CANADA, U.S. TO CARRY SAME MESSAGE TO NATO

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 000234 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS MADRID PASS POL-MIL AND DATT E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/07/2027 TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS NATO PINS AF CA SUBJECT: CANADA, U.S. TO CARRY SAME MESSAGE TO NATO INFORMAL DEFENSE MINISTERIAL IN SEVILLE REF: STATE 13880 Classified By: PolMinCouns Brian Flora. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C/NF) Following up on Assistant Secretary Boucher's February 5 meetings with his Regional Command - South (RC-S) counterparts in Ottawa (septel),we presented reftel points on February 7 to Department of National Defense (DND) NATO Policy Deputy Director Michael Kaduck and Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) NATO Deputy Director Isabelle Poupart. ¶2. (C/NF) Kaduck said he had drafted many of Defense Minister O'Connor's Seville briefers, and observed that "our two ministers will be saying the same thing to the Europeans." He added that among Canada's biggest immediate concerns was the availability of rotary wing aviation in RC-S after July, as Canada's small fleet of ageing helicopters was incapable of operating in Afghanistan. Kaduck noted that the delivery of Canada's just funded replacement fleet of helicopters was a couple years away. He then remarked that Canada was unimpressed that NATO members together offered some 200 military helicopters when the tsunami struck Indonesia in 2005 but were somehow unable to make a handful of rotary-wing assets available to NATO partners serving in RC-S Afghanistan. ¶3. (C/NF) In a separate meeting at DFAIT, Poupart commented that the GOC was hoping for, but not counting on, success in Seville. She noted that the U.S., the UK, and Canada still had work to do to convince the Europeans that they must show alliance solidarity by supporting and participating in necessary kinetic operations in RC-S. The reluctance among capable European partners to share the burden in the South, she said, would make it harder for the minority Harper Government to justify its engagement in Afghanistan. Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa WILKINS