Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MADRID159
2007-01-30 17:28:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Madrid
Cable title:
NEW SPANISH DEFENSE POLICY DIRECTOR ON
how-toVZCZCXRO2748 OO RUEHLA DE RUEHMD #0159 0301728 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 301728Z JAN 07 FM AMEMBASSY MADRID TO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1731 INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0061 RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 1461 RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 2395
C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000159
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2017
TAGS: PREL MARR NATO SP AF
SUBJECT: NEW SPANISH DEFENSE POLICY DIRECTOR ON
AFGHANISTAN, NCIS/OSI, KOSOVO
REF: A. STATE 7434
B. MADRID 136
C. STATE 5652
Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000159
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2017
TAGS: PREL MARR NATO SP AF
SUBJECT: NEW SPANISH DEFENSE POLICY DIRECTOR ON
AFGHANISTAN, NCIS/OSI, KOSOVO
REF: A. STATE 7434
B. MADRID 136
C. STATE 5652
Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d).
1. (C/NF) DCM, accompanied by PolCouns, met with new MOD
Secretary General for Policy Luis Cuesta on January 30 to
SIPDIS
reinforce ref A points on the importance of additional
commitments to the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan. DCM
emphasized that while ISAF is making progress in Afghanistan,
enormous problems of poverty and governance remain, so Allies
need to demonstrate a renewed commitment now, at the
Ministerials, to seize the moment and to build on the Riga
Summit. He acknowledged the good work that the Spanish
Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) is doing in Baghdis
province.
2. (C/NF) Cuesta said that Afghanistan is a Spanish national
security priority not only because 90 percent of the opium
that enters Europe comes from Afghanistan but also because
many of the March 11 train bombers had trained in terrorist
camps there. He said that while Spain has no plans to send
additional troops to the south and east, it is considering
other possibilities and that Defense Minister Alonso is
likely to make a announcement on this issue at the NATO
Defense Ministerial in Seville (ref B). Press reports say
that Spain could send 150 troops to the ISAF HQ in Kabul and
150 to the west where it maintains a PRT and Forward Support
Base (FSB). (NOTE: During on unrelated press conference
later in the day on January 30, President Zapatero made a
blanket statement that Spain would not increase the number of
its troops in Afghanistan. END NOTE.) Cuesta also described
Alonso's announcement the day before (which Alonso made while
visiting the Spanish PRT and FSB) that Spain would train and
equip two Afghan National Army battalions: one combat
battalion and one support battalion. He noted that the cost
of training and equipping these Afghan troops would be around
20 percent of the cost of sending equivalent Spanish troops.
3. (C/NF) Cuesta said that Spain expects Kosovo to be a major
topic at the Ministerial, and that Spain supports taking the
time necessary to maximize agreement between the opposing
parties, even if that means moving more slowly that the
Ahtisaari plan. DCM and PolCouns pushed back (ref C),
reminding Cuesta that Kosovo has been a difficult issue for a
long time, and that it is time to move to a final status
agreement, as Ahtisaari proposes. PolCouns noted that it is
important for the US and EU to stand firmly together on this
issue and to resist Russian interference.
4. (C/NF) On the issue of NCIS/OSI operations in Spain,
Cuesta said that the January 25 videoconference was positive,
and that the US and Spain are moving towards signing an
agreement. He said that once MOD receives the final English
version from OSD, MOD will need to make an official
translation, which would then go to MOD and MFA lawyers for
final review. He did not give any sense of how long this
might take. He also mentioned that the Director General for
Defense Policy would be the signing authority for MOD.
5. (C/NF) BIO NOTE and COMMENT: Cuesta is a relatively young
career diplomat (born 1968) who has served in Spanish
embassies in Italy and Colombia as well as the UN Development
Program and the Spanish international cooperation agency
AECI. He was the Defense Minister's international affairs
adviser from August 2005 to January 2006. While Cuesta's
personal style is far more pleasant and collaborative than
the crusty Admiral Francisco Torrente that he replaced, his
underlying message is likely to be largely the same. Cuesta,
without Torrente's 30 years of military command under his
belt, may not share Torrente's tendency for lecturing, but he
works for the same bureaucracy and will continue to represent
the view that while the US-Spain defense relationship is
important to both countries, the US gets more out of it than
Spain does. In addition, while Torrente's default world view
was that of a military man who was formed in a time when the
US was one of Spain's only friends, Cuesta is likely to focus
more on the political and the multilateral.
Aguirre
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2017
TAGS: PREL MARR NATO SP AF
SUBJECT: NEW SPANISH DEFENSE POLICY DIRECTOR ON
AFGHANISTAN, NCIS/OSI, KOSOVO
REF: A. STATE 7434
B. MADRID 136
C. STATE 5652
Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d).
1. (C/NF) DCM, accompanied by PolCouns, met with new MOD
Secretary General for Policy Luis Cuesta on January 30 to
SIPDIS
reinforce ref A points on the importance of additional
commitments to the NATO ISAF mission in Afghanistan. DCM
emphasized that while ISAF is making progress in Afghanistan,
enormous problems of poverty and governance remain, so Allies
need to demonstrate a renewed commitment now, at the
Ministerials, to seize the moment and to build on the Riga
Summit. He acknowledged the good work that the Spanish
Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) is doing in Baghdis
province.
2. (C/NF) Cuesta said that Afghanistan is a Spanish national
security priority not only because 90 percent of the opium
that enters Europe comes from Afghanistan but also because
many of the March 11 train bombers had trained in terrorist
camps there. He said that while Spain has no plans to send
additional troops to the south and east, it is considering
other possibilities and that Defense Minister Alonso is
likely to make a announcement on this issue at the NATO
Defense Ministerial in Seville (ref B). Press reports say
that Spain could send 150 troops to the ISAF HQ in Kabul and
150 to the west where it maintains a PRT and Forward Support
Base (FSB). (NOTE: During on unrelated press conference
later in the day on January 30, President Zapatero made a
blanket statement that Spain would not increase the number of
its troops in Afghanistan. END NOTE.) Cuesta also described
Alonso's announcement the day before (which Alonso made while
visiting the Spanish PRT and FSB) that Spain would train and
equip two Afghan National Army battalions: one combat
battalion and one support battalion. He noted that the cost
of training and equipping these Afghan troops would be around
20 percent of the cost of sending equivalent Spanish troops.
3. (C/NF) Cuesta said that Spain expects Kosovo to be a major
topic at the Ministerial, and that Spain supports taking the
time necessary to maximize agreement between the opposing
parties, even if that means moving more slowly that the
Ahtisaari plan. DCM and PolCouns pushed back (ref C),
reminding Cuesta that Kosovo has been a difficult issue for a
long time, and that it is time to move to a final status
agreement, as Ahtisaari proposes. PolCouns noted that it is
important for the US and EU to stand firmly together on this
issue and to resist Russian interference.
4. (C/NF) On the issue of NCIS/OSI operations in Spain,
Cuesta said that the January 25 videoconference was positive,
and that the US and Spain are moving towards signing an
agreement. He said that once MOD receives the final English
version from OSD, MOD will need to make an official
translation, which would then go to MOD and MFA lawyers for
final review. He did not give any sense of how long this
might take. He also mentioned that the Director General for
Defense Policy would be the signing authority for MOD.
5. (C/NF) BIO NOTE and COMMENT: Cuesta is a relatively young
career diplomat (born 1968) who has served in Spanish
embassies in Italy and Colombia as well as the UN Development
Program and the Spanish international cooperation agency
AECI. He was the Defense Minister's international affairs
adviser from August 2005 to January 2006. While Cuesta's
personal style is far more pleasant and collaborative than
the crusty Admiral Francisco Torrente that he replaced, his
underlying message is likely to be largely the same. Cuesta,
without Torrente's 30 years of military command under his
belt, may not share Torrente's tendency for lecturing, but he
works for the same bureaucracy and will continue to represent
the view that while the US-Spain defense relationship is
important to both countries, the US gets more out of it than
Spain does. In addition, while Torrente's default world view
was that of a military man who was formed in a time when the
US was one of Spain's only friends, Cuesta is likely to focus
more on the political and the multilateral.
Aguirre