UNITED24 - Make a charitable donation in support of Ukraine!

Military

15 November 2001

Transcript: Afghanistan Dominates Bush-Putin Talks, Rice Says

(Says missile defense smaller part of dialogue than before) (3750)
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice says the main topic of the
three day summit between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir
Putin was Afghanistan and the war on terrorism.
"That turned out to be the dominant issue of this part of the trip,"
the November 14 and 15 talks at the Bush ranch in Texas, she said,
"just as it was really the dominant issue in the more formal part of
the trip," the talks at the White House November 13 between the two
leaders.
"They talked about the importance of getting the political
arrangements accelerated now, given the accelerating situation on the
ground." They also discussed the problems of the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction and their joint concerns about bin Laden's
desire to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
"And they pledged again very close cooperation in
intelligence-gathering, in information-sharing to try and thwart this
problem."
The visit between the two leaders at the Bush ranch in Texas, Rice
said, "was really a wonderful meeting, quite remarkable meeting, very
relaxed. The two men spent a lot of time together. Their wives spent a
lot of time together. Despite the rain, the President did take
President Putin, yesterday afternoon, on a tour of the ranch. But they
had a lot of time to talk together about a number of substantive
issues," she said.
"What we're seeing, Rice said, "is that Russia and the United States
have a lot of interests in common. Quite apart from the fact that
these two men do like each other, they have a similar sense of humor,
they get along extremely well, the interests of Russia and the United
States are moving in a common direction. And that's really the very
most important thing about this."
Rice acknowledged that differences continue on the future of the 1972
Anti Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty that forbids missile defense.
The main progress being made on that issue, she said, is that the two
countries continue at the Presidential level and at the expert level
to share more and more information about how U.S. plans are developing
for missile defenses.
Whatever may happen, she said, "whatever we do to address our concerns
about missile defense, this is in the context now of a substantially
changed relationship from where we were several months ago. And that's
just an extremely important point to keep in mind. This is a smaller
element of the U.S.-Russia relationship than it was several months
ago, and certainly than it was before September 11th."
Rice noted that President Putin said several times during the visit
"that he understands the President's argument about the threat," from
terrorists and rogue states, "although he may still continue to
believe that the ABM treaty has a certain importance to the post-Cold
War era, as it did in the pre-Cold War era."
But "one way or another," she said, "the United States is going to
have to get out of the constraints of the ABM Treaty so that we can
begin to explore in a robust way, rather than in a constrained way,
what our options are" for missile defense.
"We'll see how long we can go before we have to actually begin the
testing and development program," she said.
Following is the White House transcript:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary (Crawford, Texas)
November 15, 2001
PRESS BRIEFING BY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR DR. CONDOLEEZZA RICE ON
VISIT OF PRESIDENT PUTIN
Crawford Community Center Crawford, Texas
1:20 P.M. CST
DR. RICE: Good afternoon. I've just come from the lunch at the end of
the meeting, and President Putin is getting ready to depart. It was
really a wonderful meeting, quite remarkable meeting, very relaxed.
The two men spent a lot of time together. Their wives spent a lot of
time together. Despite the rain, the President did take President
Putin, yesterday afternoon, on a tour of the ranch. But they had a lot
of time to talk together about a number of substantive issues.
I think the dominant issue really was about Afghanistan and the war on
terrorism. They continued that conversation yesterday afternoon. They
talked about it at great length this morning again. So that turned out
to be the dominant issue of this part of the trip, just as it was
really the dominant issue in the more formal part of the trip.
So I'm now happy to take questions.
Q: What did they say about Afghanistan?  What did they agree on?
DR. RICE: Well, they were really reviewing the situation on the
ground. They were reviewing the progress of the Northern Alliance.
They were sharing with each other information, what they knew about
the situation on the ground, what they knew about the intentions of
various parties. They talked about the importance of getting the
political arrangements accelerated now, given the accelerating
situation on the ground.
Both instructed their Foreign Ministers to press that point very, very
hard with the United Nations, as well as with their colleagues in
other places. They talked about the importance of continuing the
message to the Northern Alliance about a broad-based government. But I
have to say that they are both pleased that, so far, the Northern
Alliance has continued to talk about the importance of a broad-based
government. So it was pretty detailed and practical, and they were
really trying to problem-solve about a number of the issues that they
face.
Q: Can you tell us anything about the time line, moving forward on
plans for the ballistic missile system? And was that time line
adjusted in any way as a consequence of these three days of meetings?
DR. RICE: Well, these meetings continued the discussions that they've
had about how to move forward in a new strategic framework, how to
deal with the issue of defenses in the context of a new strategic
framework. I remind you, the President has always said there are three
elements to this. They talked quite a bit about the offensive force
reductions, about the nonproliferation efforts, and they did talk some
about defenses. They're going to continue those discussions, but I
think the time line has not really changed. The President continues to
believe that he has got to move forward with the testing program in a
robust way, so that we can really begin to evaluate the potential for
missile defenses.
I think that President Putin, himself, said this morning, and he's
said several times during this visit, that he understands the
President's argument about the threat, although he may still continue
to believe that the ABM treaty has a certain importance to the
post-Cold War era, as it did in the pre-Cold War era.
Q: Can I follow up? You said the President has made clear that
differences remain. Can you tell us, from your perspective, where
progress was made, where understanding has changed on the ABM Treaty,
and where the main difference --
DR. RICE: I think the main progress that's being made is that they
continue, both at their level and then at the expert level, to share
more and more information about how U.S. plans are developing for
missile defenses.
I want to remind everybody this is a robust research, development and
testing program, evaluation program. So there was another briefing for
the Russians when we were in New York, prior to the meeting in
Washington, about the progress of those plans, about some of the time
lines that are driving those plans. And they continue to talk about
that.
But there was, I think, a real understanding that whatever happen --
and I just here quote President Putin -- whatever we do to address our
concerns about missile defense, this is in the context now of a
substantially changed relationship from where we were several months
ago. And that's just an extremely important point to keep in mind.
This is a smaller element of the U.S.-Russia relationship than it was
several months ago, and certainly than it was before September 11th.
Q: Speaking of time lines, did the President give any indication that
the six-month time line could be triggered if Mr. Putin doesn't get on
board and jointly withdraw? Did that come up in any hint or any way,
shape or form?
DR. RICE: They simply talked as they have talked before about the
President's desire to get on with his testing and evaluation program.
I think that everybody, including the Russians, understand that we're
soon going to run up against certain constraints of the treaty. And
we're continuing to work with them, continuing to work through those.
But that was the context in which it came up.
Q: So it wasn't like the end of the year we're going to start the
timer?
DR. RICE: They're continuing to just work through the issues. I think
I said when I was with a group of you before, this is a set of issues
that they're working progressively over a period of time. And no
particular kaboom breakthrough is to be expected at any particular
time, but they are continuing to work the issue. And we'll see how
long we can go before we have to actually begin the testing and
development program.
Q: Did the two Presidents discuss the apparent attempts of al Qaeda
and bin Laden to obtain nuclear devices? And can you address the
report that manuals on nuclear construction were found in Kabul?
DR. RICE: I've read the same report, Bill. It's a press report. I
can't address it from any more authoritative stand than that, but
obviously, we will look into it.
The Presidents did discuss the problems of the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction and they did discuss their joint concerns
about bin Laden's desire to acquire weapons of mass destruction. And
they pledged again very close cooperation in intelligence-gathering,
in information-sharing to try and thwart this problem.
So, yes, they did discuss it, and there is actually a line in the
joint statement that obliquely refers to their concerns about all
aspects of this, including nuclear proliferation. And they did discuss
it at some length, but mostly to agree to continue sharing
intelligence and to deepen that cooperation.
Q: You made it clear that the President has made clear to President
Putin his desire and his intention to get on with the testing of a
missile defense shield, which as it's now constructed would be a
violation of the ABM. So how does President Putin respond to that?
Does he express his displeasure? Does he do anything to suggest that
he would block such an effort by the United States? Or does he suggest
that he's willing to lay the groundwork for an agreement down the
line?
DR. RICE: What they are moving forward on and what President Putin has
been saying is that this is an issue now in the context of a larger
relationship that continues to be a source of disagreement between the
two sides, but in this larger relationship, it's not going to have an
effect on the relationship as a whole. I mean, he said that there in
the high school.
They understand, the two of them, and President Putin has clearly made
clear to the President that he understands, the President's view of
what he has to do in terms of missile defense, the President's view of
how to address the threat, and that he's sympathetic to that, even
though he, himself, continues to believe that this ought to be done
within the context of the ABM Treaty.
So I think the most important statement that President Putin made here
was that this is in a much broader relationship. And I just want to
say again, we are not where we were six months ago, both because we
have a lot greater understanding on both sides of how we view
strategic stability; the Russians have a much clearer understanding of
what it is we're thinking of doing; and the relationship has moved to
one that is not centered just on nuclear weapons and the ABM Treaty.
Q: If I could follow, so, from the United States' perspective, Russia
will not stand in the way of testing of nuclear missiles?
DR. RICE: David, that is not what I said. I said we understand each
other considerably better on this, but the President has made clear
that, one way or another -- and we're still in the one way or another
phase -- one way or another, the United States is going to have to get
out of the constraints of the ABM Treaty so that we can begin to
explore in a robust way, rather than in a constrained way, what our
options are under -- for missile defenses.
Q: Dr. Rice, in their conversations when you talked about the U.S. --
the President talked more about what U.S. intentions are, did you
discuss in detail the testing program -- in any more detail than in
previous briefings? And then, also, was there any kind of ultimatum
offered at all by President Bush about a need to get out of the ABM
Treaty by any certain time?
DR. RICE: The President has continued to say what he has been saying,
that this is -- the testing program is going to eventually have to
commence in a way that we believe is inconsistent with the treaty.
We're not going to violate treaties, so we're going to have to find a
way to get out of those constraints.
The testing program has been outlined to the Russians in some detail.
That was done again. We are continuing to give them updates and more
detail about what is being planned. But I just want to caution, it's
intended to be a robust program, but not every test that we are going
to do is even known to us at this point, and we've made that clear
also to the Russians.
Q: At the press conference with the students, President Bush said
today that we would dismantle and destroy our warheads. When they went
to Putin, he said, we will dismantle them, but he didn't seem to say
they'll destroy them. What is your understanding what Russia will do
with those warheads?
DR. RICE: I think the understanding of what both will do here is that
this is a draw-down over a long period of time. It takes a long time
to bring nuclear arsenals down, over 10 years or so. The disposition
of warheads, I believe that what the President was referring to is we
will not have these warheads near the places at which they could be
deployed. In other words, they will truly not be deployable warheads.
In that sense, their capability will not be accessible to the United
States.
Now, how you then dispose of them, how you deal with the materials,
how you deal with reliability issues in the existing stockpiles, so do
you want to keep ones that are not on station someplace else -- those
are all details to be worked out. Remember, this is a review that just
began -- or just concluded in the United States, and so we've got a
little work to do on some of the issues about disposition of warheads.
Q: On that point, the President actually said "destroy the warheads"
when he was asked about that. We are talking about reducing and
destroying the number of warheads, is that right?
DR. RICE: We are in the process right now of examining precisely how
this draw-down takes place. You probably know that even the warheads
that we have already agreed to take off-station in the -- all the way
back to the START I treaties are not yet non-operational. So this is a
long process that has to take place.
Q: But is he right that we would be destroying these weapons?
Q: President Putin said during the news conference that he really
wanted to have a treaty that would encompass in the end all of these
agreements. He seemed to be referring to something that would link the
offensive cuts with whatever you do on ABM. Did he bring proposed
treaty language? And in the past you have been very hesitant to get
involved in a treaty. Tell us whether or not your thinking, where the
President's thinking has changed on this.
DR. RICE: Well, he did not bring treaty language. What the final form
of the new strategic framework looks like, I think we're open as to
form. We do not believe that it needs to look like the thousands and
thousands of pages that attended all the SALT and START treaties. So
it clearly doesn't have to look like that.
We are more than willing to talk with the Russians about various
levels of codification of such an arrangement. We have not said
"treaty." They have said they are interested in a treaty. But this is
an open discussion, I think, at this point, David. Nobody has ruled
out --
Q: Did they pursue that at all?
DR. RICE: No, we did not pursue that at this time. But nobody has
ruled out codification. We have said, both of us, that we are prepared
to make this verifiable in some form -- perhaps even using some of the
verification procedures out of former treaties. But nothing is off the
table in the regard of what this actually looks like in the final
analysis.
Q: On that point, if I may, with regard to the ABM Treaty, is it all
or nothing? Do you stay in or just get out? Are those the only two
options, or is there something else? And, if I could, on the personal
relationship, the sort of almost Martin and Lewis routine the two
Presidents did today, what significance does that have? What glimpse
of their personal relationship does it give us? And what significance
does it have for the substance of U.S.-Russia relations?
DR. RICE: On the ABM Treaty, we've made clear that there are a couple
of reasons the ABM Treaty is a problem. One is its constraints; the
other is its very nature in that it really does codify a relationship
that we think no longer exists. We're going to have to move beyond it.
What "move beyond it" actually means -- does that mean that there is a
new strategic framework in place? That's the nature of these
discussions, and those discussions are continuing.
But I just want to point out again, Jim -- and it gets to your second
point -- what President Putin said here is extremely important. This
is now a very broad relationship in which the nature of our nuclear
relationship is a small part. This is a 180 degrees from where we were
with the Soviet Union, which was where it was the only issue, really,
in our relationship. So that is very important.
I do think the personal relationship between the men is going to serve
them well. But the President made an important point at the high
school when he said, it has to be a relationship that can survive the
two of them. And that means it has to be a relationship that is also
based on interests. And I think what we're seeing is that Russia and
the United States have a lot of interests in common. Quite apart from
the fact that these two men do like each other, they have a similar
sense of humor, they get along extremely well, the interests of Russia
and the United States are moving in a common direction. And that's
really the very most important thing about this.
And I am going to miss the plane unless I go. Again, Ron, it takes a
long time to bring these down. The issue of how you deal with the
warheads has a number of facets, including what you do with the
materiel, what you think the reliability of other forces is. We'll
have to see.
Q: Did he accurately state policy, though, when he said, they will be
destroyed?
DR. RICE: We are working -- clearly, a number of them will be
destroyed. A number of them will be destroyed.
Last one, and then I've really got to go.
Q: On the future of Afghanistan, since they did spend a good deal of
time talking about that, what specifically can you tell us that they
agreed upon in the immediate future for Afghanistan, as far as a
government structure, as far as stepping up the humanitarian delivery
of food, bringing in other nations to be helpful in that process? What
specific can you tell us about those conversations?
DR. RICE: Well, they talked quite a bit, for instance, about getting
the land bridge to Mazar opened and active on the humanitarian front.
They talked a great deal about the Brahimi idea of trying to get a
meeting together with various elements. They talked about getting the
-- obviously, Kabul has now become the kind of focal point in a way
that nobody would have predicted several days ago, and so they talked
about what kind of temporary representation one might need to get into
Kabul for meetings, so you can begin to design for the long-term. And
it was at that level of specificity.
Okay, I've got to go.  Oh, my goodness!
(A cake is presented to Dr. Rice. The press sings "Happy Birthday -- a
rather pathetic rendition.) (Applause.)
DR. RICE: Thank you. Thank you very much. It's absolutely beautiful. I
wish I had more times to play these these days.
Q: We just want to see the "Cotton-eyed Joe."
DR. RICE: You heard about that, did you? I will tell you, I also got a
beautiful birthday cake last night, which was very, very nice. But you
should all keep your day jobs with the singing. (Laughter.) Thank you
very much.
I'm going to take a piece with me, and then you should all enjoy it.
Because I'm going back to Washington, you're in Crawford. (Laughter.)
Q: How many candles do we put on it?
DR. RICE: That's a secret.  State secret.  (Laughter.)
END 1:35 P.M. CST
(end White House transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)



NEWSLETTER
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list