TURKEY/AFGHANISTAN UPDATE: KARZAI TO VISIT, ITALY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 007398

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2015
TAGS: PREL MOPS EAID SNAR KPKO TU AF
SUBJECT: TURKEY/AFGHANISTAN UPDATE: KARZAI TO VISIT, ITALY
JOINS TURKISH AND FRENCH COMMAND OF CAPITAL REGION, TURKISH
PRT STILL POSSIBLE (THOUGH NOT LIKELY)

REF: ANKARA 6323

Classified By: DCM Nancy McEldowney for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (U) This is an action request -- please see para. 6.

Summary
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2. (C) President Karzai will visit Turkey Jan. 5-6. Italy is
joining Turkey and France's proposed co-command of ISAF's
Capital Region Command; Turkey felt it could not refuse
Italy's offer. Turkey may/may be prepared to consider a PRT
if one is proposed to it by the USG or the GOA. End summary.

Karzai to Ankara
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3. (C) On Dec. 15, we called on MFA Head of Department for
South Asia Murat Ulku for an update on Turkish security
assistance for Afghanistan. Ulku reported that President
Karzai will pay the first visit by an Afghan head of state to
Turkey in at least 40 years this Jan. 5-6. (NOTE: Ulku
stressed that this has not yet been publicly
announced--please protect accordingly. END NOTE.) Karzai
will meet with President Sezer and PM Erdogan; Ulku noted
that PM Erdogan remains personally committed to the future of
Afghanistan.

ISAF Capital Region Command: Three's Company
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4. (C) Ulku reported that now the Italians will likely join
Turkey and France in the proposed co-commanding of ISAF's
Capital Regional Command (CRC) beginning in Aug. 2006. Ulku
recalled that Turkey had initially planned to command this
mission alone, but first France and -- quite recently --
Italy have both asked to join. He noted that -- given
Italy's strong support for Turkey's EU bid -- Ankara felt it
could not turn down Rome's offer. Ulku said that preliminary
planning calls for the three countries to rotate the
commander, deputy commander, and chief of staff positions on
an annual basis. The CRC's first commander will be French.

Turkish PRT?: Maybe
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5. (C) Ulku noted that he had recently attended a NATO
meeting on Afghanistan in Brussels, and that he personally
felt "left out" when the discussion turned to PRTs. He
offered that while he and some others in the Ministry favor
Turkey leading a PRT, many senior leaders in the Ministry are
still quite leery of the idea. (NOTE: In 2004 and 2005,
separate abortive attempts by Turkey to take a PRT ended
badly, and many senior MFA officials felt that Allies --
including the U.S. -- had not dealt with Turkey fairly. END
NOTE.) However, Ulku went on, a direct, clear offer "from
the U.S. side or from Karzai himself" to command a particular
PRT might convince his leadership to reconsider.


6. (C) COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST: Turkey's insistence on
commanding a PRT in the north -- as well as mixed signals in
the past from the USG, other Allies, and the Afghans
themselves -- have so far conspired to prevent Turkey from
undertaking this tangible contribution to Afghan peace and
security. Ulku did not signal that Turkey was ready to take
on a southern PRT, but hinted that Turkey may/may be willing
to consider a non-northern PRT. However, Ulku made it clear
that Turkey will not consider taking on a specific PRT absent
a direct, unambiguous request from Karzai and/or the United
States. Thus we request Washington and Kabul consider
whether there is a PRT we would like Turkey to consider
taking on. If so, the Karzai visit may be an opportunity to
move this forward. END COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST.
WILSON