Overnight Defense: Trump still mulling Afghan strategy | WH, Pentagon discuss transgender ban

by Ellen Mitchell - 07/31/17 6:27 PM ET

THE TOPLINE: The Pentagon and White House have yet to land on a definitive strategy for moving forward the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan, a Defense Department spokesman said Monday.

Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said Defense Secretary Jim Mattis “wants to get the strategy right first,” before committing to any troop increases or drawdowns.

“We’re contributing to a process that’s being led by the White House that is looking across our instruments of national power, not just military, but diplomatic, financial, intelligence and information as well to lay out what our desired end state is,” Davis told reporters at the Pentagon.

“From that will be derived any follow-on decisions about troops or anything else,” he added.

The United States has about 8,400 troops in Afghanistan already, and the Trump administration is mulling whether to send 3,000 to 5,000 more to break a so-called stalemate against groups including the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Read more here.

LAWMAKERS FRUSTRATED WITH WAIT: Mattis in June promised to deliver Congress a strategy by mid-July on the way forward in Afghanistan. But with August around the corner and no strategy in sight, lawmakers are growing frustrated.

In response, Sen. John McCain will introduce an amendment to the annual defense policy bill to provide a strategy for the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan, the Arizona Republican said Monday, ratcheting up his criticism of the Trump administration.

“When the Senate takes up the National Defense Authorization Act in September, I will offer an amendment based on the advice of some of our best military leaders that will provide a strategy for success in achieving America’s national interests in Afghanistan,” McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement.

McCain said that “there still is no strategy for success in Afghanistan” more than six months after President Trump’s inauguration.

The Hill’s Rebecca Kheel has more here.

WHITE HOUSE REACHES OUT TO PENTAGON ON TRANSGENDER POLICY: The White House has reached out to the Pentagon to begin drafting official guidance to ban transgender people from serving in the military, a Department of Defense (DOD) spokesman confirmed Monday.

“We have conversations back and forth all the time with the White House in a variety of channels and those conversations are starting to happen on the issue,” Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters at the Pentagon.

President Trump last week declared on Twitter that the military would have a new policy forbidding transgender people from serving in the military.

Davis said that Pentagon officials are waiting for that directive “to be formerly articulated to us in a policy memo.”

Read the rest here.

TRANSGENDER DECISION RATTLES PENTAGON: President Trump’s announcement that he plans to ban transgender people from serving in the military made an end run around Defense Secretary James Mattis, calling into question a relationship that so far has seemed solid.

Until now, Trump has given Mattis latitude to do as he sees fit, granting the retired four-star general power to manage troop levels and other operational aspects of the United States’ wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.

But on the issue of transgender troops, conservatives who worried that Mattis was steamrolling them won out, with Trump siding with them less than a month after Mattis committed to a six-month review of the issue.

“It’s never a good sign when a major policy pronouncement is made that was clearly not coordinated with senior leadership,” said a source familiar with the matter.

For more on how Trump’s decision is rattling the Pentagon, click here.

WILL TRUMP HOLD SIGNING CEREMONY FOR RUSSIA SANCTIONS BILL?: President Trump has committed to signing a Russia sanctions bill, but it’s unclear if he’ll highlight his signature with a big ceremony.

Major bills often have White House signing ceremonies, but Russian sanctions isn’t just any bill.

It’s a measure that actually restricts Trump’s ability to lift sanctions on Moscow. And it raises the specter of the controversy that has dogged Trump’s administration since it began — Russia’s meddling in last year’s election.

A signing ceremony could give Trump the opportunity to take on critics who question his willingness to battle Russia.

Yet it could also raise attention to his reservations about the bill.

Critics of Russia saying a full signing ceremony featuring the president and lawmakers from both parties would send an important signal to Moscow just days after the Russian government took steps to retaliate by ordering the U.S. to drastically cut its staff in Russia.

Read the rest here.

TRUMP, JAPANESE LEADER DISCUSS ‘GRAVE AND GROWING THREAT’ FROM NORTH KOREA: President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed the threat from North Korea after Pyongyang conducted its latest test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

Trump and Abe during a call on Sunday agreed that North Korea “poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and other countries near and far,” according to a readout from the White House.

“President Trump and Prime Minister Abe committed to increasing economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea, and to convincing other countries to follow suit,” the White House added.

Trump also reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend Japan and South Korea from “any attack.”

Abe told reporters that Trump said he would “take all necessary measures to protect” Japan, according to The Associated Press.

Read more here.

DOD CONCERNED AFTER TURKEY BUYS RUSSIAN DEFENSE SYSTEM: The Pentagon is concerned by Turkey’s decision to buy a Russian air defense system, Defense Department spokesman Jeff Davis said Monday.

Davis said that Defense officials “certainly are aware of the reports” that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is currently in talks with Russia to buy the S-400 surface-to-air missile system.

“Our only concern about it is one of interoperability,” Davis told reporters at the Pentagon. “Turkey is a NATO ally. Generally speaking, it’s a good idea for allies to buy interoperable equipment.”

Davis said the Pentagon would encourage that Turkey instead “buy things and invest in things that will further invest in our alliance,” as Russian technology may not work with other weapons and equipment used by NATO countries.

Read the rest here.

ON TAP FOR TOMORROW:

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will hold a hearing for the nomination of Stephen King of Wisconsin to be the U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic at 11 a.m. in Dirksen Senate Office Building room 419.

ICYMI:

— The Hill: Report: Pentagon, State Dept. draft plan to send weapons to Ukraine

–The Hill: Trump: We’ll handle North Korea

–The Hill: Russia: US trying to ‘shift responsibility’ on North Korea

— The Hill: Somalia strike kills al-Shabaab fighter

— The Hill: U.S. successfully conducts missile test over Pacific

— The Hill: Trump transgender decision rattle Pentagon

— The Hill: Trump China plan could come this week

— Defense News: Pentagon to unveil new acquisition structure on Aug. 1

Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Kheel, rkheel@digital-staging.thehill.com, and Ellen Mitchell, emitchell@digital-staging.thehill.com