(WASHINGTON) — In the midst of a historic heatwave creating prime conditions for a historic wildfire season, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday he plans to raise the federal firefighter pay to at least $15 an hour and offer new retention incentives amid turnover, as the White House seeks to boost its wildfire preparedness.
“Because of climate change, wildland firefighting is no longer a seasonal endeavor,” said a fact sheet from the White House.
Biden discussed the plans on Wednesday while meeting virtually with governors from Western states, Cabinet officials and partners from the private sector to discuss wildfire preparedness.
He began by invoking the devastating images from last year.
“We’re remembering the horrific scenes from last year. Orange skies that looked like End of Days, smoke and ash that made the air dangerous to breathe, more than 10 million acres burned, billions of dollars in economic damage, families that lost their homes and everything they own. And too many, too many lost lives,” Biden said.
And with that stark remembrance, Biden noted that this year is already threatening to be worse and argued that climate change shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
“And this year, we — they could be even tougher based on the weather patterns. You know, California and some other places, the drought conditions are twice … what they were last year.”
He noted that there are more than 9,000 firefighters already deployed across the Western U.S., and it’s only June.
The president also addressed head-on those who are dealing with historic highs this week, calling for people to take care of one another.
“I want to note that the extreme heat we’re seeing in the west is not only a risk amplifier for wildfires, it’s a threat in and of itself. People are hurting. It’s more dangerous for kids to play outside. Roads are buckling under the heat. Again, I need not tell all of you: We need people to check on their neighbors especially seniors who may need a helping hand,” he said.
The meeting and policy move came after Biden expressed his dismay at the federal wage while visiting the Federal Emergency Management Agency last week.
“I just realized — I didn’t realize this, I have to admit – that federal firefighters get paid $13 an hour. That’s going to end in my administration. That’s a ridiculously low salary to pay federal firefighters,” he said at the time.
The sentiment was echoed by an administration official previewing Biden’s plan on a call Tuesday night.
The official said that, for this year, federal firefighters’ pay raise will come in the form of “provisional bonuses” and that permanent firefighters working on the front lines will receive up to a 10% retention incentive. Temporary workers can also qualify to receive some incentive pay.
The administration also plans to extend seasonal hiring of firefighters, hire more firefighters and add surge capacity by training more federal employees and military service members to be prepared to support wildfire fighting efforts.
“The goal here this year, because we have had a very short runway in getting prepared, has been to find ways to address what we learned, which is that there is this challenge with respect to both recruitment and retention of firefighters that we need across the nation,” the official said.
The Biden White House is also announcing a series of actions to help fight fires and improve how the government responds in the short and long term.
“We’re going to work on additional measures with Congress to move beyond these short-term solutions to address, longer-term needs with respect to compensation and benefits, and work life balance reforms for federal wildlife, land, firefighters,” the official added.
As of last Wednesday, there were at least 50 large wildfires burning more than half a million acres across 11 states — mostly in the West.
Since 2015, the U.S. has had roughly 100 more large wildfires every year than the year before, according to the White House, and the 2021 wildfire season is already outpacing the last.
The White House is also making new preparations for major impacts to power grids, increasing aviation capacity to respond to fires and developing new technologies, including satellites, to improve early detection of fires along with apps, maps and resources so Americans can access information from their phones.
(NEW YORK) — Celebrity fashion designer Zac Posen is hitting the fashion scene with a brand new wedding collection.
The former Project Runway judge, along with global jewelry brand Blue Nile, released a curated line of genderless wedding bands and engagement rings.
The ZAC Zac Posen collection is made up of 12 designs that include everything from uniquely designed princess cuts to single-round styles.
The collection also features a variety of ring sizes ranging from 4 to 13 and prices range from just under $1,000 to $6,750.
Posen said that he’s always welcomed the challenge of designing occasion jewelry since he is creating pieces that people look forward to wearing for the rest of their lives.
“Engagement rings and wedding bands are one of the purest and oldest symbols of love and marriage that have crossed over traditions and withstood time,” he said in a statement. “For this collection, it was important for me to create unique and ageless designs that also celebrate love, unity and marriage for all.”
Beloved by celebs, the designer also worked with Blue Nile in 2014 to create other wedding rings and band styles. He says it’s been exciting to watch how Blue Nile continues to support designers who are reimagining the wedding category and the traditional symbols of love and marriage.
“With so many of us celebrating unity and love this month, it felt like the right time to release an inclusive line of engagement rings and wedding bands — a collection that was purposefully designed to represent love, regardless of gender,” Posen said in a statement. “The traditional idea of marriage is evolving, and the wedding category is finally starting to reflect that.”
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — This moment in history is not lost on 22-year-old U.S. Army Spc. Jaida Thompson as she helps the U.S. military withdraw from Afghanistan, a place where American troops have been since she was a toddler.
“I feel like it’s a big mission, and I’m very grateful to be a part of it,” she told ABC News at Bagram Air Base, the U.S. military’s main hub for the removal of 2,500 troops and most of their equipment from Afghanistan.
“It’s like crazy that I get to be here to close it down and be a part of something that was here before I was even brought up,” she told ABC News Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz during an exclusive visit to the air base to see the withdrawal operations taking place nearly 20 years after the Sept. 11 attacks.
“I’m glad that I get to help finish something that I didn’t get to be a part of at the start,” Thompson said.
The base is abuzz with activity as logistical troops load gear onto as many as 15 C-17 cargo flights a day, part of the 896 C-17 flights that U.S. Central Command says have removed military equipment and personnel from Afghanistan in the last two months.
A U.S. official has told ABC News that the U.S. troop withdrawal will be completed in July, months ahead of the Sept. 11 deadline set by President Joe Biden earlier this year.
While the pace of activity at the base is constant, for some service members who have spent time at Bagram over the years it is a strange experience to see it transformed. Living areas that once housed as many as 20,000 troops are now empty and the American fighter jets that took off from the base have already left the country.
“It’s a little surreal to see things very bare and empty,” said Col. Erin Miller, the commander of the Resolute Support sustainment brigade who is helping to oversee the withdrawal.
Miller, who is on her third deployment to Afghanistan, described the withdrawal operation as “bittersweet” because “you’ve had a connection to this country for 19, 20 years and now we’re taking everything out and leaving our partners here and then leaving Afghanistan, most likely for good.”
Getting all of the equipment out of Afghanistan has required a lot of effort from service members that has not gone unnoticed.
Gen. Austin Scott Miller, the top commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to Bagram, recently awarded the Bronze Star to 23-year-old Army Reserve Spc. Abigail Lopez who is on her first deployment.
“I put a lot of work in dedication and encouragement and I’m a very hard worker,” she told Raddatz as to why Miller presented her with the award.
Like Thompson, Lopez was also a toddler when 9/11 happened and she appreciates the history she and her fellow troops are making with the withdrawal, as well as what hundreds of thousands of American service members have accomplished before her service.
“A lot of Americans came out and did what they had to do and I feel like we accomplished that mission until now,” she told Raddatz.
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jose Leal, who joined the Army a month before 9/11, described being in Afghanistan as the U.S. troop presence comes to an end as a “humbling experience.”
“This is part of history. And I’m pretty sure that what we’re doing here is going to go in the books,” said Leal.
He noted that pulling out of Afghanistan “was not an easy task. However, it needed to be done. And I’m very grateful and thankful for being part of it.”
Col. Mike Scarpulla, from the Army’s 10th Mountain Division who commands the base, agreed with Miller that the withdrawal operation is bittersweet but expressed confidence that Afghan security forces will be able to hold their own after U.S. troops leave.
“We’ve spent so much time here with our partners, working with them. They’re ready,” he said. “They can handle this. They’re quite capable of this.”
However, he acknowledged some hesitation that he likened to “the first time you see your child on a bike without training wheels.”
(CHICAGO) — The sister of the last American hostage being held by the Taliban made a desperate plea this week to President Joe Biden as the U.S. military completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan, telling ABC News in an exclusive interview, “I don’t think anybody can come home with their head held high until every stone has been turned.”
U.S. Navy veteran Mark Frerichs, 58, was abducted in Kabul in January 2020 after being lured to what he thought was a new business meeting — but which turned out to be a horrific ruse, family members and officials have said.
Frerichs’ sister, Charlene Cakora, said in an emotional interview that “it is almost too late now” to hope for either a negotiation or hostage rescue mission to secure her brother’s freedom from his Taliban captors, given the military’s hasty move to exit Afghanistan by July Fourth.
But she urged the commander-in-chief to pull out all the stops.
“President Biden,” she addressed the president during the ABC News interview at her home outside Chicago, “oh, please do everything you can to bring my brother home.”
“You have the power to bring my brother home, please get my brother home safely. We are relying on you,” Cakora pleaded, her voice cracking with emotion as she dabbed at tears on her cheeks. “He’s a good man. He deserves better. He does not deserve to be left behind. He’s an American citizen. And I know that you would not leave an American citizen behind, so please, I beg you, do everything you can to get my brother home.”
Cakora has not been given the opportunity to speak directly with either the former or current president.
Asked on Friday about Frerichs’ family’s concerns that their loved one will be left behind, the White House — without specifically naming Mark Frerichs — said they are working to free Americans in captivity.
“The president’s message is that he will continue to fight every day of his presidency to bring Americans home who are detained overseas, whether it’s in Afghanistan or any other country around the world,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. “Again, we will have a diplomatic presence on the ground. We will continue to work closely with the government, with security support, humanitarian support, and there needs to be continued, a continued political process, ongoing negotiations.”
As the U.S. military completes its withdrawal from Afghanistan after two decades of warfare following the 9/11 attacks, Cakora said she and her husband Chris feel like “our leverage is pretty much gone right now.”
Each week has brought the closing of another American base — Jalalabad and Kandahar, and this week Bagram Airfield — as the Taliban have waged an offensive against government forces, capturing dozens of districts countrywide.
“We can’t lose hope and we have to be strong for Mark, but it’s hard,” said Cakora, who said she’s been passing the time in her garden.
“I do a lot of weed pulling and I take all the frustration out with that,” she said. “And I try not to watch the news too much, as far as that. But it’s been really tough the past month due to the fact that our troops are coming home.”
U.S. officials and sources close to Frerichs’ family confirm that he is being held by a faction of the Taliban, the Haqqani network, known for abducting and holding Westerners captive inside Pakistan’s tribal areas. American diplomats have focused in recent weeks on engaging the government of Pakistan, whose intelligence services have a decades-long relationship with the Haqqani network.
In a statement to ABC News last week, the Pakistani government said there is “no evidence” that Frerichs is being held captive in their country, but pledged to assist in efforts to return him to his family.
Frerichs’ family, frustrated by the lack of progress, say they’re aggravated that it took almost a year and a half for U.S. officials to turn to Pakistan for help.
“They’re not using right methods,” Cakora said. “There’s capabilities, there are stones unturned I firmly believe, and I don’t think anybody can come home with their head held high until every stone has been turned.”
U.S. Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad cut an initial armistice deal with Taliban leadership in Doha, Qatar, last year — a month after Frerichs was kidnapped — but Khalilzad did not mention Frerichs publicly for several more months.
Cakora told ABC News that last fall, Taliban leaders in Doha said they were holding Frerichs hostage and had provided him with medical treatment — a startling admission she said Khalilzad shared with her.
“He [Khalilzad] said that he is healthy and well,” Cakora said of her brother. “And that’s pretty much it — he’s healthy and well and he has had some high blood pressure issues, and so he’s seeing the doctor for that, he’s taken medication for that.”
As ABC News has previously reported, Khalilzad has insisted in recent months that he has raised Frerichs’ captivity directly with his counterpart in Doha, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. He has not disclosed what response he has received, but sources say the Taliban chief has not denied that the group’s Haqqani faction has held the American.
“In my meetings with the Taliban, I have demanded his release,” Khalilzad told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on May 18.
It remains unclear why the Taliban kidnapped and continue to hold Frerichs. In the past, hostages such as American Caitlan Coleman and U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl were used as political bargaining chips for the Taliban to demand prisoner releases.
No Taliban were released in exchange for Coleman, who was freed with her three children in 2017 after pressure was put on Pakistan by the Trump administration. Bergdahl, however, was traded for five Taliban who were being held at the Guantanamo prison, in a controversial decision by President Barack Obama.
Taliban negotiators in Doha have been seeking the release from a U.S. federal penitentiary of convicted heroin trafficker Hajji Bashir Noorzai, who was an early bankroller of the extremist group — but the Taliban has never specifically promised Frerichs’ freedom in exchange for Noorzai.
U.S. Department of Justice officials under the Obama, Trump and Biden presidencies have resisted freeing Noorzai from his two life sentences, officials have told ABC News.
Cakora is imploring all involved to free a man who has had no involvement in the “forever war.”
“I just want to tell anybody, the people who are holding Mark, I just want to let you know that Mark’s my brother and I want him home safe,” she said. “And wouldn’t you want your brother home if you were in the same situation?”
Barring the mercy of the Taliban, Cakora said that Biden should do whatever it takes to get the former Navy diver back to his hometown of Lombard, Illinois.
“I think I feel that if they leave a man behind that served this country for six years, I would think that, how could they sleep at night, you know? I mean, how are they sleeping at night knowing that they left a U.S. citizen behind — a U.S. veteran?” Cakora said. “They’re pretty cold if they’re not doing their job, because that’s their job.”
(NEW YORK) — A dozen drug manufacturers and distributors accused of fueling the nation’s opioid epidemic face a jury for the first time Tuesday during opening statements at what could be the most consequential opioids trial so far.
New York and two of its largest counties, Nassau and Suffolk on Long Island, are seeking to hold Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Endo International, McKesson, Cardinal Health and other corporations responsible for the deadly epidemic, accusing them of contributing to a public nuisance.
Johnson & Johnson avoided this trial by settling Saturday for $230 million. CVS settled with Nassau and Suffolk counties.
There have been similar cases to go on trial in California and in West Virginia. Oklahoma won a $465 million judgment in the nation’s first trial. Unlike those, however, the one taking place in Central Islip is being heard by six jurors who will weigh assertions that both marketing and distribution of narcotic painkillers fostered widespread addiction and abuse.
The trial is unfolding in a 450-seat amphitheater at the Touro College Law Center, rather than a state courthouse, to accommodate a legion of lawyers and spectators.
“The eyes of the world are on New York as we prepare to lay bare the callous and deadly pattern of misconduct these companies perpetrated as they dealt dangerous and addictive opioids across our state,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in statement provided to ABC News.
If drug companies are found liable for harms in Nassau and Suffolk, they may effectively be liable for harms in dozens of other New York counties. The trial could also be a bellwether for other opioid cases across the country.
Prince George and his parents, Prince William and Duchess Kate, were photographed at London’s Wembley Stadium on Tuesday, where they watched England take on Germany as part of the European Football Championship.
For the occasion, the 7-year-old wore a suit with a striped tie, which seem to have been perfectly coordinated with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s outfits.
Prince George seemed to bring some luck to his country’s soccer team, too: they won 2-0.
As president of England’s Football Association, Prince William, 39, often attends games. Prince George had been photographed wearing an England soccer jersey in 2019. He has also been spotted playing the sport with his siblings, Princess Charlotte, 6, and Prince Louis, 3.
Unsurprisingly, the royals appeared to have a great time at the game, tweeting afterward: “Incredible performance @England!”
(NEW YORK) — The average price of gas in the U.S. — $3.10 as of Tuesday, according to the American Automobile Association — is the highest so far in 2021 and there are no indicators it will fall ahead of the holiday weekend.
Spiking global demand for crude oil as the pandemic eases is pushing up gas prices, as well as surging demand for air and road travel as more Americans become vaccinated. Meanwhile, limited but concerning reports of gas outages at stations across the country related to delivery issues are also ringing alarm bells for travelers looking to hit the road this weekend.
Presently, gas outages should not be cause for widespread concern, according to Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis at the fuel-tracking site GasBuddy.
“So far, the problem is very limited and random in nature,” DeHaan told ABC News, adding that stations and truckers are running behind schedule on fuel deliveries “to a very few amount of stations.”
“Most motorists won’t even notice this, but as demand ramps up the nation needs hundreds more tanker truck drivers just from last year, in addition to the long-term squeeze we’ve seen,” he added.
As most Americans have varied enough dates and times that they plan to hit the road, DeHaan said he doesn’t expect shortages to be a major issue for drivers this weekend though they “could be something that a few notice.”
“The good news is there’s plenty of gasoline — the EIA [Energy Information Administration] reported last week that fuel production reached a staggering 10.3 million barrels of gasoline per day — amongst the highest I’ve recently seen and just below the record of 10.7,” he added. “There’s plenty of fuel, but, like many industries are dealing with right now, there remains a labor shortage and for the fuels industry, it’s manifesting itself in stations that can’t stay caught up on gasoline.”
Meanwhile, AAA forecasts a record-breaking 43.6 million Americans will hit the road for travel from Thursday to Monday.
This influx of travelers comes as nearly 90% of U.S. gas stations are selling regular unleaded gas for $2.75 per gallon or more, according to Jeanette McGee, a spokesperson for AAA. McGee added in a statement that motorists will pay the most to fill up this July 4 weekend since 2014.
States that saw the largest weekly price increases, according to data compiled by AAA, include Utah (12 cents per gallon), Indiana (11 cents) as well as Oregon and Washington (each 9 cents).
Separately, McGee told ABC News that major metropolitan areas such as Atlanta, Boston and San Francisco will see traffic three to five times higher than on a typical day, and urged drivers to avoid traveling at peak hours. She recommends avoiding travel between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and to drive earlier in the day on Monday.
Gas prices have been climbing steadily since the beginning of the year. Tuesday’s national average of $3.10 per gallon is some 2 cents more expensive than the average last week, 5 cents more expensive than last month, and 92 cents more expensive than the average price at the same time last year.
(NEW YORK) — United Airlines is betting big on the post-pandemic travel boom.
On Tuesday, United announced the largest aircraft order in the airline’s history and the largest for the industry by a single carrier in more than a decade.
“Travel is back,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in an interview with ABC News. “There’s an amazing amount of pent-up demand for people to connect with each other and reunite.”
The 270 narrow-body jet order is potentially worth a reported $30 billion. It includes up to 200 Boeing 737 MAX and 70 Airbus A321neo aircraft. United also announced its going to be retro-fitting all of its narrow-body cabins — adding larger overhead bins, and entertainment screens on all seats.
As a result of adding new planes, United said it expects to create approximately 25,000 well-paying, unionized jobs over the next few years.
“They’re really careers and because you can have a job — even without a college education required, as a flight attendant or a gate agent — you can get to a six-figure salary with a good union job by the time you get to the top of the seniority scale,” Kirby said.
The order is a sign of hope that the dark days of decimated air travel are over.
The Transportation Security Administration on Sunday screened 2,167,380 people nationwide — the highest checkpoint volume since the start of the pandemic. It was just 18% shy of traveler volume on the same day in 2019.
United CEO Scott Kirby revealed on Monday that his airline is now profitable for this first time since the start of the pandemic.
Kirby posted on Instagram saying, “This achievement is a result of our employees’ perseverance and their commitment to our customers — all under the toughest of circumstances.”
U.S. airlines received billions of dollars in federal aid during the pandemic to keep employees on their payroll.
“While we’re not quite out of the crisis yet as we wait for international and business travel to return in more meaningful ways, today’s achievement feels just as good as seeing busy airports once again,” Kirby said.
All of the major U.S. airlines and the TSA have struggled with staffing as air travel has rapidly jumped from historic lows to approaching pre-pandemic levels.
When air travel came to a halt in March 2020, thousands of employees were offered early retirements and buyouts, but now the airlines are desperate to fill these positions again.
American Airlines canceled about 400 flights last weekend, in part due to staffing issues. The airline is now warning hundreds of flights will be canceled in the coming weeks.
United Airlines is desperate for baggage agents.
And at one point over the Memorial Day weekend, Delta Air Lines’ automated service told customers the wait time to talk with a reservation agent was more than 21 hours.
Experts said travel numbers will continue to rise this weekend as Americans celebrate the July 4th holiday.
AAA is projecting 3.5 million people will take to the skies from July 1 to July 5.
American Airlines expects to operate nearly 5,500 daily flights from Thursday to Monday, with the busiest travel days being Thursday and Friday, a spokesperson said.
United Airlines expects to fly 2 million customers from Thursday to Tuesday. The airline said Thursday and Monday will be busiest.
“July 1 is going to be the busiest day since COVID started, but it’ll only have that record for four days because July 5 is going to break it,” Kirby said. “It’s just another indication of how we really are on the road to recovery.”
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — The top U.S. general directing the full withdrawal of all 2,500 American troops from Afghanistan acknowledged in an exclusive interview with ABC News chief Global Affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz that the security situation in the country is “not good” and that the Taliban’s push to seize parts of the country is “concerning.”
Gen. Austin Scott Miller said he stands by his belief that there cannot be a military victor in Afghanistan, but he told Raddatz that as the Taliban continues with its military operations across the country, while also engaging in peace talks, “you’re starting to create conditions here that doesn’t — won’t look good for Afghanistan in the future if there is a push for a military takeover” that could result in a civil war.
“I think what you’re seeing — just if you look at the security situation — it’s not good,” Miller told Raddatz. “The Afghans have recognized it’s not good. The Taliban are on the move.”
Miller explained that while the Taliban are participating in peace talks in Qatar with the government of Afghanistan and expressing sentiments favoring a political settlement “you have an offensive operation going on across the country by the Taliban.”
He has previously said neither side can win militarily in Afghanistan.
“I still stand by those words,” Miller said. “You’re starting to create conditions here that doesn’t won’t look good for Afghanistan in the future if there is a push for a military takeover.”
Miller said “we should be concerned” by reports of increasing Taliban violence as Taliban fighters have seized dozens of Afghan government district centers throughout Afghanistan.
“The loss of terrain and the rapidity of that loss of terrain has to be a concerning one,” Miller said, noting that it can lower morale among military forces and civilians. “So as you watch the Taliban moving across the country, what you don’t want to have happen is that the people lose hope and they believe they now have a foregone conclusion presented to them.”
Miller said Afghanistan’s new Defense Minister Bismillah Mohammadi “understands the gravity of the situation” and is moving to strategically consolidate Afghan security forces to maintain the fight against the Taliban and not necessarily defend every district center.
“They’re going to need to do that” Miller said, and “they’re going to have to choose where they want to fight the Taliban as they continue to move forward.”
Miller also said he understood concerns by residents in Kabul that the Taliban would like to attack Afghanistan’s capital in the future.
“If you go back to what the Taliban’s objectives are, they want to take over and so at some point that implies that at some point they are in Kabul,” he said. “And certainly some of them remember what it was like the last time under with the Taliban regime.”
Departing Bagram
ABC News accompanied Miller to the sprawling Bagram Air Base located 40 miles east of Kabul that is the main transportation hub for the hundreds of cargo flights that have taken out U.S. military equipment and personnel over the past two months.
“Where we’re standing right now is this equipment that’s waiting to get on aircraft and that will redeploy from Afghanistan as part of our order in retrograde,” Miller told Raddatz, using the military’s official term for the full withdrawal.
“What’s happening here is also happening at other airfields around the country, particularly in the north,” said Miller, who stressed that the objective is for a safe and orderly withdrawal that will protect American and coalition forces as they depart the country.
Ultimately Miller said that the base would be turned over to Afghan security forces, much as is happening with other U.S. inventory in the country.
“The idea is that there is equipment that stays here that supports them, certainly in a strategic airfield,” said Miller. “But again, we’re looking to make sure that they have the ability to absorb it and secure it as we go forward.”
More than half of the U.S. military equipment in Afghanistan has already been shipped out of the country as the U.S. forces quickly move towards pulling out all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, as ordered by President Joe Biden. But it appears that the withdrawal could be completed much sooner than that with one U.S. official telling ABC News that it could be completed as soon as July.
The pace of the operations at Bagram has been eye-opening for the experienced logistics officers in charge of the operation.
“It’s a little surreal to see things very bare and empty,” said Col. Erin Miller, a logistics officer overseeing the withdrawal. “And as we continue to move forward with the retrograde, seeing the equipment leave out, it truly is surreal.”
Maintaining security
With all the billions of dollars the United States has invested in training and equipping Afghanistan’s security forces, it will be up to them to maintain security.
“What we’ve said is this is Afghanistan, this is their country,” said Miller. “The Afghan security forces have to hold.”
The U.S. military will continue to provide Afghan forces with financial support and continued assistance for Afghan air force maintenance crews, but as the U.S. completes its withdrawal, there will not be a physical U.S. military presence in Afghanistan aside from the hundreds of personnel who will be stationed at the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
Americans will also continue to fly “over-the-horizon” reconnaissance missions and counterterrorism missions from countries in the Persian Gulf area focused on al-Qaida and the Islamic State group, not the Taliban.
While the U.S. is continuing to provide defensive airstrikes in support of Afghan ground troops during the withdrawal, U.S. Central Command’s Gen. Frank McKenzie has indicated that airstrikes later will only be directed against the two terror groups if they are planning to attack the American homeland or allies.
Miller praised the effectiveness of Afghanistan’s Air Force but indicated that the possibility of U.S. defensive airstrikes in the future will continue “to be discussed as we move forward.”
“I think we need to see how that how that lands,” he told Raddatz.
The withdrawal in Afghanistan after an almost 20-year presence has drawn comparisons to the 2011 U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, which created a security vacuum that led to the rise of ISIS and the eventual return of U.S. forces in 2014.
“Do you think about Iraq when we’re leaving here and what happened in Iraq when we left?” Raddatz asked Miller.
“Absolutely, I mean that’s on everybody’s mind,” said Miller. “These are judgments that we have to make balanced against our national interests.”
Friends in need
Miller first served in Afghanistan in December, 2001 as a special operations commander and has deployed at least eight other times to Afghanistan, Iraq and other locations.
As he prepares to leave Afghanistan for the final time Miller described mixed feelings both professionally and personally.
“On the professional side, what you’re seeing is a — what I would call — a historic retrograde being done under at least the threat of conflict,” said Miller. “So far, it has not been contested, at least to date. So you see that and you know the goodness that’s taking place there, watching our service members as well as our allies doing this as professionally as possible.”
He said that after 20 years he has developed friends in Afghanistan, but “I don’t like leaving friends in need and I know my friends are in need.”
“As we continue to move down the retrograde and withdraw forces, there’s less and less I can directly offer them in terms of assistance,” he said. “So that’s hard.”
For example, he said Afghan Defense Minister Mohammadi has asked him occasionally for some type of assistance — provided in years past — and “there’s points where I have to tell him I won’t be able to do that.”
“It’s a tough, tough business, it is tough,” said Miller.
“We knew we were going to have to leave at some point,” he continued. ” I don’t know that you could find a right time, but so know what you are trying to do is, as you depart, ensure that the security assistance that can continue does continue; that you keep those lines open. So even as we discuss — we call it ‘departure’ — it doesn’t mean a full break of the relationship.”
Gen. Haibatullah Alizai, the commander of the Afghan Army’s Special Operations Command acknowledged that there will be challenges ahead for Afghanistan’s military, but he expressed confidence that his forces and Afghanistan will be able to endure after all U.S. troops have left Afghanistan.
“Absolutely, we will survive,” said Alizai. “Afghanistan will survive.”
“We have learned a lot from our friends and partners in the last two decades,” he said. “Based on those lessons we are going to expand and extend and make our army great to make Afghanistan keep the situation in Afghanistan the same or better than today. “
“I’m really optimistic about this and we are really committed to this fight against terrorism and to keep Afghanistan safe for the future,” said Alizai.
(ROME) — Kicking off the ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Rome on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on countries to “repatriate, rehabilitate, and where applicable, prosecute their citizens” imprisoned in Syria fighting for ISIS.
The Syrian Democratic Forces have detained 10,000 ISIS fighters, a situation Blinken described as “untenable” in the long run.
“It just can’t persist indefinitely,” he said.
Great Britain, France and other countries have been reluctant to repatriate ISIS fighters, amid concerns about domestic terrorism and the unpopularity of doing so across Europe. (Former President Donald Trump threatened to “release” ISIS fighters into France two years ago.)
He noted the actions of several nations, singling out the host nation Italy as “one of the few Western European countries willing to return nationals from the region” — including a female fighter and her children.
Blinken also underlined the need for the coalition to expand its efforts in Africa and deny the terror group and its affiliates new recruits by “undermining its brand” and “sharing positive alternative narratives” online and on social media.
“We are seeing fighters of 13 and 14 years old, take up weapons to kill people, and we have to get at this from every possible angle,” he said.
Blinken announced plans for the United States to provide another $436 million in humanitarian aid to support Syrian refugees – bringing the total U.S. humanitarian response to the Syrian conflict to roughly $13.5 billion since 2011.
He also praised the group for its “significant achievements” in the fight against ISIS, noting that “the movement of foreign fighters into Syria and Iraq has virtually ceased.”
He announced new U.S. sanctions against a senior leader in ISIS Greater Sahara, the affiliate group operating in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso.
Blinken closed by praising the partnership against ISIS in the Middle East and across the globe.
“We’ve made great progress because we’ve been working together, so we hope you’ll keep an eye on the fight, keep up the fight against this terrorist organization until it is decisively defeated,” he said.
