Department Press Briefing – July 24, 2024
July 24, 2024
1:17 p.m. EDT
MR MILLER: Hey, don’t let me interrupt the fun. It seems like a good conversation is going on. (Laughter.)
Let me start with a couple things at the top. Secretary Blinken spoke earlier today with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to discuss the latest developments in ongoing negotiations to reach a ceasefire deal to the war in Gaza. The Secretary and prime minister discussed the remaining issues on the table and practical solutions to bridge the differences between the parties. The Secretary reiterated that the U.S. continues to see a deal as critical to bringing the hostages home and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people, and that we stand ready to work to ensure that the deal turns into an end to the war and lasting peace and stability for the region.
And then on a scheduling note, the Secretary will now depart tomorrow for Asia, instead of tonight as we had originally planned, so he can attend the meeting between the President and Prime Minister Netanyahu tomorrow here in Washington. We have – to accommodate that – reordered the schedule a little bit. He’s now going to travel to Laos first and then on to Vietnam, but otherwise the trip will follow the same schedule that we previously announced.
And with that, happy to take questions. Said.
QUESTION: Could you explain when there’s going to a meeting with the prime minister?
MR MILLER: The – between the President and the prime minister?
QUESTION: No, no. We know the President and the prime minister is going to meet on Thursday.
MR MILLER: Tomorrow. Yeah.
QUESTION: But there is going to be a meeting with the Secretary of State?
MR MILLER: The Secretary is going to attend the meeting —
QUESTION: Attend the same meeting, okay.
MR MILLER: Attend the meeting between the President and prime minister.
QUESTION: Not a separate meeting.
MR MILLER: Not a separate meeting. No. No.
QUESTION: Okay. Let me —
MR MILLER: He had always planned to attend that meeting, but earlier —
QUESTION: Right.
MR MILLER: That meeting was previously scheduled for earlier in the week. Then as you know the President had COVID, had some change of schedule, so now it’s happening tomorrow.
QUESTION: All right. Let me start with where you began at the very top on – that he spoke with the Qatari foreign minister and so on. So there is still – the outlook or there is still – there are signs that a bit hopeful, right, that we might have something or a deal arrived at maybe in the next few days? Because we know come next month, the Knesset is going to go on holiday. We will enter the election seasons here and so on. So give us your assessment of how the talks are going and what might be the glitches. What are the obstacles (inaudible) —
MR MILLER: So first of all, I’m not going to put a timetable on it – table on it.
QUESTION: Right.
MR MILLER: Which I know you didn’t ask for, but you referred to a timetable in the premise so I wanted to —
QUESTION: Right, I don’t —
MR MILLER: I wanted to say that. I think that we remain optimistic but at the same time realistic, which is something you’ve heard me say before. It is important that we have reached a framework agreement and that the two parties – Israel and Hamas – have agreed to the framework that the President outlined publicly some six, seven weeks ago. That was a critical step and a critical thing to get agreed, but of course that’s not a full agreement. There are still a number of issues that we need to work through, and we are working through those issues. Obviously, the negotiators themselves are discussing them. The Secretary discussed a number of them today with the prime minister of Qatar, who of course is one of the prime mediators of the deal. And we continue to work through and try to make progress on all of those issues. We want to see a ceasefire as soon as possible because it is the best way to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people, to get the hostages home, and ultimately bring an end to this war.
QUESTION: So I mean, in a couple – in fact in less than an hour, the prime minister will be speaking before Congress, one of the most important places on earth. Do you think that he can – I mean, in your assessment, will he take such an opportunity to say, okay, I am announcing that we agree to these terms and so on, and whatever caveats he might have?
MR MILLER: I do not know what the prime minister will say in his speech.
QUESTION: All right. Okay. All right. So in the meantime, Matt, the UN says that 150,000 Palestinians flee the new assault on Khan Younis. I mean, this is – it’s almost like the Twilight Zone. We see these people moving from place to place and so on. I don’t – it’s somewhat apocalyptic, as a matter of fact. So how long should this go on? I mean, suppose we don’t arrive at a deal. What is the vision beyond a deal, if there is no deal?
MR MILLER: We don’t want to see the horrific suffering that’s happening in Gaza go on another single day.
QUESTION: Right.
MR MILLER: We want a ceasefire now. We want it as soon as possible. We want to see one reached between the two parties and that’s why we have been pushing for that for some time, and not just pushing but doing the hard work of negotiating; and when roadblocks and obstacles come up, trying to develop practical ways to overcome those obstacles and present solutions to the two parties to meet Israel’s legitimate security needs and also ensure that Palestinian civilians are protected and they get the food and water and care that they need.
When you look at the additional evacuations that have happened over the past week or so, it’s heartbreaking to think of what those families are having to go through: to see children picking up and having to move for maybe the second time, maybe the third, fourth, fifth time; and to move from one place that hasn’t been safe to other places that might not be safe. The suffering is unspeakable, what people in Gaza have been through. And that is why we continue to push so hard to get a ceasefire.
QUESTION: Mm-hmm. I know this issue has been raised time and again on the issue of UNRWA, but the Knesset advanced legislation that would designate UNRWA as a terrorist organization. Now, UNRWA has been responsible for Palestinian refugees for a very long time, since 1950 or ’49. So do you envision, like, a – an alternative to UNRWA? How will – how will schools be run? How will clinics be run and so on?
MR MILLER: Let me say a few things about this. First, UNRWA is not a terrorist organization, and we urge the Israeli Government and the Knesset to halt the movement of this legislation. We have been clear about the important role that UNRWA plays in delivering humanitarian assistance and other critical assistance to Palestinians in Gaza – and throughout the region, not just in Gaza. The – I think you know the United States provides the majority of its funding for – a majority of the funding for humanitarian efforts in Gaza through the UN. We expect to continue to do so. As you know, we are currently barred by statute from providing assistance through UNRWA, but that doesn’t mean we don’t support the work that they do and we don’t support other ways to get humanitarian assistance.
So I would say – and you’ve heard us say this before – that the attacks that the Israeli Government has leveled on UNRWA are incredibly unhelpful. They do nothing to advance the cause of getting humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza. So we’re going to continue to support the work that UNRWA does in the region, while also recognizing the need for reform – something that you have heard UNRWA and the UN also speak to.
QUESTION: Thank you. One last thing, if you could comment on – there’s a – about UAE hosting a secret meeting with Israel and the U.S. to – for the day after. Could you —
MR MILLER: Said, I think you were sitting right there when I commented on this yesterday. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: Yes, I know, but – I understand, but is there anything —
MR MILLER: Yeah. No, there’s – there’s nothing I have that I would add in – that is – goes further than what I said yesterday, which is yes, there was a meeting last week that Tom Sullivan, the counselor to the State Department, attended in the UAE. We were discussing a number of – they were discussing a number of the measures that we want to have in place to implement the various provisions of a ceasefire, and to set the conditions for the day after the conflict. And it’s part of a number of meetings that we have held and discussions that we’ve held that the Secretary kicked off in January and that the Secretary and others in the department have been leading for the past several months – primarily focused on security, governance, reconstruction. But of course as to the particulars of what was discussed, I will – we will keep that private, because it’s obviously quite delicate.
QUESTION: Would you – would you encourage, like, a UAE or an Arab peacekeeping force?
MR MILLER: So I’m not going to get into publicly exactly the discussions that we are having with our partners about how to best establish security on the ground in Gaza. Obviously, security is critical. You’ve heard the Secretary speak to this a number of times. In the absence of security on the ground in Gaza, you will see the reemergence of Hamas. And so it is critical – unless you’re going to have IDF occupation, which is something that we reject, something the international community objects – rejects, and something Israel says it doesn’t want to do. So it’s critical to develop a security solution for Gaza. We’re working with our partners in the region. We have made progress on it, but I don’t want to speak to the details of that publicly.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR MILLER: Yeah, Simon.
QUESTION: Just a couple of things to follow up on from Said’s questions. On UNRWA, didn’t you announce a ban of – before this congressional action, you announced that the administration would no longer be funding UNRWA, and as far as I know never lifted that —
MR MILLER: We announced a suspension of funding to UNRWA pending the investigation that UNRWA launched.
QUESTION: Yeah.
MR MILLER: That investigation is still going. But in the interim, before the time that investigation was finished, Congress enacted a ban.
QUESTION: So – but your pausing of aid basically precipitated this – like, it seemed to precipitate a situation where everybody pulled funding from UNRWA, and now you’re sort of criticizing other people for cutting off UNRWA, or criticizing the Israelis for cutting off UNRWA.
MR MILLER: No, the – that is –
QUESTION: But it feels like –
MR MILLER: That’s not – that is not what I criticized Israel for. I criticized Israel for – or I criticized the verbal attacks and threatening rhetoric and advancing legislation calling them a terrorist organization, which we do not agree with. Other – we’ve always made clear that other countries have to make their own decisions about funding, and we’ve seen other countries restore funding. We just simply don’t have the flexibility to make that decision because of the action that Congress took.
QUESTION: But the investigation and therefore the decision of this department on whether funding should go to UNRWA from the U.S. is still up in the air. Is there any expectation of when that will be taken?
MR MILLER: No, it is a – because it’s a – it’s a UN investigation, it’s not something that we are conducting, so it’s not something that we can put a timetable on. They’ve had two investigations ongoing; one of them finished, one has not.
But just to go back to the decision we made, we made a decision to suspend funding to UNRWA after there were allegations made about UNRWA employees having been involved in October 7th that UNRWA told us they found credible. And so when you had UNRWA telling us they found credible – we thought that was an appropriate step to do, to suspend funding, to fund humanitarian assistance through the – to the Palestinian people through other mechanisms while that investigation proceeded. That investigation is still ongoing.
Now, in the meantime, as I said, Congress came in and enacted this statutory restriction that bars us from funding UNRWA. But all the humanitarian assistance money that we would’ve provided to the – to Palestinians through UNRWA we are providing through other mechanisms, chiefly at the UN and then throughout – through other nongovernmental organizations.
QUESTION: Right. And also just on the question of the day-after talks that Said mentioned involving the UAE, some mention in the Washington Post reporting on that, of the U.S. playing a coordinating role with this international force that would be responsible for securing Gaza, would be invited in by the PA. These are obviously details I’m not sure if you’ll get into, but I wonder if you could sort of address the possibility of the U.S. playing that kind of coordinating role; and separately, whether U.S. security contractors could also be involved in them.
MR MILLER: I just don’t want to get into any of the details at all. I think it’s not appropriate at this time.
QUESTION: One more slightly separate thing. Just on the trip planning that you mentioned, I wonder now that you’re basically – the Secretary has decided to stay for an extra day to attend the Netanyahu meeting. I wonder what the message to ASEAN and to that region, Southeast Asia, is that you’re also – that means that – it was announced yesterday that you would be at – that he would be – or, sorry, earlier in the week, that he would be attending the funeral of the Vietnamese former leader. Now we’re not going to attend that funeral. The – it seems like the participation in ASEAN is much shorter than was previously planned. This is all happening because the prime minister of Israel has decided to come to the U.S.
How do you square that with sort of trying to tell Asian allies, partners in the region, in Southeast Asia – it is obviously a really important region – that the U.S. is sort of all-in on your region. But when a crisis happens in the Middle East, this is a meeting that’s run by the President – does the Secretary of State really need to be there?
MR MILLER: So I think our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific understand a few things. Number one, that this is the Secretary’s 18th trip to the region. It was his first trip as Secretary, continues to be a major priority for us, and we show that not just by our words but by the amount of time he’s spent in the region. And as I said, it’s his 18th trip. I think they understand that he will be visiting all of the countries that we announced that he’s visiting. He will still travel to Laos, to Vietnam, to Japan, to Singapore, to the Philippines, to Mongolia. And I think that demonstrates our commitment, as do the investments that we’ve made in the region, as do the partnerships that we have announced in the region.
I think people understand that there was a meeting he had planned to attend, and the timing of the meeting got shifted due to something that’s – could not be foreseen – that’s the President getting COVID. And I think they understand that that happens. It happens to a number of foreign leaders, where there are unforeseen events at home that mandate a slight shift in the schedule. But we will still be there attending the meetings that we intended to and still traveling to Vietnam to pay our respects, not on the day of the funeral but the day after, to meet with senior government officials. And I think our allies and partners quite —
QUESTION: Yeah.
MR MILLER: I think certainly understand the importance we’ve placed on the region and understand that we have the ability to do more than one thing at a time.
QUESTION: So I think that obviously the Secretary’s travel has been to the region a lot. But the President did miss the ASEAN leaders summit last year. That will also be in November this year. Is there – did you have anything you can tell us on how the U.S. will be represented at that one? Obviously, the ministerial this week, but the leaders summit (inaudible).
MR MILLER: The summit? No, I can’t. I would let the White House speak to the President’s participation. Obviously, that’s still, I think, a couple of months away. But as I said, the overall presence of the U.S. in the region – and I think if you look at what we said at the outset of this administration how we planned to make a major investment of time, of resources, of energy and capacity, in the Indo-Pacific, we have borne that out through our actions the past three and a half years, and we intend to continue to do that for the next six months.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Thanks, Matt. We’ve been talking about UNRWA, and America has very – it doesn’t have anybody on the ground in Gaza. I just wondered if you had any comment about the rising cases of polio, a disease that’s virtually almost eradicated from the rest of the world, rising in Gaza, and also hepatitis A. Is there any – we’ve seen American doctors have gone in there to volunteer. We’ve obviously got lots of aid organizations. Is there anything else that the United States can do to assist with the reducing the risk of disease rising over the next few months?
MR MILLER: Yeah.
QUESTION: Feels like it’s hanging a lot on, like, waiting for the ceasefire deal, but —
MR MILLER: So obviously, a ceasefire deal would go a long way towards alleviating suffering because it would make it much easier to get humanitarian assistance in, get it moving around Gaza, make it much easier for people to move around Gaza free from the threat of harm. But we have not been waiting for a ceasefire deal to try to address the spread of infectious disease and to address the potential spread of infectious disease before we even saw these reports.
Our – our coordinator for Middle East humanitarian issues, Lise Grande, has been incredibly focused on this. She has worked to try and get disinfectant products and cleaning products and vaccinations, vaccination supplies into Gaza. There has been, as you might imagine, right, a decrease in vaccinations since October 7th. You imagine how hard it is when people are not in their homes and are not going to school, how hard it is to continue with vaccination programs. So we have been working to try to get more vaccines for polio and other diseases into Gaza as well as working on just basic sanitary supplies to try to deal with the very unsafe conditions that people are living in.
So there’s a lot of work that we have been doing with the UN, something that the Secretary discussed with Sigrid Kaag when they spoke two days ago. So no, we have not been waiting for a ceasefire. Obviously, a ceasefire helps alleviate – helps make easier all of the problems that are plaguing Gaza right now. But we have been working on addressing – on addressing the risks for potential disease for some time, even before we saw these reports.
QUESTION: And presumably those supplies are suffering from the same problems of not being able to move around inside Gaza?
MR MILLER: It – yeah, it – everything suffers from the – from the same kind of threats to lawlessness that make it very difficult to move convoys from Kerem Shalom into the – to places in southern Gaza or other – moving around northern Gaza.
QUESTION: And now with the pier being out of operation, is that – are air drops continuing at all with the U.S., or is that —
MR MILLER: I’m not aware of any, but I would defer to the Pentagon to speak to that.
Yeah, Janne.
QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. Two questions. American families victimized by Hamas filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court demanding $1 billion in compensation from North Korea. The argument is that this is because the weapons used by Hamas were provided by North Korea. What is your assessment on that? Is there any reaction from North Korea on this?
MR MILLER: So as is – as is the case whenever I get asked about litigation matters, I’m going to defer to my colleagues at the Department of Justice to speak to that.
QUESTION: Thank you. And now another one: Following the Russian vice minister of defense visit to North Korea recently, Belarus foreign minister visited North Korea yesterday. They discussed military cooperation and arms trading. What effect do you think this will have on the war in Ukraine?
MR MILLER: So I don’t have an assessment with respect to this particular visit, but as you know, we’ve been incredibly concerned about deepening security cooperation between Russia and North Korea. And if we saw weapons flowing from North Korea to any other country or from any other country to North Korea, that’s something we would also be equally concerned about.
QUESTION: You also – China can mediate to peace talk between Russia and Ukraine because Wang Yi, Chinese foreign minister, invited (inaudible) Ukraine foreign ministers yesterday. So how do you see this?
MR MILLER: Yeah. So I saw the statement that the Chinese foreign ministry put out about those talks with Foreign Minister Kuleba, and I also saw the statement that the Ukrainian foreign ministry put out about it, which said that nothing has changed in their position, that they have always been ready for negotiations. They have always been ready for negotiations to reach a just and lasting peace, but that Vladimir Putin to date has shown no change to his war aims and has shown no real willingness for negotiation. So our take on this continues to be what it has been for some time, which is that when it comes to diplomacy, nothing about Ukraine, without Ukraine.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR MILLER: Alex.
QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. Staying on topic, Russian drones reportedly fell on Romanian territory last night as they were – they say they were attacking Odesa. Romania had to fly F-16s in response. How much do you know about it, and what’s your response?
MR MILLER: So my understanding is that the Government of Romania is conducting an investigation into this matter. We have full confidence in that investigation into the explosion near their border with Ukraine, and we commend them for the professional and deliberate manner in which they are conducting it. We will continue to assess and share any new information as it becomes available to us.
QUESTION: So are you guys involved in the assessment process?
MR MILLER: No, it’s not an investigation being conducted by us. It’s an investigation being conducted by Romanian authorities. Obviously, it’s on their soil. If they asked us for any cooperation, of course we would be willing to do that, but it’s an investigation being carried out by them.
QUESTION: Thank you. Moving to Iran, yesterday marked 90 days since the MAHSA Act became the law of the land because we’re supposed to provide with a report, an unclassified report, determining those who were supposed to be sanctioned in Iranian leadership. As far as we know, there hasn’t been any determination. Is there any – an update, possibly?
MR MILLER: Let me take that back and get you an answer.
QUESTION: Yeah. On Georgia, we heard from the State Department officials yesterday on the Hill. They were talking about some measures that they are planning to take, but they also said that it remains – I’m quoting – it remains our hope that Georgian leadership will reconsider their actions, sentiment that I also heard from this podium a couple of weeks ago. We talk about same regime that is, like, galloping away from the European values. They are talk about even – they’re waiting you out, according to their latest statements, and they are talking about Trump administration would come in and everything will become bright for us. They are blacklisting Georgians fighting in Ukraine. What gives you hope that they are open to reconsidering their position?
MR MILLER: So if you’ve looked at the actions that we’ve taken, we have made clear that we are going to judge the Georgian Government based on their policies, and that our policies will depend on the actions that they take. And so you saw the Secretary announce a review of our relationship with Georgia. You saw him oppose initial restrictions, initial sanctions on officials in Georgia. That review with Georgia continues.
Now, we are always hopeful that any country that starts to backslide on a path towards – backslide on democratic measures or backslides on European-Atlantic integration, we’re always hopeful that they will change course, especially when you see the people of that country saying that they want to change course. But at the same time that we hope that they will make a change, we develop our policies around the very real contingency that they might not, and that’s what you’ve seen us doing.
QUESTION: And speaking of the actions that you have taken so far, is there any consideration in this building to shift the strategy in terms of naming the names that come with sanctions? The Georgian people saw that you did host their foreign minister here. You hosted their spy chief here, some police officers who actually were involved in their cracking down on opposition leaders. They were actually part of 1st of July event in Tbilisi. So maybe – is there any consideration to shift that policy to give a clear message?
MR MILLER: To naming names from the visa restrictions that we have imposed, for example? We’re – it’s not a question of strategy, it’s a question of law, and we are by law not allowed to name – to release the names of people on whom we’ve imposed visa restrictions.
QUESTION: You did name four prosecute – four prosecutors last year when they were —
MR MILLER: It depends on what you’re talking about. The recent restrictions that we have imposed have been visa restrictions, and under United States law we are not allowed to name those people on whom we impose those restrictions.
QUESTION: Is it fair for us to expect a second tranche soon?
MR MILLER: I don’t – as always, I don’t have any announcements about any measures before we impose them.
QUESTION: Didn’t you name an Israeli spy on visa restrictions?
MR MILLER: We did, and if you look back at the – I discussed this extensively the day that we announced that. It was because that individual was sanctioned under a different law. He was sanctioned under the law – under the State Department authorization – or I think it’s the State Department Appropriations Act, which allows us to name individuals. But when we sanction people, when we impose visa restrictions under the authority given to us under the Immigration and Nationality Act, we are required to keep those names confidential. So it depends. There are different – there are different – there are different sanctions authorities and different provisions of different law —
QUESTION: (Off-mike.)
MR MILLER: — and they give us different – we are – with respect to the visa restrictions contained in the Immigration and Nationality Act, which are the relevant ones here, we are barred from doing so.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR MILLER: Yeah.
QUESTION: Okay, I have one on Iran. CBS has reporting that yesterday there was a rare Principals Committee meeting at the White House with cabinet secretaries and President Biden, and that there seems to be concern about possible actions that Iran or proxies could take while there’s a little bit of transitional – well, not a transitional phase but, like, whilst there’s a lot going on domestically in the U.S. And then you’ve also got an Iranian president who has said that he’s more open to talking to the West, and you guys are always saying that diplomacy is what you see as the best option moving forwards. Has there been any outreach or any – anything towards the new leadership in Iran to consider reopening any kind of talks on the nuclear front, or anything you can tell us?
MR MILLER: So it is true that we have always seen diplomacy as the best way to achieve a sustainable, long-lasting solution to Iran’s nuclear program. But we have made clear that, one way or another, we are never going to allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.
When it comes to diplomacy – when it comes to talks, I think we’re a long way from anything that – like that right now given the nuclear escalations that Iran has made over the past several months, given its failure to cooperate with the IAEA. And also, when you look at the new Iranian president, ultimately it’s clear that the authority for these matters lies with the supreme leader; and because of that, we don’t – we don’t judge any change in their behavior likely at this time.
QUESTION: But it’s always laid with the supreme leader, even when U.S. and Iran were talking. So is now not a good opportunity to maybe – or is it just that Iran is just not a priority right now?
MR MILLER: So no, it very much is a priority. But given the actions that we have seen Iran take, the first thing that ought to happen is for Iran to stop its escalation and start cooperating with the IAEA.
I also want to just say something broad and general about the first part of your question, without confirming any kind of meeting that took place, which I would never do. I would certainly hope that any adversaries around the world who think that the United States has in any way taken its eye off the ball because of the announcement by the President – they should know that they are sorely wrong in that judgment, if that is indeed what they are thinking. The President remains focused on our national security priorities. The Secretary of State and the entire national security team remain focused on them. It’s one of the things the President said to the Secretary when he talked to him on Sunday after his announcement, which is, I want you all focused on the objectives that we have laid out, and I want you to focus on achieving them over the next six months.
Yeah.
QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. I have three questions today. One question on Iraqi and U.S. security dialogue, which concluded yesterday. I know the Pentagon is the mainstream of that discussions, but the State Department delegates were there and they attended the meetings. One question that the Iraqi people want to have an answer from the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Government, and the U.S. Pentagon is: What’s your position, what’s your idea about having a timeline, having a deadline for the U.S. withdrawal in Iraq, which the Iraqi delegation came here with the idea for at least having a deadline or having a timeline for that withdrawal. But we didn’t see anything from the joint statement that just published by Pentagon. Do you have anything exactly on that?
MR MILLER: So – so let me just say, so the meetings that were happening the last few days here in D.C. are the – through the joint security cooperation dialogue that we have established with Iraq. The question about the United States military presence in Iraq is something that we are discussing separately with them through the Higher Military Commission. That is an ongoing discussion with them. And as I said yesterday when I got a similar question, it is a process that we have set up with the Government of Iraq to determine the coalition’s military mission, how it will transition based on the following factors: threat from ISIS, operational and environmental requirements, and capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces. So those are discussions that are happening in a separate channel from the one that met here in Washington the last couple of days.
QUESTION: Are the discussions still ongoing?
MR MILLER: They are.
QUESTION: Yeah? Okay. And two more questions on Rojava, northeast Syria. I’m wondering if you have changed your position about the election in northeast Syria, which was rescheduled to be held in August. And you were – objected to that election. Have you changed your position on that election?
MR MILLER: I don’t have any new position to announce, no.
Go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you, Matt. You declared Bangladesh a Level 4 most danger zone for traveling. Mass atrocity are occurring under the regime’s shoot-on-sight order, with the death toll surpassing 200. Students are carrying out peaceful protests. What specific steps is the U.S. going to take to rescue the innocent student and the nation from the brutal regime?
MR MILLER: So first of all, again, we have made clear our concerns about the ongoing security situation in Bangladesh. We announced the other day that we are exploring all options to ensure the safety of our personnel in Dhaka. We authorized the voluntary departure of nonemergency personnel and family members at the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka. The embassy does remain open to provide consular and other services to United States citizens who are in Bangladesh. And with respect to the safety and security of any American citizens, obviously that is our first priority and we encourage any U.S. citizen who is worried about their safety and security, has concerns, anything they want to discuss, to contact our embassy.
QUESTION: Is the U.S. embassy full operation in Dhaka?
MR MILLER: It is operational.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR MILLER: Yeah.
QUESTION: Thank you. The Biden administration has recommended more than $100 million for Pakistan to strengthen democracy and fight terrorism. Could you provide some details, please?
MR MILLER: Some details of the – sorry, I thought – usually you have a longer question, so I thought there was a —
QUESTION: Oh, the – I’m sorry. I can repeat the question.
MR MILLER: So I would just say – I’m not – for exact details I can follow up with you at more length, but the – we did just make a budget request to Congress to – for 100 million – $101 million dollars to Pakistan to strengthen democracy and fight terrorism. We would use that for the types of programs to strengthen democracy and civil society, to counter terrorism and extremism, to support economic reforms and debt management. We have made similar budget requests and similar budget authority – received similar budget authority from Congress in the past and made – and invested, used the funds that were appropriated by Congress to invest in our partnership with Pakistan. And we would use funds, should they be appropriated by Congress, to invest in similar programs as we have in this fiscal year and in previous ones.
QUESTION: Sir, Indian media is reporting that in few states, BJP government is forcing Muslim owners of restaurants to display their Muslim names at their eateries, but due to growing hate against Muslims, they fear it will bring more problems for them. What are your thoughts when you see such kind of action by any government?
MR MILLER: So we have seen those reports. We have also seen the reports that the Indian supreme court on July 22nd issued an interim stay on the implementation of those rules, so they’re not actually in effect now. Speaking generally, we are, as we always say, committed to promoting and respecting universal – promoting and protecting, I should say, universal respect for the right of freedom of religion and belief for all anywhere in the world, and we have engaged with our Indian counterparts on the importance of equal treatment for members of all religious communities.
QUESTION: Sir, U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom once again urged Biden administration to list India as a country of concern. This request has been ongoing for the past three years. According to several U.S. commissioners, their visas have been denied by Indian high commission in D.C. They wanted to go there to monitor the ground realities on religious freedom. What are your thoughts on that?
MR MILLER: So I’m not going to speak to a specific visa decision. I’m not aware of the facts of those specific things, but when it comes to religious freedom designations, that is a process that we take seriously, and we announce the conclusions every year in our annual report.
Go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. My colleague just asked you about the 101 million you have announced – requested the Congress for Pakistan, for democracy. But at the same time, the Congressman Brad Sherman has tweeted and mentioned about his meeting with Under Secretary Donald Lu once again to go ahead to tell the ambassador in Pakistan to go and meet Imran Khan. Hundred and one million democracy funds, but the biggest leader in the country is languishing in jail for one year, and the U.S. ambassador is not meeting him despite the Congress telling him. How do you see this?
MR MILLER: How do I see it? So first of all, Donald Lu comes up more in this briefing that any assistant secretary in the building. I don’t know how many times I’ve gotten questions about him.
I’m not aware – you said it was a tweet from Brad Sherman? Haven’t seen this tweet, so I can’t respond to it. I would say – as you know, because you and I have discussed this issue on a number of occasions – internal political matters in Pakistan are something that we do not take a position on. We urge respect for democracy, respect for human rights, and treatment of all political parties equally.
QUESTION: Okay. My – just one more. Although I don’t agree with the – I do not think that Congress is going to approve your request while – the way democracy is being treated under this administration, but my second question is about first time now a girls’ school is blown up in North Waziristan, the tribal areas that I belong to as well. So I have mentioned to you that Taliban is expansion – is expanding in that region, and I know the President and this administration has been under tremendous work since Ukraine war, now Gaza, but is there any, like, serious concentration being paid to this whole terrorism spread? Like, this is the same time, by the way, when Malala was shot and, like, so that whole thing about girls’ education has now passed from Afghanistan and has jumped into Pakistan as well.
MR MILLER: So you started your question referring to the – to our administration requesting additional funds to fight terrorism in Pakistan and then ended it by questioning our commitment to fighting terrorism in Pakistan. And I think – hold on, I —
QUESTION: No, democracy. Democracy, sir.
MR MILLER: I just – I think I would just suggest that in this case the question answers itself.
Go ahead.
QUESTION: Thank you. Situation about Bangladesh, already last seven days we are talking here. Once Bangladesh was a safe haven for terrorist organization like JMB, Harkat ul Jihad. With the help of U.S. Government, the Bangladesh Government made impressive progress in countering terrorism with the support of USA, of course, I told. But the recent days, huge number of militant element have destroyed a significant, large-scale government and public properties, including institute, and brutally killed not only innocent people but also law enforcement agencies with deliberate plan to topple the current government. One of the most concerning issue for USA and Bangladesh – also for Indo-Pacific zone – that they have attacked one of the major prison and released nine convicted leader of their militant outfit who were the think tank and brain of the terrorist activities in Bangladesh.
Given the recent violent activities, where militant element and anti-government political parties have caused significant destruction – and does the State Department believe this action will escalate terrorism in Bangladesh? And how does the U.S. plan to support again the Bangladesh Government for the effort to maintain stability and counter these terrorist threats in Bangladesh?
MR MILLER: So let me try to make this clear, because I’ve said it the last couple days: We condemn all recent acts of violence in Bangladesh. We support the freedom of peaceful assembly. We condemn violence against those who are exercising their peaceful right to assembly. And we condemn violence on behalf of any protester who has turned their peaceful exercises simply into an excuse for violence. We condemn violence in all cases.
QUESTION: Of course.
MR MILLER: We want the people of Bangladesh to be able to exercise their fundamental freedoms the same way we want people all over the world to do – to be able to exercise their fundamental freedoms. So we want to – we continue to urge both protesters, private citizens, and the government to refrain from violence.
QUESTION: Any comment on that portion released of nine convicted leaders of militant outfit? Because these are not —
MR MILLER: I don’t —
QUESTION: These are not regular —
MR MILLER: I don’t have a specific comment on that.
QUESTION: All right. Thank you.
MR MILLER: And with that, I think – do you have one – no. I think we’ll wrap for today. Thanks everyone.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:55 p.m.)
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