Tag: US State Department spokesperson Ned Price

‘India an Essential Partner for US in QUAD’: US State Department Official

‘The fact is that we are a partner of India now. We are a partner of India when it comes to shared interests when it comes to the values we share in a free and open Indo-Pacific.’

Washington: India is an essential partner for the US in the QUAD in realising the shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, a top Biden administration official has said.

India, the US and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military manoeuvring in the region.

China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea.

“This is a bilateral relationship that has deepened in a number of ways over the past 25 years or so. This has also happened on a bipartisan basis,” state department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference on Tuesday.

Also read: Quad Announces New Mechanism on Ukraine Response, Agrees Not to Repeat Crisis in Indo-Pacific

“It is a legacy in large part of the George W. Bush administration, where we have seen this bilateral relationship between the United States and India evolve and change for the better and deepen in a number of ways, including in our defence and security relationship,” he said.

“So, the fact is that we are a partner of India now. We are a partner of India when it comes to shared interests when it comes to the values we share in a free and open Indo-Pacific. And we’ve invested in that relationship in terms of our defence and security. So historical relationships notwithstanding, we are a partner of choice for India now, as are many of our partners and allies around the world,” Price said in response to a question.

India, he said, had a historic defence and security relationship with Russia over time.

“That relationship came of age and came together at a time when the United States, nor some of our partners, we’re prepared to have that kind of relationship with India. It was a very different time, with different considerations, but those times have changed. They’ve changed in terms of our willingness and ability to be a strong defence and security partner of India,” he said.

“Price refrained from making any answer on potential CAATSA sanctions on India. I don’t have anything new to update you on when it comes to the applicability of CAATSA. We continue to work with Congress and our Indian partners on these issues,” he said.

“But let me say in terms of India’s place in the Quad, in terms of our relationship with India in the Quad context and the bilateral context, we know that India is an essential partner for us in realising our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” he said.

“That is really at the heart of the Quad’s goals. And when it comes to the Quad, the President and his fellow Quad leaders earlier this month March 3rd I believe it was they had an opportunity to discuss the ongoing conflict in the ongoing Russian invasion against Ukraine. Secretary Blinken just before that had an opportunity to see his Quad counterparts, including foreign minister S Jaishankar, as well,” Price said.

“During these engagements, the secretary and the President respectively reaffirmed their commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific in which the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states are respected, and countries are free from military, economic, and political coercion. In fact, we heard that emanate from the leader’s call on March 3. These are principles that we share with our Quad partners. They also reaffirmed their dedication to the Quad as a mechanism to promote regional stability and security,” he said.

In November 2017, the US, Australia, India and Japan gave shape to the long-pending proposal of setting up the Quad to develop a new strategy to keep the critical sea routes in the Indo-Pacific free of any influence, amid China’s growing military presence in the strategic region.

China, which has territorial disputes with many countries in the strategic Indo-Pacific region, has been opposing the Quad alliance since its formation.

Tigray Forces Withdraw From Neighbouring Ethiopian Regions

The 13-month-old war in Africa’s second-most-populous nation has destabilised an already fragile region, sent 60,000 refugees into Sudan and pulled Ethiopian soldiers away from war-ravaged Somalia.

Nairobi: Tigrayan forces fighting the central government have withdrawn from neighbouring regions in Ethiopia’s north, a Tigrayan spokesman said on Monday, a step towards a possible ceasefire after major territorial gains by the Ethiopian military.

The 13-month-old war in Africa’s second-most-populous nation has destabilised an already fragile region, sent 60,000 refugees into Sudan, pulled Ethiopian soldiers away from war-ravaged Somalia and drawn in armed forces from neighbouring Eritrea.

Writing on twitter, Getachew added that the TPLF hoped the pullout would induce the international community to put pressure on the governments of Ethiopia and neighbouring Eritrea, allies in the conflict, to cease military operations in Tigray.

“We trust that our bold act of withdrawal will be a decisive opening for peace,” Debretsion wrote in a letter to the United Nations outlining the TPLF’s demands.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq said Debretsion’s letter was being studied and he had no immediate comment beyond that.

“We would look positively at any efforts that can bring the fighting downwards and ultimately to bring it to a full halt. … We’ll study this (letter) and see … what can be done with that,” he told reporters at a briefing.

“The US State Department is aware of the reports of Tigrayan withdrawal,” spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

“If we do see a movement of Tigrayan forces back into Tigray, that is something we would welcome. It’s something we’ve called for and we hope it opens the door to broader diplomacy,” Price said.

‘Rare opportunity’

Thousands of civilians have been killed as a result of the conflict, around 400,000 are facing famine in Tigray and 9.4 million people need food aid across northern Ethiopia.

Debretsion said he hoped the Tigrayan withdrawal would force the international community to ensure that food aid could enter Tigray. The United Nations previously accused the government of operating a de facto blockade – a charge Addis Ababa has denied.

The TPLF accuses Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of wanting to centralise power at the expense of Ethiopia’s regions. Abiy denies the accusation.

Abiy, whose appointment in 2018 brought nearly three decades of TPLF dominance over Ethiopia to an end, says the TPLF wanted to hang onto central power – something the Tigrayan leadership denies.

Will Davison, senior analyst for Ethiopia at the International Crisis Group think tank, said the TPLF letter represented a “significant opportunity for peace talks”.

“There are reasons to think this rare opportunity might lead to a peace process and cessation of hostilities,” he said.

A significant shift in the Tigrayan position, he said, was the abandonment of their demand that hostile forces withdraw from western Tigray, a disputed area, as a precondition for peace talks, as well as a concession that this could come about as part of an internationally backed peace process.

Trust-building steps

“Any Tigrayan demands to keep their forces intact might be hard for the Ethiopian government to swallow,” he said, but a gradual process might be possible. He added that other confidence-building measures might be under way, such as the federal government releasing jailed political leaders.

The letter also endorses the use of international investigators to pursue those responsible for war crimes.

The United Nations agreed last week to set up an independent investigation into rights abuses in Ethiopia – a move strongly opposed by the Ethiopian government, which sees it as an infringement of national sovereignty.

International mediators including the African Union and United States have repeatedly tried to negotiate a ceasefire to allow aid to enter Tigray, but both sides have refused until certain conditions were met.

In June, the Ethiopian and Eritrean militaries withdrew from Tigray after reports of mass killings of civilians, gang rapes and blocking of aid supplies. The government has said it has prosecuted individual soldiers, although it has provided no details, and denied blocking aid.

In July, Tigrayan forces invaded Afar and Amhara. The Ethiopian military launched an offensive at the end of November that pushed the Tigrayan forces back hundreds of kilometres (miles).

Reuters reporters travelling to liberated towns in Amhara saw signs of heavy fighting, and local residents reported abuses such as killings and rapes by Tigrayan fighters. The TPLF has said any soldiers found guilty would be punished.

US Issues First Passport With ‘X’ Gender Marker

In June, the State Department announced it was working on adding a third gender option for the nonbinary, intersex and gender-nonconforming individuals.

New Delhi: The US State Department announced on Wednesday, October 27, that it had issued its first passport with an “X” gender designation in lieu of male or female for those who do not identify as either one.

US plans to expand rollout next year

The State Department expects to be able to offer the option more broadly next year on passports and birth certificates of US citizens born abroad.

In June, the State Department announced it was working on adding a third gender option for the nonbinary, intersex and gender-nonconforming individuals but noted it would take time as it required extensive technological upgrades to existing computer systems.

While a first passport has been issued, the passport application and system update will still need to be approved by the Office of Management and Budget which approves all government forms prior to their issuance.  The State Department hopes by early next year to have the option widely available.

Also Read: The Gender Beat: Cisgender, Genderqueer in Dictionary Now; Police Flayed for Brutality Against Women Workers

The State Department also announced it would no longer require medical certification for those opting for a gender option that differs from other existing documents such as a driver’s license or birth certificate.

A move in line with ‘lived reality’

Jessica Stern, the department’s special envoy for LGBTQ rights, called the move historic and celebratory and in line with people’s “lived reality.”

“When a person obtains identity documents that reflect their true identity, they live with greater dignity and respect,” she told AP.

President Joe Biden had vowed to make LGBTQ rights a major priority of his administration. The move is a policy shift from Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s predecessor Mike Pompeo who forbade US embassies from flying the rainbow pride flag.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said, “I want to reiterate, on the occasion of this passport issuance, the Department of State’s commitment to promoting the freedom, dignity, and equality of all people — including LGBTQI+ persons.”

The State Department made the announcement on Intersex Awareness Day.

According to the London-based Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion, 11 other countries already offer the option including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Nepal, New Zealand and Pakistan.

According to Reuters, Price did not identify the holder of the first “X” gender passport, but civil rights organisation Lambda Legal said its client Dana Zzyym was the recipient.

“I almost burst into tears when I opened the envelope, pulled out my new passport, and saw the ‘X’ stamped boldly under ‘sex,'” Zzyym, an intersex and nonbinary U.S. Navy veteran, said in a statement on Wednesday. “It took six years, but to have an accurate passport, one that doesn’t force me to identify as male or female but recognises I am neither, is liberating.”

Zzyym’s previous applications for a passport were denied as they required the applicant to select either “male” or “female” as a gender marker.

(With inputs from DW)

US Says Taliban Talks in Doha Were ‘Candid and Professional’

“The discussions were candid and professional with the US delegation reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

Washington: The United States said on Sunday the first face-to-face meeting between senior US and Taliban officials since the hardline group retook power in Afghanistan was “candid and professional” and that the US side reiterated that the Taliban would be judged on their actions, not just their words.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US delegation at the weekend talks in Doha, Qatar, focused on security and terrorism concerns and safe passage for US citizens, other foreign nationals and Afghans, as well as on human rights, including the meaningful participation of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society.

He said the two sides also discussed “the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people.”

“The discussions were candid and professional with the US delegation reiterating that the Taliban will be judged on its actions, not only its words,” Price said in a statement.

Also Read: Biden’s Afghanistan Blunder Will Come Back to Haunt the US and its Allies

The foreign ministry in Kabul said the two-day meeting went well. It welcomed the US offer of humanitarian assistance and said local authorities would facilitate delivery and cooperate with aid groups but said such assistance “should not be linked to political issues”.

“Detailed discussions were held during the meeting about all relevant issues. And efforts should be exerted to restore diplomatic relations to a better state,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that similar meetings would be held in future if required.

On Saturday, Qatar-based Al Jazeera television quoted Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister as saying that Taliban representatives asked the US side to lift a ban on Afghan central bank reserves.

Biden administration officials told Reuters on Friday the US delegation would press the Taliban to release kidnapped American Mark Frerichs. Another top priority would be to hold the Taliban to their commitment not to allow Afghanistan to again become a hotbed for al Qaeda or other extremists.

The Taliban took back power in Afghanistan in August, almost 20 years after they were ousted in a US-led invasion for refusing to hand over Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The US officials said the weekend meeting was a continuation of “pragmatic engagements” with the Taliban and “not about granting recognition or conferring legitimacy” to the group.

US officials say they are in contact with dozens of Americans and legal permanent residents who wish to leave Afghanistan and there are thousands of US-allied Afghans at risk of Taliban persecution still in the country.

Washington and other Western countries are grappling with difficult choices as a severe humanitarian crisis looms large in Afghanistan. They are trying to work out how to engage with the Taliban without granting the group the legitimacy it seeks, while ensuring humanitarian aid flows into the country.

Myanmar Protestors Return to Streets After Bloodiest Day Since Coup

Police and soldiers opened fire with live rounds with little warning in several cities and towns, witnesses said.

Myanmar police broke up demonstrations in several places with tear gas and gunfire on Thursday but there was no immediate word on casualties a day after the United Nations said 38 people had been killed in the bloodiest day since last month’s coup.

Undeterred by the crackdown, activists said they refused to accept the February 1, 2021 military coup and were determined to press for the release of elected government leader Aung San Suu Kyi and recognition of her victory in a November election. “We know that we can always get shot and killed with live bullets, but there is no meaning to staying alive under the junta,” activist Maung Saungkha told Reuters.

Police later opened fire and used tear gas to break up protests in Yangon and the central town of Monywa, witnesses said. Police also fired in the town of Pathein, to the west of Yangon, media reported.

Protesters gathered elsewhere, including in the historic temple town of Bagan, where hundreds marched carrying pictures of Suu Kyi and a banner saying: “Free our leader”, a witness said. In some parts of Yangon, protesters hung sheets and sarongs on lines across the street to obscure the view of police aiming their guns. They also uncoiled barbed wire to reinforce barricades.

Also read: At Least 18 Die in Myanmar on Bloodiest Day of Anti-Coup Protests

Five fighter jets made several low passes in formation over the second city of Mandalay early on Thursday, residents said, in what appeared to be a show of military might. On Wednesday, police and soldiers opened fire with live rounds with little warning in several cities and towns, witnesses said.

UN special envoy on Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, said in New York that Wednesday was the bloodiest day since the February 1, 2021 coup with 38 deaths, bringing the total toll to more than 50 as the military tries to impose its authority.

“Myanmar’s security forces now seem intent on breaking the back of the anti-coup movement through wanton violence and sheer brutality,” said Richard Weir, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. In one particularly brutal incident, a man in custody appeared to have been shot in the back, the group said.

A spokesperson for the ruling military council did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.

‘Few friends’

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party said in a statement that flags would fly at half-mast at its offices to commemorate the dead.

Also read: Shots Fired as Myanmar Journalist Live-streams Police Raid to Detain Him

Schraner Burgener said she warned Myanmar deputy military chief Soe Win that the military was likely to face strong measures from some countries and isolation in retaliation for the coup. “The answer was: ‘We are used to sanctions, and we survived’,” she told reporters. “When I also warned they will go [into] isolation, the answer was: ‘We have to learn to walk with only few friends’.”

The UN Security Council is due to discuss the situation on Friday in a closed meeting, diplomats said.

UN special rapporteur Tom Andrews said the “systematic brutality” of the military was again on display. “I urge members of the U.N. Security Council to view the photos/videos of the shocking violence,” he said on Twitter.

US state department spokesperson Ned Price said the United States was “appalled” by the violence and was evaluating how to respond. The United States has told China it expects it to play a constructive role, he said. China has declined to condemn the coup, with Chinese state media calling it a “major cabinet reshuffle”.

The European Union said the shootings of unarmed civilians and medical workers were clear breaches of international law. It also said the military was stepping up repression of the media, with a growing number of journalists arrested.

Also read: Myanmar Envoy Appeals to UN to End Coup, Police Intensifies Crackdown on Protesters

‘Everything will be ok’

Save the Children said four children were killed on Wednesday, including a 14-year-old boy who Radio Free Asia reported was shot dead by a soldier on a passing convoy of military trucks. The soldiers loaded his body onto a truck and left, according to the report.

Images of a 19-year-old woman, one of two shot dead in Mandalay, showed her wearing a T-shirt that read “Everything will be OK”.

Police in Yangon ordered three medics out of an ambulance and beat them with gun butts and batons, video broadcast by US-funded Radio Free Asia showed. Reuters was unable to verify the video independently.

The military justified the coup by saying its complaints of voter fraud in the November 8, 2020 vote were ignored. Suu Kyi’s party won by a landslide, earning a second term. The election commission said the vote was fair.

Junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has pledged to hold new elections but given no time frame.

Suu Kyi, 75, has been held incommunicado since the coup but appeared at a court hearing via video conferencing this week and looked in good health, a lawyer said.

Shots Fired as Myanmar Journalist Live-streams Police Raid to Detain Him

The ‘Democratic Voice of Burma’ news agency confirmed the detention of Kaung Myat Hlaing in a statement and called for his release.

A Myanmar journalist live-streamed police shooting close to his apartment as they detained him in a crackdown on protesters against military rule.

“Help, help. They’re shooting at me,” Kaung Myat Hlaing, a reporter for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), can be heard shouting in the video taken in the southern coastal town of Myeik.

The video is shot from a first-floor balcony, where clothes are drying on a line, as police shine a light from the street below and shout at him to come down. There is the sound of someone apparently pulling at the front door and then a puff of smoke appears on the balcony, accompanied by what sounds like gunfire.

The DVB news agency confirmed the detention of Kaung Myat Hlaing in a statement and called for his release as well as the release of other detained journalists.

An officer who answered the telephone at the Myeik Township Police Station said news of the reporter’s detention had not been confirmed and hung up.

Also read: At Least 18 Die in Myanmar on Bloodiest Day of Anti-Coup Protests

Six journalists have been arrested at protests in the main city of Yangon over recent days. They have all been charged under a penal code section making it a crime to publish material that could cause a soldier or other service member “to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty”, Tin Zar Oo, a lawyer for an Associated Press journalist among the six, said on Tuesday.

The Associated Press called on Monday for the immediate release of journalist Thein Zaw.

The military overthrew the elected government on February 1, 2021, detaining its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and others and unleashing street protests across the country.

The spokesperson for the junta has not addressed the issue of the arrest of journalists in the protests and has not responded to telephone calls from Reuters seeking comment.

Also read: Myanmar Envoy Appeals to UN to End Coup, Police Intensifies Crackdown on Protesters

Many people have taken to live-streaming the protests and, increasingly, police efforts to disperse them.

The DVB said about half a dozen military and police cars surrounded its reporter’s street at about 10:30 pm on Monday, after protests in the town earlier in the day. The DVB said it did not know what kind of guns or rounds were fired, but it believed police were threatening the reporter but not firing at him.

The coup halted Myanmar’s tentative steps towards democracy after nearly 50 years of military rule and has drawn condemnation and sanctions from the United States and other Western countries, and growing concern among its neighbours.

The United States warned Myanmar’s military on Monday that it would take more action if security forces kill unarmed people and attack journalists and activists, which state department spokesperson Ned Price called “abhorrent violence”.

US Monitoring Saudi Arabia’s ‘Future Conduct’ After Khashoggi Sanctions

The United States will expect Riyadh to improve its human rights record, a US state department spokesperson said after Washington imposed sanctions on some Saudis for journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing.

Washington: The United States is focused on the “future conduct” of Saudi Arabia and will expect Riyadh to improve its human rights record, a US spokesperson said on Monday, after Washington imposed sanctions on some Saudis for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi but fell short of sanctions against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The United States on Friday declassified a report that said the crown prince approved an operation in 2018 to capture or kill Khashoggi and issued some sanctions against Saudi nationals and entities.

Washington’s failure to penalise the crown prince has been criticised by rights groups and others, raising questions about accountability and the Biden administration’s pledge to make human rights a foreign policy priority.

Prince Mohammed, the 35-year-old de facto ruler, has denied any involvement in Khashoggi’s killing, for which eight people were jailed in Saudi Arabia last year, but has said he bears ultimate responsibility because it happened on his watch.

“We are very focused on future conduct, and that is part of why we have cast this not as a rupture but as a recalibration” of US-Saudi relations, US state department spokesperson Ned Price said at a press briefing. “We are trying to get to the systemic issues underlying the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” Price said.

Also read: Saudi Crown Prince Approved Operation That Killed Jamal Khashoggi: US Report

The United States welcomed the recent release of two human rights activists in Saudi Arabia, Price said, but asked Riyadh to do more by lifting the travel ban on them. “We are urging Saudi Arabia to take additional steps – to lift travel bans on those released, to commute sentences and resolve cases such as those women’s rights activists and others,” he said.

White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday that the United States reserved the right to sanction Mohammed bin Salman.

Khashoggi, a US resident who wrote opinion columns for the Washington Post critical of the crown prince’s policies, was killed and dismembered by a team of operatives linked to the prince in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul in October 2018.

On Friday, the United States singled out the Rapid Intervention Force (RIF), a unit of the Saudi royal guard that has engaged in counter dissident operations. It also issued visa bans on 76 Saudis. Price said he could not disclose the names of the 76 people and declined to say whether or not Mohammed bin Salman was among them. The United States has urged Saudi Arabia to disband the RIF, Price added.

(Reuters)