Pakistan has dismissed latest U.S. assertions it is “selectively” fighting terrorist groups or allowing insurgents to use Pakistani soil for plotting attacks against Afghanistan.

U.S. National Security Adviser McMaster told an American news station Saturday that the Trump administration wants regional countries, particularly Pakistan to stop providing “safe haven and support bases” to the Taliban and Haqqani Network.

“Pakistan has taken action against all the terrorist elements without discrimination. We have never allowed nor will anybody ever be allowed to use Pakistan’s soil against any other country,”  Foreign Ministry spokesman Nafees Zakaria told VOA when asked for his comments on McMaster’s assertions.

The spokesman went on to say that Pakistan and the United States have been cooperating in counterterrorism such such issues came under discussion when the acting American envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan visited Islamabad last week.

“We have clarity in this regard, having suffered unparalleled loss of lives of tens of thousands of our citizens and billions of dollars to Pakistan’s economy that we have to eradicate the menace completely and we shall continue to fight the terrorists, irrespective,” Zakaria said.

 

Afghan and U.S. officials have long alleged that Pakistani security forces are fighting anti-state militant groups on their soil but not moving against insurgents plotting cross-border attacks. McMaster in his Saturday’s interview reiterated those concerns.

“This is, of course, you know, a very paradoxical situation, right, where Pakistan is taking great losses. They have fought very hard against these groups, but they’ve done so really only selectively,” he said.

President Trump’s administration has not yet announced details of its new Afghan strategy and McMaster also declined to discuss any details, though he asserted the president has taken some important decisions.

 

The strategy is reportedly also exploring a new approach towards Pakistan that could see more U.S. pressure to address the issue of militant safe havens, expanding drone strikes, reducing aid to Islamabad and downgrading Pakistan’s status as a major non-NATO ally.

Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman, Dawlat Waziri has welcomed McMaster’s comments on safe havens in Pakistan. He told VOA the Afghan government has long maintained that without ending the sanctuaries on the other side of the border, the war in Afghanistan will not end.

“The US review for the region including Pakistan is still ongoing and we shall await its outcome,” said Zakaria.

 
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Russia said Sunday that the U.S. is soon sending its envoy for negotiations over unrest in eastern Ukraine to Moscow for talks about the ongoing violence.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the announcement after an hour-plus meeting in Manila with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It was the first high-level contact between the two countries since U.S. President Donald Trump last week reluctantly signed new sanctions into law to punish Moscow for interfering in the 2016 presidential election to help him win.

Lavrov said U.S. diplomat Kurt Volker would meet with Russia’s envoy for the Ukraine crisis, Vladislav Surkov. Volker last month visited eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting Kyiv’s forces for more than three years. It is a conflict during which Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and more than 10,000 people have been killed.

There was no immediate U.S. reaction to the meeting, held on the sidelines of regional diplomatic talks. Tillerson ignored reporters’ shouted questions.

Lavrov said that despite the latest round of U.S. sanctions, “We felt that our American counterparts need to keep the dialogue open. There’s no alternative to that.”

The U.S. Congress voted overwhelmingly for the sanctions. Trump, faced with the likelihood that Congress would override a veto if he rejected the legislation, approved the sanctions measure even as he called it “significantly flawed” with “clearly unconstitutional provisions.”

Former U.S. President Barack Obama, weeks before he left office, expelled 35 Russian diplomats and closed two Russian facilities in the United States after the U.S. intelligence community concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally directed the election interference.

Moscow did not retaliate at the time, but with the approval of the new sanctions, Moscow ordered the U.S. to cut 755 diplomats and staff workers, many of them Russians, from its embassy and consulates in Russia. Lavrov said he explained to Tillerson how Moscow would carry out the sharp cuts in the U.S. diplomatic missions, but did not publicly disclose any details.

Trump has been largely dismissive of the investigations in Washington over the Russian election interference, calling them a “witch hunt” and an excuse by Democrats to explain his upset victory over his Democratic challenger, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Numerous congressional probes are underway, while Special Counsel Robert Mueller has opened a grand jury investigation into whether Trump campaign aides illegally colluded with Russian interests on Trump’s behalf in the election and whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired former Federal Bureau of Investigation chief James Comey, who was leading the agency’s Russia probe before Mueller took over.

In West Virginia last week, Trump told a campaign-style rally of cheering supporters, “We didn’t win because of Russia. We won because of you.”

Trump said his political opponents were “trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us and most importantly, demeaning to our country and demeaning to our constitution.

“The reason why Democrats only talk about the totally made-up Russia story is because they have no message, no agenda, and no vision,” he said. “The Russia story is total fabrication. It’s just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of American politics.”

 

 

 

 

 
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UNITED STATES MISSION TO THE UNITED NATIONS

Office of Press and Public Diplomacy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 5, 2017

 

FACT SHEET: Resolution 2371 (2017) Strengthening Sanctions on North Korea

 

Resolution 2371 (2017), adopted unanimously by the United Nations Security Council on August 5, 2017, strengthens UN sanctions on North Korea in response to its two intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests conducted on July 3, 2017 and July 28, 2017. As such, this resolution sends a clear message to North Korea that the Security Council is united in condemning North Korea’s violations and demanding North Korea give up its prohibited nuclear and ballistic missile programs. 

 

Resolution 2371 (2017) includes the strongest sanctions ever imposed in response to a ballistic missile test. These measures target North Korea’s principal exports, imposing a total ban on all exports of coal (North Korea’s largest source of external revenue), iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood. Banning these exports will prevent North Korea from earning over a $1 billion per year of hard currency that would be redirected to its illicit programs. North Korea earns approximately $3 billion per year from export revenues. Additional sanctions target North Korea’s arms smuggling, joint ventures with foreign companies, banks, and other sources of revenue. 

 

Resolution 2371 (2017) includes the following key elements:

 

Condemns North Korea July 3 and July 28 ballistic missile tests in the strongest terms, and reaffirms North Korea’s obligations not to conduct any further nuclear tests or launches that use ballistic missile technology, to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, to suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program, and to abandon all other WMD programs.

 

Imposes several full sectoral bans on exports North Korea uses to fund its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, namely: 

A ban on its largest export, coal, representing a loss to North Korea of over $401 million in revenues per year;
A ban on iron and iron ore exports, worth roughly $250 million per year;
A ban on seafood exports, worth roughly $300 million in revenue each year; and
A ban on lead and lead ore exports, worth roughly $110 million per year;

 

Imposes additional restrictions on North Korea’s ability to generate revenue and access the international financial system, by:

Adding new sanctions designations against North Korean individuals and entities that support the country’s nuclear and missile programs, including the state-owned Foreign Trade Bank (FTB), which acts as North Korea’s primary foreign exchange bank, while protecting diplomatic, consular, and humanitarian activities.
Prohibiting all new joint ventures or cooperative commercial entities between North Korea and other nations, as well as ban additional investment in existing ones.
Banning countries from allowing in additional numbers of North Korean laborers who will earn revenue for the illicit programs. 

 

Requests the Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee to identify additional conventional arms-related and proliferation-related items to be banned for transfer to/from North Korea. 

 

Enables the Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee to designate vessels tied to violations of Security Council resolutions and prohibit their international port access.

 

Takes steps to improve sanctions enforcement, including by asking Interpol to publish Special Notices on listed North Koreans for travel ban purposes.

 

Provides additional analytical resources to the UN’s Panel of Experts to enhance its capacity to monitor sanctions enforcement. 

 

Regrets North Korea’s massive diversion of its scarce resources toward its development of nuclear weapons and a number of expensive ballistic missile programs and expresses its deep concern at the grave hardship to which the people in North Korea are subjected;

 

Includes sanctions exemptions to make sure these measures do not impede foreign diplomatic activities in North Korea or legitimate humanitarian assistance. 

 

Reaffirms the Council’s support for the Six Party Talks, calls for their resumption, reiterates its support for commitments made by the Six Parties, and reiterates the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia. 

 

Expresses the Council’s determination to take further significant measures if North Korea conducts another nuclear test or ballistic missile launch. 

 

This resolution has two annexes.  These are:

An annex of 9 North Korean individuals operating abroad as representatives of designated entities designated for targeted sanctions (asset freeze and travel ban);
Another annex of 4 North Korea commercial entities designated for an asset freeze

 
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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson landed Saturday in Manila on his first official trip to Southeast Asia as the United States continues to call for a legally binding mechanism to prevent conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea from erupting into violent confrontations.

While in the Philippines, Tillerson will also seek greater cooperation from regional allies in isolating North Korea.

 

After a stern warning from China, Vietnam called off permission for an energy company to drill for gas in the South China Sea. It is the latest chapter in the ongoing dispute over the world’s most contested waterway that is believed to be rich in natural resources.

 

Foreign ministers from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are expected to endorse the framework of a code of conduct on the South China Sea as they gather Manila.

 

While the framework is not legally binding, it commits to cooperation over confrontation and is also seen as bending to China’s influence.

The U.S. will continue to press for a dispute resolution mechanism and upholding freedom of navigation.

“Destabilizing actions, such as Chinese land reclamation, construction and militarization of disputed features, makes it harder for the region to resolve these disagreements peacefully,” Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said.

 

Tillerson wants to work with China on differences without leading to open conflict. Among them is stepping up pressure against North Korea.

 

“There is no future where North Korea holds nuclear weapons or the ability to deliver those nuclear weapons to anyone in the region much less to the homeland. In doing so, we’ve sought to partner with China. China does account for 90 percent of economic activity with North Korea,” he said recently.

 

Tillerson will be walking a fine line with the Southeast Asian bloc, seeking assurances from them to isolate Pyongyang without creating a perception that North Korea overshadows their concerns in the South China Sea.

 

“And the fact is, North Korea matters a lot less for Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines than the South China Sea does, which is right at their front door,” Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said.

 

Others warn regional allies are starting to believe they may not get practical support from Washington in the South China Sea disputes. Bill Hayton of research organization Chatham House said, “They felt that the Trump administration couldn’t be relied upon to protect Vietnam’s interest in such a confrontation, so it is a sign that governments in Southeast Asia are concerned that the Trump administration isn’t interested in defending their interests.”

 

Besides maritime security and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, regional counterterrorism is said to be also high on the ASEAN agenda.
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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is putting journalists on notice as he cracks down on a deluge of leaks of classified information that has dogged the Trump administration since it took office in January.

“We respect the important role that the press plays and will give them respect, but it is not unlimited,” Sessions said Friday as he announced that the Department of Justice has more than tripled the number of leak investigations this year.

Sessions said the department is reviewing guidelines on subpoenaing journalists’ records as part of a stepped-up effort to investigate and prosecute leakers.

Those guidelines, put in place by the Obama administration in 2015, made it more difficult for the Department of Justice to subpoena journalists’ phone and email records in leak investigations.

While the regulations don’t have the force of law, press freedom advocates see them as critical to journalists’ ability to communicate with confidential sources.

Sessions: ‘Culture of Leaking Must Stop’

​‘Chilling effect’

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said relaxing the subpoena rules would have a “chilling effect” on press freedom.

“Rolling back the limited protections on communication between journalists and their sources would lessen the public’s ability to hold their elected leaders to account and weaken hard-won standards of source protection around the world,” CPJ researcher Alex Ellerbeck said in a statement.

The Justice Department revised its guidelines in 2015 after revelations that it had secretly obtained phone records of Associated Press reporters and had named a Fox News reporter a co-conspirator in a separate leak investigation.

The revised policy called for additional levels of approval before a reporter could be subpoenaed.

Mary-Rose Papandrea, a professor of law at the University of North Carolina, said the guidelines made it clear that the Department of Justice “would not ever have a member of the news media go to jail for doing his or her job.”

The Espionage Act of 1917 makes it a crime to leak classified information, and it “contains no exceptions that would protect members of the news media,” she said.

That no journalist has been prosecuted under the law is “more of a matter of custom and practice that the United States government has recognized that the press plays an important role in our democracy,” Papandrea said.

Since 1971, the Department of Justice has used the law to prosecute at least 12 government workers accused of leaking classified information to journalists, including eight people during the Obama administration, according to CPJ.

Sessions: Leaks Are ‘Undermining The Ability of Our Government to Protect This Country’

Charges leveled

Sessions said the Department of Justice has charged four people with leaking classified information or “concealing contacts with foreign intelligence agents” this year.

In the only known leak case, the Justice Department in June charged Reality Leigh Winner, a 25-year-old government contractor, with illegally sending a classified National Security Agency document to a news site.

Sessions’ announcement followed repeated complaints by Trump that the Justice Department wasn’t aggressive enough in investigating leaks of classified information that he claims have emanated from intelligence agencies.

“I want the attorney general to be much tougher on the leaks from intelligence agencies. These are intelligence agencies. We cannot have that happen,” Trump tweeted last week.

Sessions said he agreed with Trump and condemned “in the strongest terms the staggering number of leaks undermining the ability of our government to protect this country.”

Dan Coats, director of national intelligence, said not all leaks originate with intelligence agencies.

“They come from a wide range of sources within the government, including the executive branch and including the Congress,” Coats said.

Coats: Leaks Are ‘Betraying the Intelligence Community’

Number of leaks

According to a recent Senate report, the Trump administration dealt with one leak per day during its first four months in office.

The report examined news articles during Trump’s first 126 days in office and discovered at least “125 stories with leaked information potentially damaging to national security.”

The report said 78 of the leaks were related to the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in last year’s election and alleged collusion with the Trump campaign.

The report was prepared by the Republican staff of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Trump has called the Russia investigations a hoax and has said “the only crime against us is LEAKS.”

Sessions, who ordered a review of the Justice Department’s leaks investigations soon after he was sworn in as attorney general in February, said it found “there were too few referrals, too few investigations with insufficient resources dedicated to them.”

When “few investigations take place, criminal leaks may occur more often and a culture of leaking takes hold,” Sessions said.

But Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer who represents whistle-blowers, said the investigations will have little to no deterrent effect on leaks.
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