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Q: Mr. Secretary, on Yemen, is there anything that you are asking some of the countries in the region to do? Is it funding? Is it training? And what more can -- specifically can the U.S. do there other than just spend more money?
SEC. GATES: Well, I think that as in -- and I kind of hinted at this at the embassy yesterday in Kabul, the key is getting in there before there's a crisis with economic assistance, with building partnership capacity. And I think that both the UAE and Oman are engaged in these activities, these development projects. Other countries are as well. The United States has some efforts ongoing in this respect, particularly in building partnership capacity. So I think it's that kind of thing. And I actually think that there are a number of countries that are trying to help.
MR. GEOFF MORRELL (Pentagon Press Secretary): We have time for one or two more.
Q: WikiLeaks -- now that WikiLeaks has come out with -- has made public some of the U.S. military action there, can you be more open and do you feel freer rein to do more of that now that it's out in the open?
SEC. GATES: Well, I never talk about military operations. I think we can be very open about the economic assistance and development work that we're doing there.
(Cross talk.)
MR. MORRELL: The last two.
Q: There was this Taliban impostor incident and then occasionally we've heard --
SEC. GATES: Sorry?
Q: There was this whole incident with the Taliban impostor came to -- and also there's so much speculation and discussion -- sorry -- about reconciliation and the state of it. Is there a danger that the U.S. or the Afghan government will look too eager for peace talks or some kind of reconciliation talks? And second of all, does that impostor incident suggest a problem generally that's been pointed out before that our intelligence picture is flawed, that we don't really understand what we need to understand about Afghanistan?
SEC. GATES: Well, I think we have a pretty good idea. It's not perfect by any means. I actually think that being open about reconciliation is different than looking eager. And as long as we have agreed criteria for what reconciliation means and stick to those criteria, I'm not worried about looking too eager. |
