US General Sees No Change in Pakistan Behavior Despite Trump Tough Line

The top U.S. general in Afghanistan said on Tuesday that he had not seen a change in Pakistan's support for militants so far, despite President Donald Trump taking a tougher line against Islamabad.

U.S. officials have long been frustrated by what they see as Pakistan's reluctance to act against groups such as the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network that they believe exploit safe haven on Pakistani soil to launch attacks on neighboring Afghanistan.

In August, Trump outlined a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan, chastising Pakistan over its alleged support for Afghan militants.

He accused Pakistan of harboring "agents of chaos" and providing safe havens to militant groups waging an insurgency against a U.S.-backed government in Kabul.

U.S. officials expressed hope that relations between the two countries could improve after a kidnapped U.S.-Canadian couple and their three children were freed in Pakistan in October. The couple was abducted in neighboring Afghanistan.

"We have been very direct and very clear with the Pakistanis ... we have not seen those changes implemented yet," General John Nicholson told reporters.

"We are hoping to see those changes, we are hoping to work together with the Pakistanis going forward to eliminate terrorists who are crossing" the border, Nicholson said.

He said that he believed that senior Taliban leaders were based in Pakistan, while the lower-level leadership was in Afghanistan.

Nicholson added that he agreed with other senior U.S. officials that Pakistan's main spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, had ties to the Haqqani network militant group.

The United States in 2012 designated the Pakistan-based Haqqani network as a terrorist organization.

Pakistan says it has done a great deal to help the United States in tracking down terrorists.

The four-star general said he had seen evidence of relations between Iran and the Taliban in western Afghanistan and was closely tracking it.

'On our way to a win'

The United States has sent more than 3,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan as a part of Trump's South Asia strategy.

Nicholson said over 1,000 troops would be advising Afghan troops at the battalion level, putting them closer to the fighting and at greater risk.

Nicholson gave an optimistic view of the situation, saying he believed "we are on our way to a win."

U.S. officials have made similar statements during the course of the 16-year-old war, but the situation according to many U.S. officials remains in a "stalemate."

According to a recent report by a U.S. government watchdog, the Taliban had increased the amount of territory it has influence over or controls in Afghanistan in the past six months.

The figures are a sign of the deteriorating security situation in the war-torn country, even as the United States has committed more troops.

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Spielberg's 'The Post' Aimed at People 'Starving for the Truth'

LOS ANGELES — 

Steven Spielberg's new movie The Post may be set in 1971, but its theme about press freedom is all about today.

Spielberg rushed to get the movie filmed and released within a year. It is about the battle by newspapers to publish the leaked Pentagon Papers detailing the U.S. government's misleading portrayal of the Vietnam War.

"I just felt that there was an urgency to reflect 1971 and 2017 because they were very terrifyingly similar," the Oscar-winning director told a Hollywood audience after a screening of the film on Monday.

"Our intended audience are the people who have spent the last 13, 14 months thirsting and starving for the truth," Spielberg said. "They are out there, and they need some good news."

Spielberg, a prominent Hollywood Democrat, did not mention U.S. President Donald Trump. But The Post arrives in movie theaters in December at a time when media outlets have been under repeated attacks by Trump since his election in November 2016.

Trump has called journalists "the enemy of the American people." He uses the term "fake news" to cast doubt on news reports critical of his administration, often without providing evidence to support his case.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in August the Trump administration was considering requiring journalists to reveal their sources amid Trump's push to stop leaks to the press.

Streep, Hanks

Starring Meryl Streep as the late Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as late editor Ben Bradlee, The Post is seen by awards watchers as a front-runner for next year's Oscars.

The film dramatizes the decisions by The New York Times and The Washington Post to publish the top-secret Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam War in the face of injunctions by the Nixon administration in a battle that went to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Spielberg said that before making the film he was "really depressed about what was happening in the world and the country."

After getting the script in February, "suddenly my entire outlook on the future brightened overnight," he said.

The Post was shot in June and opens in U.S. movie theaters on December 22.

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'We Will Take Care of It,' Trump Says After N. Korea Fires Another Missile

President Donald Trump said "we will take care of it" after North Korea launched yet another intercontinental ballistic missile Tuesday, defying sanctions and world condemnation.

"It is a situation we will handle," the president told reporters at the White House, without being specific. But he did say the U.S. approach toward North Korea has not changed.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said this missile flew longer and higher than any previous North Korean test launch. He called it part of North Korea's efforts to build missiles that can "threaten everywhere in the world." Mattis said North Korea is a danger to world peace.

The Pentagon's initial assessment is that North Korea fired the ICBM from Sang Ni, north of Pyongyang. It flew about 1,000 kilometers before dropping in the Sea of Japan, in Japan's exclusive economic zone, which is sovereign Japanese territory.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has asked for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council and vowed to protect the Japanese people.

"We can never accept this violence and have strongly protested to North Korea," Abe told reporters.

Trump is expected to discuss the matter with Japan's prime minister soon.

Britain's U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft called the launch "another reckless act by a regime that is more intent on building up its ballistic missile and nuclear capability than it is on looking after its own people."

This was the first North Korean missile test since September and the first since the U.S. put the North back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. A pause in missile tests after a spate of them earlier this year led some analysts to speculate that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was holding out a sliver of goodwill toward the U.S.

Some experts believe he had decided to freeze test flights at least until after February's Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea.

"I am surprised, but not shocked when it comes to this move," Harry Kazianis from Center for the National Interest told VOA on Tuesday. "North Korea, who did test two missiles in the fourth quarter last year, will have to continue to test its missile capabilities for years to come if it wants a nuclear deterrent that can hit the U.S. homeland."

The latest North Korean launch comes as the U.S. and South Korea are preparing a five-day joint exercise called Vigilant Ace from December 4 to 8, with thousands of military personnel and more than 230 aircraft, including six F-22 Raptor fighter jets deployed to South Korea for the first time.

Pyongyang routinely condemns such military drills using belligerent language and military threats.

VOA's Nike Ching, Carla Babb, Jeff Seldin, Steve Herman, Daniel Schearf and Margaret Besheer contributed to this report.

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US Congress Grapples with Long To-do List as Deadlines Loom

CAPITOL HILL — 

Palpable tension and nail-biting uncertainty prevailed Tuesday on Capitol Hill as lawmakers grappled with a looming cutoff of federal funding, the future of U.S. taxation, and the fate of hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to America as children.

Efforts to forge a bipartisan agreement to avert a U.S. government shutdown stumbled when Congress' top Democrats, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, pulled out of a planned meeting with President Donald Trump after the president preemptively ridiculed the encounter.

"Meeting with Chuck and Nancy today about keeping government open and working," Trump tweeted. "Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don't see a deal!"

Pelosi and Schumer responded with a joint statement.

"Given that the President doesn't see a deal between Democrats and the White House, we believe the best path forward is to continue negotiating with our Republican counterparts in Congress instead," the Democratic leaders said. "We don't have any time to waste in addressing the issues that confront us, so we're going to continue to negotiate with Republican leaders who may be interested in reaching a bipartisan agreement."

The U.S. government's authority to spend funds expires December 8. A partial shutdown will occur unless both houses of Congress pass a funding extension.

Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell responded to the day's developments with a statement of their own.

"We have important work to do, and Democratic leaders have continually found new excuses not to meet with the administration to discuss these issues," Ryan and McConnell said. "Democrats are putting government operations, particularly resources for our men and women on the battlefield, at great risk by pulling these antics."

Tax bill

Overshadowing the fiscal deadline is an ambitious Republican drive to rewrite America's tax code by year's end. Trump sought to rally Senate Republicans by visiting their weekly caucus meeting Tuesday, but questions remained as to whether the tax bill will attract at least 50 votes in the 100-member chamber.

"It's a challenging exercise — think of sitting there with a Rubik's Cube trying to get to 50," McConnell told reporters after the Trump visit. "We do have a few [Republican] members who have concerns, and we are trying to address them."

The bill would permanently cut corporate taxes, temporarily cut income taxes, and add more than $1 trillion to America's national debt over a decade. Two Republican senators have objected to the legislation as currently written, saying its benefits are tilted too heavily in favor of corporations. Several others have expressed grave concern the bill will raise the nation's debt.

The House of Representatives passed their own tax bill earlier this month. With a slim, two-seat Senate majority, Republicans can afford only two "no" votes from their ranks, given unified Democratic opposition.

"This plan would bankroll massive tax cuts for the wealthiest people in America and the largest corporations," said Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin. "This tax plan by the Republicans will not help working families."

"A 'yes' vote on this tax bill means voting for a growing economy, more jobs, higher wages and more take-home pay," countered Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas. "A 'no' vote is a vote for stagnant wages, fewer jobs."

Immigration

Other issues before Congress could attract bipartisan solutions, including Trump's revocation of an Obama administration policy that shielded some 800,000 young immigrants from possible deportation. Lawmakers have crafted bipartisan legislation allowing undocumented immigrants who were brought to America as minors to remain and work in the United States, but nothing has been enacted so far.

Some Democrats have threatened to oppose spending bills unless a measure codifying some version of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, is included.

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Third Former Staffer Accuses US Congressman Conyers of Sexual Harassment

A former deputy chief of staff of U.S. Democratic Representative John Conyers has accused the long-time lawmaker of sexual harassment, the third such allegation levied against him this month.

Deanna Maher, who managed an office for Conyers in his home state of Michigan from 1997 to 2005, told the Detroit Free Press he made unwanted sexual advances toward her on three occasions.

The first occurred during a Congressional Black Caucus event in 1997, when she spurned his offer to share a hotel room and have sex. Maher said the other incidents involved unwanted touching in 1998 and 1999.

Maher, who was 57 when the veteran lawmaker allegedly harassed her the first time, said she did not come forward because she feared her age would prevent her from getting another job if she lost her position with Conyers.

The latest sexual harassment charge against Conyers is one of a number that have buffeted the Washington political scene. Democratic Senator Al Franken apologized on Capitol Hill Monday to "everyone who has counted on me to be a champion of women." Four women have accused Franken of initiating unwanted sexual contact in separate incidents.

Republican Representative Joe Barton has admitted he shared a nude photo of himself with an unidentified lover that circulated online. Barton, who has served in the House for 32 years, has accused the lover of threatening to publicize the photo when he ended the relationship.

The revelations followed allegations that Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore sexually assaulted a 14-year old girl and had sexual encounters with several young women while when he was in his 30's. Moore is campaigning in a special election in Alabama that will be decided on December 12.

A year ago, President Donald Trump was accused by more than a dozen women of sexual assault or improper conduct. Many of the accusations became public when he was heard on an Access Hollywood tape boasting about kissing and groping women. Trump and the White House have denied the allegations.

The sexual allegations in Washington has increased pressure on lawmakers to curb harassment on Capitol Hill. A vote has been scheduled for Wednesday in the Republican-controlled House that would change the rules to mandate training for all lawmakers and staff employees to prevent sexual harassment.

The House will also hold hearings in December on whether the body that handles harassment complaints in the House, the Office of Compliance, would be allowed to disclose details of any future cases of sexual harassment and previously-settled instances.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer told reporters Tuesday he was "deeply distressed" by the problem and did not realize it was as pervasive as it was. Hoyer said he had spoken with his daughters and women on his staff about the issue.

"One of the things we need to assure ourselves is that women who find themselves in that position are not victimized by the system. It's a huge problem in the criminal process and it is a problem in the administrative process."

Hoyer added, "It's clear that strong, effective, timely action is needed now."

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Fact Check: Bank Sector Not in Ruins, Despite Trump Beef

COLUMBUS, OHIO — 

President Donald Trump's accusation that a federal watchdog has devastated the financial industry is unsupported by the evidence that banks like best: profits.

Trump’s weekend tweet was aimed against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, little known by most people until it became the center of a struggle over who’s in charge — a Trump-named acting director or a deputy who was given the same title by a departing chief from the Obama era.

Trump's tweet:

The facts:

The sector is far from devastated.

Federally insured commercial banks and savings institutions reported more than 5 percent growth in the third quarter from a year earlier. Of more than 5,700 institutions reporting, more than two-thirds (67 percent) had year-over-year growth in quarterly earnings. The proportion of unprofitable banks fell. Quarterly net earnings also were up in the second quarter.

Similar earnings growth — 4.9 percent — was reported in 2016. As well, litigation expenses — one possible sign of distress — were down by almost $3 billion at a selection of large banks.

There's also a longer term measure of health.

The Federal Reserve says 34 firms have added more than $750 billion in capital since 2009. That capital essentially is held in reserves that would help the companies weather a future crisis like the 2008 financial meltdown that prompted the bureau's creation in 2011 and other steps to overhaul the financial sector. Critics of the bureau say it is overbearing. But it has not left the industry in ruins.

The financial crisis was caused largely by reckless lending practices that led millions of Americans to lose their jobs and homes. The Trump administration has argued that the bureau has blocked people's access to loans and credit, although surveys by the Federal Reserve do not find that to be so.

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US Government Funding Talks Hit Immediate Snag

WASHINGTON — 

The U.S. government runs out of funding in 10 days, but initial scheduled discussions Tuesday between President Donald Trump and Democratic congressional leaders to avert a shutdown ran into an immediate snag in politically fractious Washington.

Trump, in a Twitter comment, said he planned to meet with the top two Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, "about keeping government open and working" beyond the December 8 funding cutoff.

But the U.S. leader acknowledged he did not see a deal in the offing with Schumer and Pelosi, contending that the "Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes."

Hours later, Schumer and Pelosi called off the White House meeting, saying that since Trump did not see a deal materializing, they did not "have any time to waste" by meeting with him. The Democratic leaders said it would have been "a show meeting that won’t result in an agreement."

Instead, Schumer and Pelosi said they "believe the best path forward" was to meet with the top Republican congressional leaders, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan.

"We’re going to continue to negotiate with Republican leaders who may be interested in reaching a bipartisan agreement," the Democratic leaders said.

Later, the White House said, “It’s disappointing that Senator Schumer and Leader Pelosi are refusing to come to the table and discuss urgent issues. The president’s invitation to the Democrat leaders still stands and he encourages them to put aside their pettiness, stop the political grandstanding, show up and get to work. These issues are too important."

The White House said the meeting with Ryan, McConnell and White House aides would still go on and that if the "Democrats believe the American people deserve action on these critical year-end issues as we do, they should attend.”

‘Important work to do’

Ryan also called for Schumer and Pelosi to show up at the White House.

"We have important work to do, and Democratic leaders have continually found new excuses not to meet with the administration to discuss these issues," Ryan said. "Democrats are putting government operations, particularly resources for our men and women on the battlefield, at great risk by pulling these antics. There is a meeting at the White House this afternoon, and if Democrats want to reach an agreement, they will be there."

If the political leaders cannot reach an immediate agreement on funding the government through the end of the current fiscal year that extends through September 2018, they could approve a short funding extension with the goal of completing a longer-term deal before Congress recesses for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers hold sharply divergent views about what ought to be included in the budget extension. Republicans generally want more defense spending, but Democrats say that should be paired with more money for domestic social programs.

Democrats also want a provision included in the spending plan that would prohibit Trump from deporting 690,000 young people who came to the country with their parents years ago as undocumented immigrants. Trump has given Congress until March to resolve the issue, but at the same time wants funding for construction of a wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico to thwart more illegal immigration. Democrats, and some Republicans, oppose construction of the wall.

Some Democrats have said they will not vote for the government budget if the Dreamers, as the young immigrants are often called, are not protected from deportation. Republicans have opposed inclusion of the immigration provision in the budget and say the issue should be dealt with in separate legislation in early 2018.

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