SPAIN: RESPONSE ON CIVILIAN COMPONENTS OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 001751 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT PASS TO EUR/WE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/09/2015 TAGS: PREL MARR AF SP NATO SUBJECT: SPAIN: RESPONSE ON CIVILIAN COMPONENTS OF AFGHANISTAN PRTS REF: STATE 82968 Classified By: Political Counselor Kathy Fitzpatrick for reasons 1.4(B) and (D) 1.(C) On May 9, Poloff delivered reftel points on civilian components of Provisional Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in Afghanistan to Carlos Morales Sanchez, Subdirector General for Continental Asia at the Spanish MFA. Morales said that the Spanish government is continuing to study various options in regard to the civilian component of the Spanish PRT. According to Morales, the Spanish government is leaning toward implementation of the "German model", wherein the military and civilian components utilize separate command structures. Under this model, the civilian component would be supervised by the Spanish Ambassador in Kabul, would occupy separate quarters from the military and would receive tasking from the Spanish version of USAID (Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional). Morales said that Spain was also considering the "British model", wherein the military and civilian components report to the same commander, but that he believed Spain would opt for the German model. 2.(C) Morales said that this demarche was the first time that he had heard of the idea of centralized reporting in regard to civilian PRT activities and that the GOS would need time to consider it. He further said that the Spanish government would "of course" share information collected by its civilian PRT members with NATO, but that it would probably be done through Madrid. Finally, Morales said that the Spanish government would consider the proposal that regular reporting by civilian PRT members be submitted to NATO's Senior Civilian Representative. COMMENT 3.(C) Decisions about the composition and activities of the civilian component of the Spanish PRT are primarily being made by Spanish aid agency, Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional. Given public skepticism towards Spanish military deployments in general, Spain wants to ensure that its mission projects an NGO/humanitarian appearance. As a result, they appear to be leaning towards almost total separation of the military and civilian components of the PRT. Spanish officials may view direct reporting about the activities of the civilian component to NATO as the first steps toward direct NATO control over civilians. Several times during the meeting, Morales said that reporting and information sharing would be done via Madrid, indirectly indicating this concern. It is likely that Spain will agree to regular reporting on civilian PRT activities, but also likely that reporting will be done via the central government in Madrid, not directly by the civilian PRT components. MANZANARES