NATO-AFGHANISTAN: ISAF CAVEATS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 001487 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/2013 TAGS: PREL MARR AF CA NATO SUBJECT: NATO-AFGHANISTAN: ISAF CAVEATS REF: A. (A) OTTAWA 1410 ¶B. (B) OTTAWA 1022 ¶C. (C) STATE 60862 Classified By: POL M/C BRIAN FLORA. REASON 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) In a diplomatic note (No. IDR0258) dated May 17, 2005, Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC) provided a formal response to our demarche on ISAF caveats (ref (c)),delivered April 5,2005. Text follows: ¶2. (C) Begin text. Canada recognizes the potentially detrimental effect national caveats can have on the effectiveness of a military mission. The two caveats placed by the Canadian Forces for its contribution to the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have been places as a result of legal and operational requirements. Canada believes, however, that they are limited and do not adversely affect the ability of NATO to carry out its mission. Nevertheless, Canada is in the process of reviewing the continued validity of retaining these two caveats for future Canadian deployments to ISAF. Canada is currently reviewing the legal and policy basis for expanding the Canadian Forces' Area of Operation (AOO) throughout the ISAF AOO, particularly as we prepare to deploy to other parts of Afghanistan. In the meantime, Canadian Forces can, depending on the nature of the operation, be temporarily deployed outside the designated Kabul AOO if approval is obtained from the Canadian Commander Task Force Kabul or the Chief of the Defence Staff. Such approvals have been granted in the past. With regards to the rules of engagement (ROE) on the use of Canadian Forces personnel to control civil disturbances, Canadian troops currently in Afghanistan are trained for limited crowd control operations only and will not undertake deliberate civil disturbance control tasks as a front line responsibility. Deliberate crowd control operations should be the responsibility of the host state's security institutions. Canadian Forces will, however, engage in crowd control for the purpose of extricating or protecting Canadian or NATO personnel. The Canadian Forces are reviewing whether greater crowd control techniques could be included into the curriculum of training for future deployments. Canada looks forward to working with the United States and others in ISAF to limit the amount of caveats placed by nations as it expands its operations throughout Afghanistan. End text. Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa DICKSON