My local paper reported that Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said foreign troops would be out of the country by March 31.
"A three-month period is enough, even the sooner the better," he said.
Apparently, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln had to steam out of Indonesian waters because the Navy only has permission from the Indonesians to fly aircraft into its airspace that are directly supporting the humanitarian operation.
The ships fighter pilots are unable to use Indonesian airspace for training missions, which under U.S. Navy rules, requires pilots in these circumstances to go no longer than 14 days without flying. So now we have to go to the added time and expense of moving the aircraft carrier out to international waters in order for the pilots to properly train.
I can’t say I think much of Indonesian VP Kalla’s comments.
We have an aircraft carrier, 13,000 troops and millions upon millions of dollars going toward this humanitarian effort. Yet after a couple of weeks, Kalla makes it known that he wants everyone out by March 31.
I’m ready to dismiss his comments as unrepresentative or ill-advised, but if that’s the true feeling of the Indonesian goverment, Kalla better just be careful what he wishes for.
Apparently there's some sense by the Indonesian government that a large on going presence of foreign troops may reveal more about Indonesia's efforts to suppress a guerilla war that is occuring in some localities.
That's no excuse for the comments the government issued, but apparently that's the basis.
Posted by: Yeoman | January 16, 2020 at 08:50 AM