The Washington Post - 11.03.2020

A10 eZ su the washington post.wednesday, march 11 , 2020

BY DAN LAMOTHE

Details of the effort to recover
the remains of two elite Marine
Raiders killed in Iraq came into
better focus Tuesday, with a top
U. S. general saying unforgiving
mountain terrain and concern
for t he safety o f other U. S. service
members dragged the mission
out for more than six hours.
Marine Gen. Kenneth “Frank”
McKenzie Jr., the chief of U.S.
Central Command, told the House
Armed Services Committee that
commanders monitored the oper-
ation on Sunday hour by hour and
did everything they could in a
challenging environment.

Four other Americans were

wounded in the operation.

“It’s some of the worst terrain

in the world,” McKenzie said.

“There’s no way to do it faster

than we did it.”

The Marine Corps identified

the fallen Americans on Tuesday

as Capt. Moises A. Navas of

Germantown, Md., and Gunnery

Sgt. Diego D. Pongo of Simi

Valley, Calif.

Navas was a Special Opera-

tions officer, and Pongo was a

critical skills operator. The two

men, both 34, were assigned to

2nd Marine Raider Battalion, a

Special Operations force with

headquarters at Camp Lejeune,

N.C.

The deaths, the first in combat

for the U. S. military in Iraq since

August, were announced as the

tightknit Marine Raider force

marked the fifth anniversary of a

helicopter crash off the coast of

Florida that killed seven Raiders

and four Louisiana National

Guardsmen.

The Marines were killed dur-

ing an operation with Iraqi forc-

es on an Islamic State hideout in

the Qara Chokh Mountains near

Mahkmour, about 45 miles out-

side the city of Irbil. Islamic State

fighters were entrenched in a

tunnel complex, U.S. military

officials said.

Army Col. Myles Caggins, a

U. S. military spokesman in Iraq,

said t he caves in the mountains

hide both fighters and weapons

caches. The militants who en-

gaged the Marines on Sunday

had both small arms and explo-

sives. The coalition estimates

about 15 to 25 of them were

killed, Caggins said.

At the Pentagon, a senior U.S.

military official, Navy Rear Adm.

William D. Byrne Jr., told report-

ers the terrain was “vertical.”

“That in itself made it ex-

tremely difficult,” he said. “It was

a high-threat environment. We

knew that going in, and we took

the appropriate precautions go-

ing into a high-threat environ-

ment.”

Byrne said the military is re-

viewing the incident, as the New

York Times reported Monday

night.

The Times also reported that

the forces called in to recover the

Marines included some mem-

bers of the elite Delta Force, a

likely indication of the difficulty

of the mission.

A Marine Raider who knew

Navas and Pongo, speaking on

the condition of anonymity be-

cause of the sensitivity of their

operations, said that when he

deployed to Iraq a few years ago,

the rough region of the firefight

on Sunday was a known Islamic

State hotbed.

U. S. forces observing the re-

gion could see electronic genera-

tors outside the mouths of caves

with wires running inside, pre-

sumably providing electricity,

the Raider said.

The Marine added that both

men were well known to be good

fathers, and he often saw Navas

at school events for their chil-

dren in North Carolina. Pongo

regularly finished first in indi-

vidual training events, the Ma-

rine added.

“These guys were both natu-

ral-born leaders,” he said.

[email protected]

Pentagon: Difficult terrain slowed recovery of remains of 2 Marines in Iraq

BY KAREN DEYOUNG

AND SUSANNAH GEORGE

Afghan President Ashraf
Ghani said Tuesday that his gov-
ernment would release an initial
1,500 Ta liban prisoners, at the
rate of 100 per day beginning
Saturday, after pressure from the
United States to get delayed
peace talks underway.
In a decree, Ghani said an
additional 500 will be released
every two weeks until the total
reaches 5,000, as agreed in a
U.S.-Taliban deal signed late last
month, “provided that the level of
violence is dramatically re-
duced.” Released prisoners will
have to sign a document pledging
not to return to the battlefield.
U.S. negotiator Zalmay Khal-
ilzad, posting on Twitter about
the decree, said the freed Ta liban
members would include those on
a list the insurgents presented
Tuesday to the United States.
Under the U.S. deal, t he Ta liban is
to release up to 1,000 Afghan
prisoners.
Under the U.S.-Taliban agree-
ment, the releases were to pre-
cede the start of direct peace
negotiations between the Ta liban
and the government, which were
scheduled to begin Tuesday. But
the day passed with no talks after
Ghani, whose government was
not part of the U.S.-Taliban deal,
refused that condition.
The decree was finally issued
after Khalilzad urged all sides to
comply. On Twitter, he called on
them to sit down together in
Doha, Qatar — where more than a
year of U.S.-Ta liban negotiations,
in which the government did not
participate, hashed out last
month’s deal — to negotiate final
details of the prisoner releases.
Beyond the prisoner disagree-
ment, Ghani has still not an-
nounced the composition of the
government negotiating team
that is supposed to meet with the
Ta liban. He was sworn in for a
new presidential term Monday
despite a challenge to his authori-
ty from Abdullah Abdullah, a
political rival who has also
claimed victory in September’s
election.
Abdullah announced the for-
mation of his own government,
even as Ghani said he would form
a cabinet within the next two
weeks.
Late Tuesday, t he State Depart-
ment issued a statement saying
that “while preparations for in-

tra-Afghan negotiations are un-

derway,” they had been delayed

by the “Presidential electoral cri-

sis.” Ghani, it said, “has told us he

is consulting” with Abdullah and

others “and will announce an

inclusive team in the coming few

days.”

Under the U.S.-Taliban deal,

the United States agreed to with-

draw about a third of its 12,

military forces in Afghanistan

within 135 days of the signing, a

process the U.S. command in

Kabul announced Monday had

begun. I f the Ta liban complies

with its own obligations — not to

attack U.S. or NATO troops and

break ties with terrorist organiza-

tions such as al-Qaeda — the rest

of the U.S. and alliance force is to

withdraw by May of next year.

U.S. officials have said that

their withdrawal is “conditions-

based” and includes an ongoing

reduction of violence against for-

eign and Afghan forces. But the

agreement does not specify an

ongoing reduction in violence

against Afghans, and Ta liban

fighters have continued to attack

Afghan security forces.

Statements by both Khalilzad

and the State Department called

the current level of violence unac-

ceptable. “We expect the Ta liban

to adhere to its commitments to

reduce violence in order to allow

for the release of prisoners to be

implemented smoothly and the

peace process to succeed,” Khal-

ilzad tweeted.

Speaking to members of the

House Armed Services Commit-

tee on Tuesday, Marine Gen. Ken-

neth “Frank” McKenzie Jr., the

head of U.S. Central Command,

reiterated that withdrawals be-

yond the initial 135 days would

depend on whether the Ta liban

lived up to what he said were

requirements in the agreement

and that no plans had yet been

made for further force reduc-

tions.

Speaking alongside McKenzie,

Katie Wheelbarger, a senior Pen-

tagon policy official, described

the 14-month timeline as “aspira-

tional.”

McKenzie expressed skepti-

cism about whether the Ta liban

would follow through with com-

mitments to break with al-Qaeda

and said his recommendations

about future troop reductions

would be linked to its compli-

ance.

“We don’t need to like them,”

McKenzie said. “We need to ob-

serve what they do.”

The general said that violence

had fallen in the country but that

lower-level attacks directed at

Afghan forces created concerns

about whether the Ta liban would

be a partner for peace.

Anticipating a possible full

withdrawal from Afghanistan,

McKenzie said the United States

was looking at “over the horizon”

options that would allow for cer-

tain counterterrorism activities

that would be conducted from

outside Afghanistan. “A nd none

of them are particularly good,” he

said.

Such an approach would be

similar to what the Pentagon has

adopted in recent years in places

such as Libya, involving the use of

surveillance and intelligence

combined with occasional air-

strikes, in coordination with local

authorities.

But that kind of remote cam-

paign has its drawbacks, includ-

ing more limited visibility into

militant activity.

At the Pentagon, spokesman

Jonathan Rath Hoffman defend-

ed the Trump administration’s

decision to withhold information

contained in classified annexes to

the U.S.-Taliban deal, which law-

makers who have read them say

detail the military withdrawal.

But Hoffman said there were

“legitimate reasons” to keep

them out of the public domain,

including “operationally sensi-

tive information regarding troop

movements... that may be of

interest to ISIS and al-Qaeda and

other entities operating in Af-

ghanistan.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

george reported from herat,

afghanistan. haq nawaz khan in

peshawar, pakistan, and missy ryan

and dan lamothe in Washington

contributed to this report.

Afghan president commits to freeing Taliban prisoners

ghulamullah habibi/epa-efe/shutterstock

Afghan authorities in Jalalabad escort a group of suspected militants who were arrested and accused of planning attacks on government and security forces. Under the U.S.-

Taliban deal, the United States agreed to withdraw about a third of its 12,000 military forces in Afghanistan within 135 days of the pact’s signing.

Move comes after

U.S. pressure to begin

delayed peace talks

“We don’t need

to like them.

We need

to observe

w hat they do.”

Marine Gen.

Kenneth “Frank”

McKenzie Jr.,

referring to the taliban

vada Center, Russia’s lone inde-

pendent pollster, said the depreci-

ation of the ruble, coupled with

concern about a coronavirus out-

break that is spreading around

the world, “will undoubtedly af-

fect the attitude of the Russian

population to Putin and to the

Russian government in general”

and that an “upcoming sharp rise

in consumer prices, a jump in

inflation and a rise in the cost of

living will increase the degree of

discontent.”

In his address to parliament on

Tuesday, Putin said he was “abso-

lutely positive” Russia “will go

through this period in a com-

mendable manner.” He also said

the country has “ had enough rev-

olutions.”

He concluded: ‘I’m sure that

together, we will do many more

great things, at least until 2024.

Then, w e will see.”

[email protected]

alexander nemenov/agence france-presse/getty images

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses Russia’s lower house

of parliament on Tuesday as it considers constitutional changes.

BY ISABELLE KHURSHUDYAN

MOSCOW — Russia’s parliament
offered a path Tuesday for Presi-
dent Vladi mir Putin to stay in
power for an additional 12 years
after his term expires in 2024,
approving an amendment that
would reset his presidential
terms.
The plan, floated and support-
ed by Putin’s United Russia party,
is part of a sweeping rewrite of
Russia’s constitution that many
view as a way for Putin to retain
control of Russia well into the
next decade.
The term-limit proposal was
met with applause when it was
introduced by State Duma deputy
Valentina Te reshkova, beloved na-
tionally as the first woman in
space. The plan would reset the
current term limits t o zero, mean-

ing Putin could run twice more for

the presidency, once a restruc-

tured c onstitution i s adopted.

“I propose that we either lift the

restriction o n the number o f pres-

idential terms or indicate in an

article of this bill that the incum-

bent president, just like any other

citizen, has the right to run for

president after the updated con-

stitution takes effect,” Tereshko-

va s aid.

Parliament then adjourned for

90 minutes to phone Putin and

ask for his thoughts. That p rompt-

ed him to make a rare in-person

appearance.

He said he was against elimi-

nating presidential term limits al-

together. However, if Russia’s

Constitutional Court says that re-

setting term limits is legal, that

amendment and other proposed

constitutional changes can be ap-

proved in a nationwide vote on

April 22.

Putin, 67, has been in power for

20 years. He first proposed the

constitutional changes in his Jan-

uary address to parliament, in-

cluding limiting presidential

terms t o two.

“I am actually positive that a

strong presidential vertical is ab-

solutely necessary for our coun-

try,” h e said Tuesday.

“I am sure a time will come

when supreme presidential pow-

er in Russia will not be, so to

speak, personalized so much and

will not be centered on one partic-

ular person,” Putin added.

When the constitutional

changes were proposed in Janu-

ary, analysts speculated that they

could be an avenue for Putin to

retain influence past his current

presidential term. One of his sug-

gestions was “enshrining” the

State Council, which advises the

president, in the constitution and

giving it vague and broad power,

including say in foreign policy.

That led some to believe Putin’s

post-2024 plan was to head that

body.

But in a recent visit to the

factory city of Ivanovo, roughly

150 miles from Moscow, Putin re-

jected that notion.

“There are suggestions to give

the State Council some special

powers and [for me to] become

the head of that State Council.

What will it mean? It will amount

to the situation of diarchy in our

country. Such a situation is abso-

lutely fatal for Russia,” Putin said

Friday.

He reiterated that point Tues-

day: “Vesting other authorities,

centers of authority, such as the

Security Council or the State

Council, particularly, which are

not directly elected by the people,

with any serious p owers related to

the presidency, in my opinion,

would be wrong and u nacceptable

and, furthermore, dangerous.”

The proposed term-limit

amendment comes a day after the

value of the Russian ruble plum-

meted to its lowest level in more

than four years, responding to a

dramatic drop in oil prices after

the collapse of Russia’s coopera-

tive agreement with t he Organiza-

tion of the Petroleum Exporting

Countries.

Tuesday’s proposal “will calm

everyone down,” Valentina Matvi-

yenko, speaker of the upper house

of parliament, told reporters in

comments broadcast on state-run

television.

Lev Gudkov, director of the Le-

Putin could keep power w ell into n ext decade

Proposal in parliament

would l et the Russian

president run twice more