FRENCH DONATIONS TO IRAQI AND AFGHAN SECURITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001289

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2016
TAGS: MARR MASS MOPS PINS PREL
SUBJECT: FRENCH DONATIONS TO IRAQI AND AFGHAN SECURITY
FORCES

REF: SECSTATE 22896

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt for Reaso
ns 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Post delivered reftel points to various
MFA and MOD officials responsible for Iraq, Afghanistan and
NATO. On Iraq, the regional bureau described itself as "not
opposed" to providing assistance but adduced a number of
preconditions to be fulfilled that make assistance unlikely.
The French position was less tentative on providing donations
to Afghan security forces. One MFA official pointed out that
a key objective of NATO efforts in ISAF is to ensure that
Afghans are able to assume their own security but cautioned
that any decision would need to take account of France's
budgetary situation. The MFA Afghanistan desk officer said
he was certain that the issue of Afghan security donations
would come up during the March 9 visit of the Afghan National
Army Chief of Staff General Bismillah Khan to Paris. END
SUMMARY.

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IRAQ SECURITY DONATIONS: FRANCE CAUTIOUSLY "NOT OPPOSED" TO
GIVING AID
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2. (C) Antoine Sivan, MFA DAS-equivalent for
Iraq/Iran/Arabian Gulf Affairs, described his regional bureau
as "not opposed" to the notion of providing material
assistance to the Iraqi security forces. At the same time, he
offered a number of caveats, noting that: non-lethal
assistance would be much easier to approve than lethal
assistance, which would entail a lengthy inter-agency
process; any assistance would have to have clear end-use
guarantees, to ensure that materiel did not end up in the
hands of militias; assistance could not entail the deployment
of any GoF support staff (military or technical) within Iraq
to support the donation; and the GoF would await formation of
Iraq's permanent government and a more specific request from
that government before taking any decisions. On the latter
point, poloff stressed that the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and
Interior had already prepared a detailed, prioritized list of
requirements in conjunction with the NATO Training Mission in
Iraq (NTM-1),which had been circulated to the GoF via NATO
channels. Poloff also stressed that vast majority of high
priority items on the Iraqi Requirements List consisted of
non-lethal assistance. Poloff later gave Sivan a copy of the
NATO list, stressing the need for expedited donations to the
ISF. Sivan conceded he had not seen the list, and offered to
review it in greater detail. Frigate Captain Jean-Mathieu Rey
in the MFA office for Military and Defense Cooperation said
that any decision to donate to Iraqi security forces would be
political.


3. (C) COMMENT: While the GoF has not said no to assisting
the ISF, we did not detect a high degree of motivation in
responding to this request. We will continue to press our
GoF contacts to offer a significant and timely contribution,
particularly given the GoF's professed desire to help foster
a democratic and stable Iraq, GoF officials' frequent
insinuations that Iraq will not be fully sovereign until it
is in control of its own security, and the total lack of
progress in implementing the long-stalled GoF offer to train
Iraqi police outside Iraq. END COMMENT.

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AFGHANISTAN SECURITY DONATIONS: FRENCH SUPPORTIVE, BUT
DETAILS NOT YET KNOWN
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4. (C) MFA Afghanistan desk officer, Cyril Gerardon, told
poloff that the relevant information had been passed to the
MFA office for strategic affairs and to the MFA department
for military and defense cooperation. He commented that the
demarche had come at a good time, given that the French MFA
and MOD were busy preparing for the visit of the Afghan
National Army,s Chief of Staff, General Bismillah Khan,
scheduled for March 9. Gerardon added he was sure that
military equipment needs would be discussed at that meeting
which would be attended by the MFA A/S equivalent for Asia,
Herve Ladsous, an MOD representative, and someone from the
MFA,s office of Strategic Affairs. Gerardon pointed out
that in 2006, as part of their reconstruction pledges (not
including pledges made at the London Conference),the French
would devote 700,000 euros for Afghan National Army officer
training; 380,000 euros for counternarcotics police training
and 250,000 euros for training of magistrates. The French,
he added, have a vested interest in a secure Afghanistan.


5. (C) Poloff also delivered reftel points to Nicolas
Niemtchinow, DAS-Equivalent director for NATO at MFA and NATO
desk officer Xavier Chatel. Chatel told poloff that the
general French position would be supportive of assisting the
Afghan army, though, he added, budgetary considerations would
likely dictate the final amount of French assistance. He
stressed that bringing Afghanistan to a point where Afghans
are able to assume their own security is a key objective of
NATO efforts in ISAF and reminded that France has been
helping to train the Afghan army.


6. (C) We also delivered list of equipment requirements to
French Joint Staff officer responsible for NATO issues,
Patrick Maquerie. He noted that the equipment list would be
raised at various levels at the MOD and promised to get back
with us with any official reaction.



Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm

Stapleton