C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000745

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR/NCE FOR MNORDBERG

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2016
TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS NATO PINS SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: SATISFIED THAT IT IS PULLING ITS WEIGHT
FOR NATO IN AFGHANISTAN

REF: SECSTATE 186256

Classified By: COM for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) On November 15 PolMilOff delivered reftel demarche
to Zorica Bukinac Cimpersek, a staffer in the NATO Office of
the Security Policy Division at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. PolMilOff also acknowledged Slovenia's
long-standing commitment to Afghanistan, praising the 54
troops Slovenia has had deployed in Herat and Kabul since
March 2003 and the recent donation of ten thousand AK-47
automatic rifles and two million pieces of ammunition from
the GoS to the Afghanistan National Army (value USD
$665,000).


2. (C) Cimpersek, a lead MFA planner for the Riga Summit,
thanked PolMilOff for the information and said that she had
no new information about Slovenia's commitments to
Afghanistan beyond the existing troop deployment and the
recent donation. When pressed for information about lifting
caveats on Slovenian troops currently stationed in
Afghanistan, Cimpersek said that the Ministry of Defense was
taking the lead on the issue and she had no new information
updating Minister of Defense Erjavec's comments in late
September that the Ministry of Defense was working towards a
parliamentary rule change that would allow the caveats to be
lifted.


3. (C) COMMENT. The Government of Slovenia is satisfied that
its current deployment to Afghanistan represents the best it
can do to support NATO operations. With the arms and
ammunition donation, Slovenia is working to show that it is
engaged, responsible, and committed in Afghanistan despite
its inability to increase troop numbers. We expect the
deployment of 600 troops from its 10th motorized battalion to
Kosovo in February 2007 to dominate Slovenia's international
contributions for the foreseeable future, with small
contributions going to other areas where Slovenia wants to
show support but is unable to deliver significant numbers of
troops. The caveat issue will show how deep Prime Minister
Jansa's influence runs, and if he has enough control over the
Slovenian Parliament to win its approval to put Slovenian
troops directly in the line of fire. END COMMENT.
ROBERTSON