live their dreams and reach their aspirations and share in the freedom that we have been blessed with ever since our founding fathers fought for it for our own independence.

So our journey should connect to people, and we need to do more. That’s part of our mission, to make sure that every moment that it does connect for all the right reasons. So I want to have a chance to say hello to everybody and relieve these moms from the burden of keeping their kids quiet – (laughter) – and take a moment here to say hi. And I just want to thank you all for coming out here. I want to thank you for what you do, and I look forward to having a chance to say hello and meet you. And I understand there’s a tradition that when I get out of town there’s a wheels-up party. (Laughter.) Okay, you guys have a good time. I’ll be going to work. But anyway, thank you all very, very, very much. Great to be with you. Thank you. (Applause.)

PREVIEW OF SECRETARY OF STATE KERRY'S TRIP TO MIDDLE EAST AND INDIA

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Senior State Department Officials Previewing the First Portion of the Secretary's Trip to Qatar, India, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait from June 21-26, 2013

Special Briefing
Office of the Spokesperson
Via Teleconference
Washington, DC
June 21, 2013　


MODERATOR: Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining us this afternoon. Just as a reminder, this call is on background for attribution to Senior State Department Officials. As many of you know, we like to preview these trips. That is the purpose of this call. So our Senior State Department Officials will be talking through the stops up until the stop right before Amman. As we get into later portions of the trip, we’ll be previewing the later portions of the trip.

And with that, let me turn the call over.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Thank you very much. I’m going to talk a little bit about the Secretary’s trip to India, which is going to be his first as Secretary of State. And as all of you know, he’s going for the first round of the Strategic Dialogue under the Kerry administration here.

I’d like to just start by extending our condolences to the people and to the Government of India for the terrible loss of life that has occurred as a result of the floods in northern India. The United States, of course, stands ready to help in any way that we can, if the Government of India thinks that would be useful. And our authorities are in close touch now with the appropriate Indian authorities.

The Secretary will be leading a very strong interagency delegation to the Strategic Dialogue that reflects the whole-of-government approach that we have and the very wide spectrum of government-to-government activity that we have. He will be joined by Secretary of Energy Moniz, Admiral Locklear of the Pacific Command, the Acting DHS Deputy Secretary Rand Beers, Mr. Holdren, who’s the President’s science advisor, the Administrator of NASA – many, many other people.

The Secretary, of course, has a long background in India. He was – visited there more than 20 years ago, leading the first U.S. congressional trade delegation. He led the effort in the Senate to secure U.S. congressional approval for the U.S.-India nuclear deal. And of course, he’s had many, many interactions over his long history. And of course, he’s also long supported permanent Indian membership in a reformed UN Security Council.

I’d like to just note that the Secretary did a very nice video greeting to the people of India that is now up on YouTube, so I encourage you all to take a quick look at that if you can.

In terms of the schedule, just very briefly, the Secretary will do a policy speech. He’ll have a dinner with the business community, both Indian and American. On the day of the Strategic Dialogue itself, there will be several hours of meetings, followed by a working lunch and a joint press availability. He’ll then do a youth event and a green innovation event. And then the next morning, he will have a meeting with the Higher Education Minister in India, and then inaugurate together our Higher Education Dialogue.

I expect the talks with the Indian Government to focus in a couple of areas. First, on the economic and trade side, of course, our trade has now passed $100 billion with India. And likewise, U.S. investment is quite strong there. The total stock there is about $25 billion and growing. And of course, U.S. investment – sorry, Indian investment in the United States also is quite substantial. But there are concerns on the part of the American business community about some obstacles to trade, so I’m sure those will be discussed – things like intellectual property protection, local content restrictions, continued restrictions on foreign direct investment, taxation problems. So we want to talk not only about those, but how we can continue to invigorate our trade and investment relationship.

Second, and very important, will be a conversation about clean energy and climate change. This is – clean energy has been probably the area of most substantial growth under the Obama Administration. Under what’s known as the Partnership to Advance Clean Energy, we have helped to mobilize about $2 billion in finance for various kinds of clean energies, primarily solar. And India has installed substantial – about 1,000 megawatts of solar power in the last two and a half years. About one-fifth of that has been from American financing.

A third area will be in the area of innovation, which is, I think, quite unique for the India-U.S. partnership. As I said, the Secretary will attend an exhibit and speak on a lot of the wonderful innovation that we’re doing through USAID, on low cost development solutions, on clean energy, and on science and technology.

A fourth area will be higher education. As I said, he will be chairing the Higher Education Dialogue with his Indian counterpart. There, there’s a huge need in India now to educate approximately 500 million young Indians over the next decade or so. So there’s a very important opportunity for American educational institutions to help out with that. The Indians, I think, are particularly interested in the community college model. So there will be a very active discussion about community college cooperation as well as technology-enabled learning – the so-called MOOCs, massive online – open online courses, as well as, of course, increasing the very active exchange program that we already have with India.

And then, of course, I’m sure there will be a good discussion on the range of important regional issues that the United States works with India on. First, of course, will be Afghanistan and the strong cooperation that we have with India on Afghanistan and, of course, the – India’s leadership in helping to promote the New Silk Road vision of regional integration. Secondly, I’m sure there will be a discussion about the opportunities for progress between India and Pakistan now that the new Nawaz Sharif government has taken office. And third, I think there will be a discussion about the very important role that India plays in Asia and the important role in the U.S. rebalance to Asia.

So I think that’s a summary of the key themes that will be discussed. Of course, there’s a gigantic range of things that our two countries do together, and I’d be glad to answer questions on any of that. Thank you.

MODERATOR: Excellent. We’re going to go to our second Senior State Department Official now.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: The Secretary will be stopping in five cities in the Middle East during this trip. He will start in Doha, in Qatar. He’ll be there June 22nd and 23rd. There he – this is his second trip to Qatar as Secretary of State. There he will focus with Qatari officials on Syria, on the Middle East peace process, and on Afghanistan. We’re particularly grateful to Qatar for its leadership on Syria. It will be hosting the – another London 11 ministerial while the Secretary is in Doha, and that will be focused on ways in which the – that group, and beyond that, the international community, can support the Syrian Opposition Coalition, the – its Supreme Military Council, and the Assistance Coordination Unit in ways that make the opposition more cohesive, more representative and credible inside Syria, and therefore more prepared to proceed to a discussion of how to resolve the war in Syria with the regime.

He – the Secretary goes on – then goes to India, comes back to Jeddah, to Saudi Arabia, for a day trip, a day stop on June 25th. This is the Secretary’s second visit to Saudi Arabia, his first to Jeddah. The first one was to Riyadh. He will have conversations with the senior Saudi officials and focus again on the shared challenges we face in the region, again Syria. He’s likely to have a longer conversation about Iran and Middle East peace again. In the same way we appreciate Saudi Arabia’s leadership on Syria within the region and within the Arab League, and we continue to work with Saudi Arabia as with others in this group on how to support the Syrian opposition in ways that get them to a Geneva peace conference.

One of the other big issues with Saudi Arabia is to talk about how we can address our concerns over extremists inside Syria, the unacceptable intervention of foreign fighters from Iran and from Hezbollah. So we will be talking in greater detail there about that issue.

From Saudi Arabia, the Secretary goes to Kuwait. This will be his first visit to Kuwait as Secretary of State. He’ll be there June 25 and 26. And in Kuwait the focus is on reinforcing the strength of the U.S.-Kuwaiti relationship. Kuwait’s a strategic ally and partner in the Gulf. Kuwait also hosted the Syria donors conference on January 30th earlier this year and made a very large contribution. I should say that throughout his stops in the Gulf he will be talking with people – with leaders about how to support the humanitarian crisis in Syria as resulting – that is resulting from Syria as well.

Another issue that the Secretary will address with Kuwait is how pleased he is that Kuwait and Iraq have resolved so many of the issues that are left over from the Iraq-Iran War of almost 30 years ago. There have been considerable – there’s been dramatic progress on that very recently, and they’ll be talking about that.

From Kuwait, on June 26th the Secretary goes to Amman and while in Amman he, of course, will have a bilateral scheduled with senior Jordanian officials, where he’ll be talking again about strong bilateral and regional cooperation, and particularly talking about the Syrian crisis and the effect that that has in terms of the flow of refugees into Jordan, the effect that that has on Jordan’s stability and Jordan’s ability to cope with that number of refugees. As you know, the President recently announced considerable additional assistance for the neighbors to deal with the refugee situation, so that will be part of the discussion that the Secretary will have there.

And I’ll be happy to answer your questions as well.

MODERATOR: Great. With that, Operator, we’re ready to take some questions.

OPERATOR: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. If you’d like to ask a question, please press 1 on your touchtone phone. You will hear a tone indicating you have been placed in queue. You may remove yourself from queue at any time by pressing the # key. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up the handset before pressing the numbers. Once again, if anyone would like to ask a question, please press 1 at this time.

The first question is coming from Shaun Tandon with AFP. Please go ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah. Thanks for doing this. Wanted to ask a little bit more detail on the India leg, two things. First of all, you mentioned Afghanistan, what the message to India will be about 2014 and about the tentative attempts for dialogue with the Taliban, India obviously having some concerns and interests in the region.

Also wanted to see India – the election season is coming up – whether there is going to be any attempts to reach out to the BJP with Modi approaching – gaining in visibility.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Thank you very much. With respect to Afghanistan, we have long appreciated the role that India has played, particularly on the economic front, to support this regional integration vision. India has a very substantial economic assistance program. It’s one of the largest investors through its – the Hajigak iron ore project, and of course, it’s been a very strong supporter of the Istanbul process to encourage regional support for regional integration that will help the economic transition in Afghanistan. So I think that will be a focus. Certainly, I expect the Secretary and External Affairs Minister Khurshid to talk about the reconciliation process. We’ve always sought to be very transparent with India about that. So I think that’s on your first question.

With respect to the opposition, the Strategic Dialogue itself is going to take up most of the day, so the only other bilat that the Secretary is going to have this time will be with Prime Minister Singh. So to answer your question, there will not be a meeting with Mr. Modi or other opposition people.

OPERATOR: And once again, ladies and gentlemen, if anyone would like to ask a question, please press 1 on your touchtone phone. The next question is coming from the line of Karen DeYoung with The Washington Post. Please go ahead.

QUESTION: Hi. I just wanted to ask a sort of logistical question. On the schedule, we’re spending several nights in Jordan and also visiting Jerusalem and Ramallah. Are those going to be day trips from Jordan, or how is that going to work?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: Hi, Karen. It’s [Senior State Department Official Three] --

QUESTION: Hi.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: -- or Senior Administration Official Three. (Laughter.) I can answer your question.

QUESTION: Good.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: As you mentioned, the Secretary will be in Jordan. He’ll be staying in Jordan. There will be a – there is a scheduled meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but we anticipate that we will be adding to the schedule over the coming days and even actually during the trip about what his meetings will be. But we will staying overnight, logistically for you, in Amman each of those nights.

OPERATOR: The next question is coming from Lesley Wroughton with Reuters. Please go ahead.

QUESTION: Yes, good afternoon. I was wondering, just coming back to India, there’s been a lot of focus (inaudible) from the business community and Congress at the moment. One of the issues is the generalized system of preferences, and there’s been some talk of kicking India out of their program. Was wondering if that was going to be raised with India or the U.S. wanted to talk about it.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Thanks for the question. To my knowledge, that is not on the agenda. But as I said earlier, we are – we do expect to have a discussion about how do we take the trade relationship forward, and we also do want to share the concerns of the business community about some of the trade and other problems that the U.S. business community is facing in India.

OPERATOR: Okay, the next questions is going to come from the line of Dave Lerman with Bloomberg. Please go ahead.

QUESTION: Hi. Thanks. Question on Doha. Does Kerry have any plans to meet with Hollande over this weekend? And also, will Ambassador Dobbins be going with him?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: You’re absolutely right that President Hollande will be in Doha at the same time, but there’s no – their schedules aren’t meshing at all, so – at least at this stage. So whether they see each other in passing, I don’t know, but there’s no meeting that’s been scheduled. Now, of course Foreign Minister Fabius will be at the Doha London 11 meeting, so he will see his French counterpart at that meeting.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: And in terms of Ambassador Dobbins, we are still working through the coordination of schedules, so certainly the purpose of his trip to Doha is to have a bilateral meeting, discuss a range of issues, including, of course, Afghanistan, including Syria, and as well as attending the London 11 meeting. And we’re still determining whether he’ll be a part of the bilateral discussion. But I don’t have any – we don’t have any update on that for you at this time.

OPERATOR: Deb Reichmann with the Associated Press is next. Please go ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah. On the meetings that he’s having about the Middle East peace, Abbas and Netanyahu are waiting for the United States to propose some sort of new terms for restarting these talks. Where are we with that? And will this be a time for him to make that proposal?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: Well, Deb, one logistical point for everybody is, as we get closer to the Middle East peace portion of this trip, as much as it’s on the minds of many of our partners and allies around the world, we will do a briefing that’s focused on that right before the Amman trip.

But let me just reiterate our top line here, which is the Secretary, as you know, has been working very hard on this issue. He’s very dedicated to it. He’s had visits, but also is in close contact with his counterparts. But this has always been up to the Israeli and Palestinian people and leaders to make the choices to come back to the negotiating table. This isn’t about a U.S. plan or an American plan. And that will be the focus of his trip as well.

And just as a reminder, the way that he left the last trip is to indicate that the time is now to make tough choices. And that will certainly be a part of the discussion as well.

OPERATOR: We have another question from Lesley Wroughton with Reuters. Please go ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah, hi. While we’re on the global (inaudible) here, on Doha I was wondering, who is he meeting in those talks? And what kinds of – I guess he’s with – is the discussion regarding the Taliban talks, what kinds of things would he like to see or would he be talking about to set up those talks?

Number two, on the London 11, would – could we expect some kind of concrete decisions on anything to do with Syria and the arming of the rebels and the opposition?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: I wasn’t sure – did you – were you asking who’s in the London 11 as well, or do you want me to just go (inaudible)?

QUESTION: No, no. I just want to know, on Doha, in Doha, who is he going to meet with?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: In Doha, he will meet with senior Qatari officials. He’ll meet with the Emir, he’ll meet with the Deputy Emir, he’ll meet with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Those are the three bilateral meetings that he’ll have in Doha.

And then you asked if there will be – what the results will be from the London 11 meeting. It’s hard to anticipate that. I’ll be going for a senior officials meeting Friday night with my colleagues who – from all the London 11 countries and we’ll have a bigger discussion then about what might come out of that.

But the goal of the meeting is to be very concrete about the importance of all of assistance, every kind of assistance that’s coming from the London 11 countries, the importance of it being fully coordinated and go through only the Syrian Opposition Coalition, specifically the Supreme Military Council run by General Idris, and by – and through the Assistance Coordination Unit. So that is the fundamental goal of the discussion, and to be very concrete about that.

This is all in support of energizing, reenergizing, the Syrian Opposition Coalition leadership to work to select its leadership, because they’ll be meeting the next day in Istanbul and possibly going on to Cairo to elect their leadership. You’ll recall that two weeks ago, they expanded their base quite considerably. So this newly expanded group has to elect their leadership. And that discussion – beyond the election of the leadership, their discussion, we hope will focus – and we’re pushing for it to focus on how – the parameters of its positions going to the Geneva conference on Syria, so it can discuss with the regime how to implement the June 30th 2012 Geneva communiqué, particularly the formation of the transitional governing body by mutual consent to which full executive powers would be transferred.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: And your last question, I believe, Lesley, was about how the discussion on reconciliation will be a part of this. Just to be clear, we expect that will be part of the discussion in the bilateral meeting as it’s, of course, of great interest to both parties, as are a number of other issues that our senior Administration official number two talked about. So that’s how we expect it to be discussed. As we’ve all talked about, this is a fluid situation. There have been steps forward this week, and we’re continuing to focus on it every day. So we’ll look forward to that and other topics being discussed on Friday – or Saturday, sorry.

OPERATOR: And we have another question from Shaun Tandon with AFP. Please go ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah. Thanks. Just one broad question and one practical one. The – you mentioned particularly in the Saudi leg that there will be a discussion of Iran. I was just wondering to what extent you expect the Secretary to be discussing developments politically, the election of President Rouhani in Iran, to what extent you expect that to factor into the discussions either in Doha or in Jeddah or elsewhere. And then just another practical thing, you mentioned the speech he’s going to give in Delhi. Is that on Sunday or is that on Monday, just for our planning purposes?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: That’s on Monday.

QUESTION: On Monday?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: Oh, Sunday. Sorry. I’m getting all of my days confused. Thank God for senior Administration official number one. (Laughter.) It is on Sunday. It will be part of this first afternoon/evening of his visit – of the Secretary’s visit in India.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Your question about the conversation on Iran and Saudi Arabia, I would certainly expect that there will be a discussion of what each side thinks of the – how they assess the election of Rouhani. There is considerable interest, of course, in Saudi Arabia on the P-5+1 process. So there is likely to be discussion of how we see that going forward in any case. But there certainly will be a lot of interest in discussing with our Gulf colleagues how they view the election of Rouhani in Iran.

MODERATOR: Great. We’ll go to the next question.

OPERATOR: Okay. Lesley Wroughton, your line is open. Please go ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah. Sorry. I was going to follow it up before. Just wanting to know about on – in Jeddah whether the discussion is also going to include funding from within Saudi Arabia of some of the rebel groups in Syria.

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: I expect assistance issues to be discussed possibly – probably in every stop. There are various strains of assistance, humanitarian being one, military assistance being one, sort of technical assistance being one. But I expect that that discussion will also be quite expansive at the London 11 meeting.

OPERATOR: Okay. And we have no further questions.

MODERATOR: Let’s just take a moment just to see if anybody on the phone – if you’ve asked a question before, it’s okay. Try again. If anybody has a question while we have these officials here with us, and if not, we’ll end the call.

OPERATOR: Okay. Please press *1 if you would like to ask a question. We did get another question from the line of Michael Gordon with The New York Times. Please go ahead, sir.

QUESTION: Just a very quick one. On the Qatar meeting, you said that – the official said that the purpose is to be very concrete about the issues there. Basically does that mean who is going to give what by way of military assistance and weapons? Is that what you’re saying?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Well, it could be partly that. It could be – and one of the things that we’re really pressing very hard on is the humanitarian assistance aspect of this, particularly to press for paying up the commitments that were made in the Kuwait humanitarian conference, not least because the UN has made such a large appeal on the humanitarian side. It’s the largest appeal ever – $4.5 billion – for the Syria situation particularly because of the number of refugees and the number of displaced persons inside Syria. So the whole range of assistance issues is a big subject of the discussions.

QUESTION: Right, but on the military side, is that part of it since the President has made his decision on increasing military support so it makes sense to coordinate this?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: I’m sure it will be part of it, yes.

OPERATOR: Another question from Karen DeYoung with The Washington Post. Please go ahead.

QUESTION: Hi. I have questions on two separate subjects. One, is there any possibility that the Secretary will meet with the Taliban? And the second is: In the 11 meeting or with the other Middle East states, will there be any discussion on refugee resettlement of Syrians?

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: The first answer to your question is no. And we’ll turn over to --

SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: I doubt that there will be any discussion of resettlement of Syrian refugees. There’s been – it’s been discussed in the past among humanitarian agencies, and the consideration so far is that the price tag is so high for doing that and the need is so urgent that it’s far better to spend the donations that – the contributions that have been received so far on the urgent needs of the refugees where – as they flow in and where they are now rather than try to spend very many more times than that on resettling refugees.

OPERATOR: Okay. And there are no further questions.

MODERATOR: All right. Well, thank you, everybody, for joining. As usual, we’ll have the transcript out to all of you as soon as it’s ready.

STATE DEPARTMENT ON GLOBAL CONNECTIVITY FOR URBAN LEADERS

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

Global Connectivity for Urban Leaders
Remarks
Reta Jo Lewis
Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs
German Marshall Fund (GMF)
Washington, DC
May 21, 2013

Good afternoon everybody and thank you Geraldine for that kind introduction.

It is a sincere privilege to be with all of you today. I appreciate that you have taken the time to join this discussion about the global engagement of local leaders.

I would like to take a moment to thank the German Marshall Fund’s Transatlantic Leadership Initiative and Urban and Regional Policy Program for hosting us today. Many thanks to Geraldine and Kevin Cottrell and their teams. I would also like to thank Lora Berg for arranging this program. I have had the privilege to collaborate with Lora when she was at the State Department and it’s great to work with her again.

As the Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs, I lead the U.S. Department of State’s efforts to collaborate with state and local leaders and their counterparts abroad to meet U.S. foreign policy goals and to foster economic, cultural, and educational relationships. My office is charged with building strategic peer-to-peer relationships with U.S. state and local officials and their foreign counterparts around the world.

As you are aware, urbanization is occurring at an unprecedented rate, especially in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Fifty-two percent of the earth’s population now lives in cities. Every week one million people move to cities. Continued rapid urbanization will lead to three billion new urban dwellers. As an article in the Economist stated in 2011, "Cities, rather than states, are becoming the islands of governance on which the future world order will be built."

In this context, pragmatic global partnerships that focus on solutions are essential to solving global challenges, such as climate change, human trafficking, poverty, food security, governance and transnational crime.

U.S. foreign policy traditionally has focused on nation-to-nation relationships. But the scope of what defines nation-to-nation conversations are shifting in the modern, more global, and more flattened world – rendering city-to-city, and state-to-state dialogues just as critical to the larger context of executing, implementing, and achieving a nation’s overarching diplomatic goals.

Building peer-to-peer relationships between state and local elected officials has a direct effect on foreign policy that often goes unrecognized. Building these relationships and encouraging these engagements at the subnational level has the potential to be a force multiplier, expanding the reach and effectiveness of soft power.

Peer-to-peer relationships provide state and local leaders around the globe with an intimate glance into the American way of life, and more importantly, into our democratic institutions and system of governance. At a more basic but equally important level, these interactions develop trust – an attribute essential to developing strong bilateral ties.

Confronting some of the most difficult global challenges will require innovative approaches to complex problems. Subnational engagement promotes the interchange of ideas and the adoption of best practices across different spheres. Hence, these peer-to-peer relationships between local leaders are critical if we are going to address difficult issues like climate change.

One of the most serious challenges that we face today is the economy. When I started this job three years ago; I reached out to local leaders in the United States and asked them how the U.S. Department of State could assist them. The number one answer was to promote economic growth within their communities. Mayors and governors lead foreign trade missions because it is in their interest do so. And, they do it with or without our help. It is in interest of our national economy to help local officials succeed in promoting their city or state, and ultimately making connections that lead to trade flows and economic growth which benefit all of us.

Subnational engagement utilizes our state and local leaders as an extraordinary source of innovation, talent, resources, and knowledge. After all, it is the states and cities that are the engines of growth at the ground level where the transition from policy to practice becomes most visible. Tapping into this resource fully employs our human capital.

Twenty-first century global challenges require us to work with new partners to collaborate and innovate globally. This is a core principal of subnational engagement, a strategy for creating partnerships for achieving modern diplomatic goals by engaging all the elements of our national power and leveraging all forms of our strength.

When former Secretary Clinton created the Office of Global Intergovernmental Affairs in 2010, she emphasized the need to utilize local leaders as a key component in the much needed, widespread, and deep-rooted efforts to take on our world’s greatest challenges. A key part of that charge is empowering subnational officials to lead their states and communities to a stable and secure future.

My job is to connect what the Federal Government does best with what state and local governments are doing and can do globally.

To that end, the Office of Global Intergovernmental Affairs, in conjunction with U.S. Embassies and State Department bureaus, has led the negotiations and secured collaboration frameworks confirming commitments to prioritize subnational engagement with: Brazil (U.S.-Brazil Memorandum of Understanding to Support State and Local Cooperation; China (Memorandum of Understanding Supporting U.S.-China Subnational Cooperation); India (U.S.-India Conversation between Cities); and Russia (Joint Statement on Strengthening U.S.-Russian Interregional Cooperation).

It is important to note that these relationships are organic. That is, cities and states are doing this on their own, because the leaders see the benefit of building these connections. It is our job to encourage and leverage what has been occurring organically to promote U.S. foreign policy.

I would like to share with you three quick examples highlighting the kind of work we do, so that you get flavor of both how the State Department is engaging and what is happing on the ground.

Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In April 2012, the United States and Brazil signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to Support State and Local Cooperation. This agreement affirms our mutual resolve to strengthen and expand cooperation and encourage peer-to-peer exchanges between subnational officials and local populations. These exchanges further enable local government to bolster trade and investment, share ideas and best practices, and advance local priorities while contributing to mutual understanding between our two countries.

In support of this agreement, I have traveled to Brazil and visited almost all of the host cities and states of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. My travel and direct contact with federal and local leaders have provided an excellent opportunity to bolster collaboration between local officials in Brazil and the United States. In addition, U.S.-Brazil cooperative efforts have focused on building economic opportunities for the U.S. private sector through Brazil’s unique position as host of these events.

With fewer than 400 days until the start of the World Cup, we are moving rapidly on several fronts to promote U.S.-Brazil cooperation to support the organization of upcoming mega-sporting events.

Earlier this month in New Orleans, my office and the State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security co-hosted a two-day Symposium on Security for Major Sporting Events. We convened security officials from the Brazilian states which will host the 2014 World Cup Games and officials from eight U.S. federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies responsible for the organization and support of Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans to share best practices on the coordination of the largest annual sporting event in the United States. The recent tragedy in Boston reminds us of the importance of effective collaboration with local officials on the security of major events.

In China, we were instrumental in the establishment of the U.S.-China Governors Forum in 2011. The Forum brings together Governors from both countries to discuss pressing issues and promote economic exchange. This dialogue fosters interactions that have resulted in tangible U.S. job creation.

I visited China last month where I played a role in bringing three U.S. Governors together with five Chinese provincial leaders at the third U.S.-China Governors Forum in Beijing and Tianjin. The U.S. Governors and their Chinese counterparts discussed economic and trade cooperation in order to advance U.S.-China economic cooperation at the local level. Chinese President Xi Jinping met with the U.S. and Chinese Governors on April 15, and called for deeper regional cooperation between the two countries.

In addition, California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. led a highly successful trade and investment mission to China in April. Multimillion-dollar business deals between Chinese and Californian companies were announced during the visit. At a reception at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, hosted by Ambassador Gary Locke, Governor Brown announced a $1.5 billion investment partnership between a California-based developer and a China-based investor and developer that will create thousands of California jobs.

In the multilateral sphere, we were able to include local elected officials on the U.S. delegation to Rio+20. This is a reflection that issues, like sustainability, require input from all levels of government to ensure that the multilateral negotiating process is transparent and inclusive.

Local participation on the Rio+20 delegation was crucial, given that cities across the United States have adopted comprehensive sustainability programs, and are in the process of transforming themselves to greener and more efficient urban centers – be it large metropolitan areas like New York’s "PlaNYC" or Chicago’s "Climate Action Plan," or small cities like Fort Collins, Colorado’s "Sustain Fort Collins" or Austin, Texas’ "Climate Action Plan." It is important to understand what is happing on the front lines and to give local leaders a voice at the table.

So again, organizing subnational relationships promotes a deeper cultural exchange among nations; advances principals of openness, freedom, transparency, and fairness in economic growth; and assists in the creation of a sustainable future.

To recap: Why are we doing this:

o Because these relationships are there, they are happening and they provide a real benefit for our interests abroad. So we need to understand them, encourage them, and whenever possible leverage them, to promote U.S. foreign policy goals and support U.S. interests;

o Because the future leaders are there. The odds are very good that the future leaders of both China and Brazil are currently serving as elected leaders of cities, states, and provinces.

o Because some of our best ambassadors are governors and mayors. Some of the most talented, credible, and articulate representatives of our democracy are serving at the state and local level, and not leveraging their talents limits our effectiveness.

o Because in a flat world, with decreasing tariffs and expanding trade flows, the unit of economic competition is no longer the nation state, it is the metropolitan era. In a globalized world making connections to, and learning from, your competitors is central to economic growth and success.

o Because the solutions to some of the most pressing global problems will be implemented at the local level. For example, climate change may be an issue discussed at the highest levels of multilateral governance, but its effects, mitigation and adaptation are the purview of local governments. It is local government that is changing the building codes and implementing new standards. It is local government that is dealing with transportation, air quality and sustainability issues. It is local leaders who are learning to manage mega-cities. The more these leaders learn from each other, more effective solutions will be implemented.

And with that, I am happy to take your questions.

U.S. WORKS TO ENHANCE SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS WITH INDIA AND BANGLADESH

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTENT
Talks With India and Bangladesh
Remarks Andrew J. Shapiro
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military AffairsCarnegie Endowment Roundtable
Washington, DC
April 24, 2012
Ashley, thank you for having me here and for arranging this discussion. I also want to commend you for the great work you and your colleagues do here at Carnegie. We certainly follow the work you all do very closely. And I also want to thank all of you for coming and I really look forward to hearing from all of you about our growing partnerships in South Asia. Before we move to the discussion I just want to say a few words about our security cooperation with India and Bangladesh.

Last week I travelled to Delhi and Dhaka for talks to enhance our security relationships. Both of these visits were very productive and will help further our growing partnerships with these countries. These visits also demonstrated the different security cooperation tools we utilize to engage our partners. They demonstrate how security cooperation is critical to our diplomatic engagement.

Let me begin by first explaining why security cooperation is an essential part of the State Department’s mandate. There is sometimes confusion about where these roles begin and end between the Departments of Defense and State. And many often wonder why the State Department is involved at all in “harder” security related areas. The reason is fairly straightforward: security cooperation has broad foreign policy implications. It is not just that weapons can be used in a conflict and therefore must be dealt with very carefully. It is that security cooperation – whether that involves defense trade, security assistance, or joint exercises – are fundamentally foreign policy acts.

Take defense trade for example. When a country acquires an advanced U.S. defense system through our Foreign Military Sales, Defense Commercial Sales, or Foreign Military Financing programs, they aren’t simply buying a product, they are also buying into a long-term relationship. What is generally underappreciated is that the complex and technical nature of advanced defense systems frequently requires constant collaboration and interaction between countries over the life of that system – decades in many cases. This may include training and support in the use of the system, assistance in maintenance, and help to update and modernize the system throughout its life-cycle. This cooperation therefore helps build bilateral ties and creates strong incentives for recipient countries to maintain good relations with the United States. Defense sales therefore both reinforce our diplomatic relations and establish a long-term security relationship.

Our security cooperation therefore often serves to undergird our diplomatic relationships. As the principal link between the Departments of State and Defense, the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which I oversee, exercises the Secretary’s authority in this area. We work to ensure that any arms transfer or assistance the U.S. government provides is fully in line with U.S. foreign policy. This demands working closely with DoD and making sure both agencies are working in sync. I’ll just note that while in the past State-DoD cooperation has not always been smooth, under the leadership of Secretary Clinton, the State-DoD relationship has never been better. And as a result we are seeing an unprecedented level of coordination. This coordination will prove critical, because I believe over the coming decade U.S. security cooperation will be an increasingly important tool for U.S. foreign policy. And this is especially true with our increasingly important relationship with India and Bangladesh.

So let me now turn to my recent trip to the region.
Last week I travelled to Dehli to conduct the first U.S.-India Pol-Mil talks since 2006. Our principal objective of these talks was to reaffirm our commitment to the bilateral relationship and chart a way forward toward a deeper defense partnership. And I believe that the talks made important progress to that end.

The United States and India are building a robust relationship based on shared security interests. Since the signing of a bilateral defense framework agreement in 2005, our defense relationship has become a major pillar of the strategic partnership. For example:
India now holds more than 50 annual military exercises with the United States, more than any other country.
Cumulative defense sales have grown from virtually zero to more than $8 billion.
And high-level exchanges on defense issues also have increased, as demonstrated by last week’s talks.
The defense trade relationship between the United States and India is certainly expanding and it plays an integral role in the defense relationship and overall strategic partnership. The United States successfully concluded several significant Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales since 2009, including the sale of eight P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft, six C-130J transportation aircraft and ten C-17 transport aircraft. Once all have been delivered, India will have the second largest C-17 fleet behind the United States, providing it with a significant strategic airlift capability in the region.

With India’s projected defense trade spending expected to continue to increase, we are seeking to engage the Government of India to address any outstanding concerns they may have with the U.S. acquisition system. One of our major objectives during the talks was to better familiarize the Indian government with our system and to attempt to address any potential concerns they may have. During our discussions, we sought to explain the advantages and disadvantages of the Foreign Military Sales or FMS and Direct Commercial Sales or DCS systems by detailing how to go about choosing between them. FMS pertains to sales between governments, while DCS involves commercial defense sales abroad. Often times, countries can view FMS more skeptically and prefer the more transactional nature of the DCS system. However, we believe the U.S.-India defense and trade relationship would benefit by linking defense sales with broader strategic goals. That’s why we specifically articulated the technical and political advantages that FMS offers. This entails political buy-in and support from Congress. The full faith and backing of the U.S. government, transparency, support throughout the systems lifecycle, as well as expanded inter-operability between our forces, which would greatly benefit the U.S.-India defense and military-to-military relationships.

Another area of discussion was U.S. security assistance to India through our International Military Education and Training Program or IMET. India benefits from one of the largest and longest-standing IMET programs, graduating more than 1,700 Indian officers since the program’s initiation more than forty years ago. In FY 2011, more than 51 Indian officers came to the United States to attend courses through the IMET program. The linkages established through IMET also help build personal relationships between officer corps, which helps bolster our relationship over long term, as well as helps professionalize partner militaries. This is all achieved for a little more than one million dollars per year.
A major area of discussion during our talks was the issue of piracy emanating from Somalia. Somali pirates have expanded their range of operations all the way to the coast of India, creating a real security challenge for India and for the international community. My Bureau coordinates the U.S. counter-piracy response and we discussed ways we can together improve the international response to piracy. India has been an important contributor to the international effort. Since 2006, we have expanded our maritime cooperation with India, as we see counter-piracy as an area where we can work together closely.

Now let me turn to Bangladesh. This was my first visit to Bangladesh and I believe that our relationship is very strong. Indeed, over the past decade, the bilateral defense relationship between the United States and Government of Bangladesh has become one of the most robust in South Asia. Bangladesh is a key player in maintaining security in the Bay of Bengal. They are an active partner in regional counterterrorism efforts and we are working to enhance their ability to respond to natural disasters.

Our cooperation with Bangladesh is a prime example of how U.S. security assistance can play a critically important role in our diplomatic engagement. My Bureau plays an integral role in this relationship through our security assistance programs, our global peacekeeping programs, and our authority over the allocation of excess defense articles.
Since first receiving Foreign Military Financing or FMF in 2005, Bangladesh has focused on building patrol boat fleets for the Coast Guard—a project that supports maritime security and disaster relief and strengthens the government’s presence in isolated areas. Bangladesh is also working through a military modernization plan, which includes looking to partners for affordable defense systems, especially to supply its Special Operations Forces and disaster relief equipment. This modernization effort provides an opportunity for us to expand our security cooperation, especially through our Excess Defense Articles program, which makes U.S. equipment that is surplus to our requirements available to our partners.

Additionally, we provide assistance to support Bangladesh’s peacekeeping efforts. They are the largest troop contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. Today Bangladesh has over 10,000 troops deployed supporting nine U.N. operations. My Bureau oversees the Global Peace Operations Initiative, which has supported military peacekeeping training and assisted with improvements and refurbishment of the Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operations Training.

Our security assistance to Bangladesh also demonstrates the tremendous impact these programs can have in supporting states trying to build their security capacity. In an interconnected world, terrorists, pirates, traffickers, and other transnational actors can exploit the weakness of states to cause mayhem and instability. Our assistance is helping states like Bangladesh better control their borders and their coastlines. Our assistance is helping Bangladesh better deal with natural disasters and transnational threats. And through our training initiatives and exchanges we are helping professionalize national military forces to ensure they can better protect their publics, while respecting human rights. In short, our security assistance is playing a critically important role for the people of Bangladesh and for the national security of the United States.
So with that I look forward to the discussion.