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From the SitRoom to the E-Ring, the inside scoop on defense, national security and foreign policy. | | | | | |  | | By Alexander Ward and Quint Forgey | | 
Zarmina Kakar, a women's rights activist, cries during an Aug. 13 interview with The Associated Press in Kabul while recalling a time in 1996 when her mother was whipped by a Taliban fighter for revealing her face in public for a couple of minutes. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP Photo | With help from Daniel Lippman Welcome to National Security Daily, POLITICO’s newsletter on the global events roiling Washington and keeping the administration up at night. I’m Alex Ward, your guide to what’s happening inside the Pentagon, the NSC and D.C.’s foreign policy machine. National Security Daily arrives in your inbox Monday through Friday by 4 p.m.; subscribe here. Aim your tips and comments at award@politico.com and qforgey@politico.com. Follow us on Twitter at @alexbward and @QuintForgey. On CNN on Tuesday, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD said the Biden administration expects the Taliban “to respect women’s rights” and “to be respectful of humanitarian law.” That’s all well and good, but NatSec Daily has one question: Can the U.S. compel the Taliban to heed those words? Experts provided us with different answers, and though the one throughline was that the United States does have tools it can use, they may not be that impactful. As the CNA think tank’s JONATHAN SCHRODEN put it: “I would say the U.S. still has levers, in the form of carrots. … The question of how much leverage it can generate with them has been and remains a subject of great debate.” So what are some of those levers? Schroden noted the Biden administration could work with like-minded allies to withhold economic aid or even offer the Taliban some sanctions relief. Those were moves national security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN hinted at Tuesday during a White House news briefing. “I am not going to go into the full panoply of things that we can do, but there are obviously issues related to sanctions, to marshalling international condemnation and isolation, and other steps, as well,” he said. “I want to be able to have our team communicate directly to the Taliban both what the costs and disincentives are for certain types of action, and what our expectations are. That is a conversation that we will intend to have, and I think many other countries — including like-minded allies and partners — will be having that, as well.” LAUREL MILLER, formerly the top U.S. envoy for Afghanistan during the Obama administration, said President JOE BIDEN could dangle the prospect of officially recognizing the Taliban as the leaders of Afghanistan — giving them the international legitimacy some experts believe they crave. While no one expects the Taliban to turn into a moderate government, some analysts hold out hope that they might soften at least a little bit in return for that recognition. U.S. officials and lawmakers told NatSec Daily that it is too early for the recognition discussion, noting that it’s still all hands on deck inside the administration to evacuate thousands of Afghans and Americans currently in danger in Afghanistan. The time for those talks will come, but not for a while, they asserted. In the meantime, ADAM WEINSTEIN , who served as a Marine in Afghanistan and is now a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, thinks that just staying diplomatically engaged with the Taliban could help. "Diplomatic outreach is not an endorsement of the Taliban, but a recognition there’s still 37 million Afghans," he told NatSec Daily. The United States should send money to Afghan media outlets who can hold Taliban officials accountable, Weinstein said. “Afghan media deserves continued funding from the world and private donors.” No one we spoke to was optimistic that the Taliban will completely change its ways, even with U.S. pressure and engagement. The militants already have a track record in governing Afghanistan, and it’s a brutal one. The group has changed in some ways, but it’s still the same in most aspects. Even so, the United States should still do what it can to pull concessions out of the Taliban. “At this point, the U.S. has both an obligation to try those levers and no real alternative to them,” Schroden told NatSec Daily. | | | EUROPEAN LEADERS QUESTION NATO AFTER AFGHANISTAN: For days, European officials have expressed anger at Biden over his mishandling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. But now a growing number of leaders across the Atlantic are aiming their ire at another target: NATO. “What does it say about us as a country, what does it say about NATO, if we are entirely dependent on a unilateral action taken by the United States?” former British Prime Minister THERESA MAY said in Parliament Wednesday morning. ARMIN LASCHET, a favorite to become the next German chancellor, this week called the pullout “the greatest debacle that NATO has seen since its foundation, and it is an epochal change that we are facing.” And while not speaking specifically about NATO, JOSEP BORRELL, the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, told reporters Tuesday the bloc should plan to bolster its own defenses. “I think that what has happened shows that Europe needs to develop this famous strategic autonomy, in order to be ready to face challenges that affect us eventually,” he said. There was tons of talk during the Trump era that the former U.S. president’s disdain for traditional American allies — and NATO, in particular — would harm transatlantic ties. But even then, a former British head of government didn’t question the alliance’s utility, or a prominent German politician didn’t say DONALD TRUMP ’s antics at summits proved NATO’s “greatest debacle.” Ill-feelings are so widespread that NATO Secretary General JENS STOLTENBERG, who spent considerable energy cajoling Trump, is now openly criticizing how the Biden administration went about the withdrawal decision. “It was actually politically impossible for European allies to continue in Afghanistan, given the fact that [the] United States has decided to end its military mission. We went in together, and we adjust our presence together. And now, we leave together," he told CNN Wednesday, adding that the American pullout “created the conditions” for NATO’s own withdrawal decision. BENJAMIN HADDAD , who directs the Europe center at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, isn’t too surprised by the continent’s reaction. “The unilateral way in which this withdrawal was decided and implemented has been a shock for Europeans, especially under an administration that put engagement with allies at the center of the rhetoric,” Haddad told NatSec Daily. “This is why this shock could be deeper than the one of the Trump administration. … Now, Europeans realize something deeper than Trump’s antics was at play.” HAVANA SYNDROME IN GERMANY: At least two U.S. officials stationed in Germany succumbed to symptoms believed to be related to the “Havana Syndrome,” per The Wall Street Journal’s BOJAN PANCEVSKI. That’s the name given to the malady producing symptoms like nausea and headaches among many Americans in Cuba, China and elsewhere. “Some victims were intelligence officers or diplomats working on Russia-related issues such as gas exports, cybersecurity and political interference, according to U.S. diplomats and people familiar with an investigation into the illness,” Pancevski writes. The CIA has a task force that’s currently looking into who, if anyone, is responsible for the symptoms felt by many of the United States’ diplomats around the world. HAITI DEATH TOLL NEARS 2,000: At least 1,941 people in Haiti are dead and another 6,900 are injured after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck the Caribbean nation on Saturday. Hospitals can’t attend to all seeking treatment, with 84 people awaiting care at one facility, per CNN’s MATT RIVERS, ETANT DUPAIN and JACK GUY . During a White House news conference Tuesday, Sullivan said the United States had already sent a disaster response team to Haiti and that U.S. Southern Command had “mobilized with logistical and other support to be able to provide the kind of emergency response that is necessary in a human tragedy and catastrophe like this.” “There are no current plans to speak of to deploy U.S. military personnel to Haiti,” he added. BIDEN MEETS BENNETT: The American president will sit down with his new Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister NAFTALI BENNETT, in Washington on Aug. 26. They will discuss “critical issues related to regional and global security, including Iran,” the White House said in a statement. “The visit will also be an opportunity for the two leaders to discuss efforts to advance peace, security, and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians and the importance of working towards a more peaceful and secure future for the region.” IT’S WEDNESDAY: Thanks for tuning in to POLITICO’s newsletter on the national security politics roiling Washington. NatSec Daily is for the top U.S. and foreign officials, the lawmakers, the lobbyists, the experts and the people like you who care about how the natsec sausage gets made. Please share this subscription link with a colleague or friend. Follow the whole team here: @alexbward, @QuintForgey, @nahaltoosi, @woodruffbets, @politicoryan, @PhelimKine, @BryanDBender, @laraseligman, @connorobrienNH, @paulmccleary, @leehudson, @AndrewDesiderio and @JonnyCustodio. 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Don’t miss out on your daily look inside Canadian politics and power. Subscribe to Ottawa Playbook today. | | | | | | | | GLIMPSES OF A NEW AFGHAN WAR: AMRULLAH SALEH, who was Afghanistan’s first vice president before the Taliban took control of Kabul, said his country’s constitution stipulates that he is now “ the legitimate care taker President,” since former Afghan President ASHRAF GHANI fled and is currently in the United Arab Emirates. As Saleh reaches out to regional leaders across Afghanistan, he’s calling on his countrymen to “JOIN THE RESISTANCE” and fight back against the militants. SARFARAZ, a commando who served in Afghanistan’s armed forces, is answering the call. He tweeted Tuesday that he would fight for Saleh and the fallen government, prompting NatSec Daily to ask him about what comes next. “We are joining Saleh in Panjshir,” a province just north of Kabul, Sarfaraz told us. “Our number is in [the] thousands, and we have local people, as well.” Asked if there would soon be attacks on Taliban positions, Safaraz said: “We are planning right now. Our leader Amrullah Saleh will decide next steps.” U.S. officials NatSec Daily talked to were always aware an anti-Taliban militia might rise up to depose them, and that maybe there would be a former member of the Afghan government who would vie for leadership. It’s unclear if such a movement will fully materialize, but it looks like we’re witnessing its earliest moments. “Taliban are terrorists,” Safaraz said at the end of our conversation, “and we will never bow to them.” | | | T-MOBILE HACK AFFECTS 40 MILLION PEOPLE: T-Mobile announced Wednesday that hackers stole personal information — including Social Security numbers — of 40 million people who are either current customers or potential customers. “The cellphone carrier said the stolen data included first and last names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and driver’s license information from a subset of current and potential customers. The victims included people who applied for credit with T-Mobile — regardless of whether they ended up doing business with the carrier — and about 7.8 million current s with postpaid plans,” per The Wall Street Journal’s DREW FITZGERALD . “The company said the breach also exposed the names, phone numbers and account PINs ... of about 850,000 of its customers on prepaid plans, which don’t require a credit check.” | | | AIR FORCE INVESTIGATING HKIA DEATHS: The U.S. Air Force has tasked its Office of Special Investigations with probing the civilian deaths that unfolded Monday at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, per our own ORIANA PAWLYK. All U.S. flights were temporarily suspended after thousands of desperate Afghans stormed the tarmac and crowded around American military aircraft, with some clinging onto a departing C-17 transport plane and falling mid-air. Additionally, the body of one Afghan was found in the landing gear of a C-17 hours after takeoff, rendering the cargo jet temporarily inoperable. The Associated Press has reported that at least seven people were killed amid the chaos at the airport, but the Pentagon has not confirmed the exact death toll. | | | LAWMAKERS DEMAND BIDEN DISREGARD AUG. 31 DEADLINE FOR EVACUATIONS: A bipartisan group of 40 House lawmakers have signed onto a letter urging Biden to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan until all Americans and Afghan allies are safely transported out of the country — regardless of whether the evacuation effort blows past the president’s self-imposed Aug. 31 withdrawal deadline. In the letter, led by Reps. TOM MALINOWSKI (D-N.J.) and JASON CROW (D-Colo.), the lawmakers write that the United States “must do everything possible to securely hold the airport in Kabul until the rescue mission is complete and our citizens, allies, and vulnerable Afghans have had an opportunity to leave. We trust that the previous August 31st deadline you imposed on our military mission will not apply to this effort, and that we will stay as long as is necessary to complete it.” The ideologically diverse group of signatories includes Reps. DAN CRENSHAW (R-Texas), ADAM KINZINGER (R-Ill.), BARBARA LEE (D-Calif.), SETH MOULTON (D-Mass.), STEPHANIE MURPHY (D-Fla.), MIKIE SHERRILL (D-N.J.), ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-Mich.), ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-Va.), ELISE STEFANIK (R-N.Y.) and MICHAEL WALTZ (R-Fla.). Malinowski told CNN on Wednesday “there’s no way humanly possible” that the United States can complete the evacuation mission by the end of the month. “The Pentagon, they follow orders. They take things literally. That is the only order they’ve gotten. Until that’s countermanded — until the White House says that that Aug. 31 deadline doesn’t apply to the evacuation — then I do worry that that’s the schedule that the Pentagon is operating on.” Asked again Wednesday, Pentagon press secretary JOHN KIRBY declined to answer whether evacuations would extend beyond Biden’s deadline: “The mandate by the president is to complete this mission by the 31st of August, and that’s the target we’re shooting for. I won’t speculate about any possible different decisions going forward. That would have to be a decision made by the commander in chief.” | | | U.K. MILITARY CHIEF SLAMS U.S. WITHDRAWAL: When the Biden administration speaks of why Afghanistan collapsed under the weight of the Taliban’s assault, the president and officials say it was because the Afghan military didn’t have the will to fight. British Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Sir NICK CARTER, agrees the Afghans lacked will — but argues it was the United States that broke it. “Morale just collapsed” after the American-led withdrawal, Carter told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” show Wednesday. “We have often seen that in history before. Armies can collapse very, very quickly if the momentum is seen to be going so radically against them.” The removal of foreign troops “in a very abrupt way over the course of two or three months was something that was very challenging for them to come back from.” Those comments amount to an implicit critique of the withdrawal by the military chief of one of America’s closest allies. | | | FIRST IN NATSEC DAILY — NSC ARRIVAL LOUNGE: Per our own DANIEL LIPPMAN, Col. DANIEL MOUTON is now director for political-military affairs for the Middle East, North Africa and the Gulf region for the National Security Council. He most recently was chief of military cooperation at the Pentagon. | | | | Be a Policy Pro. POLITICO Pro has a free policy resource center filled with our best practices on building relationships with state and federal representatives, demonstrating ROI, and influencing policy through digital storytelling. Read our free guides today . | | | | | | | | The New Yorker: “Trying — and Failing — to Save the Family of the Afghan Who Saved Me” NPR: “ The Taliban Seize Her City. America's Red Tape Stops Her From Fleeing” Time: “‘Completely Helpless.’ Afghan Americans Scramble to Help Family Back Home” | | | — The Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, 11 a.m.: “Press Briefing: Kakuma Refugee Camp Crisis” — The Center for a New American Security, 2:30 p.m.: “ Against the Clock: Saving America's Afghan Partners” — The Center for Strategic and International Studies, 3 p.m.: “The Deeper Consequences of the War on Terror” Have a natsec-centric event coming up? Transitioning to a new defense-adjacent or foreign policy-focused gig? 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