FRENCH SEEKING TO OPEN STRATEGIC DIALOGUE WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 000692

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2017
TAGS: PREL PTER AF PK FR MASS KNNP
SUBJECT: FRENCH SEEKING TO OPEN STRATEGIC DIALOGUE WITH
PAKISTAN

REF: PARIS 384

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: After five years of cool relations, France
hopes to open a "strategic dialogue" with Pakistan based on
shared security concerns. Notwithstanding the 2002 terrorist
attack in Karachi that killed 11 French nationals, the
Pakistan desk officer said the MFA now believes it would only
be counterproductive to further ignore a country that stands
at the center of international efforts to combat terrorism
and nuclear proliferation. To get the ball rolling, the MFA
has proposed that the GoF and GoP begin concrete discussions
at the expert level on export controls, non-proliferation,
counterterrorism and Afghanistan. The GoP has agreed in
principle. End Summary.


2. (C) Poloff met February 21 with Sonia Barbry, MFA desk
officer for Pakistan, to discuss the February 14-15 visit of
A/S-equivalent for Asia Michel Filhol to Islamabad. Filhol,
who assumed his new position on December 15, chose Pakistan
as the destination for his first South Asian trip at the
behest of Gerard Araud, the MFA's Political Director, Barbry
said. Filhol met with counterparts at the Pakistani MFA, MoD
and with the National Security Council, during a visit that
Barbry characterized as the first step in a tentative
reopening of strategic dialogue with Pakistan. The intention
was to lay the groundwork for a more high-profile visit by
Araud in late 2007 or early 2008 following the Pakistani
presidential elections.


3. (C) To underscore that the proposed diplomatic exchanges
represented a significant shift in French policy, Barbry
offered a brief synopsis of recent French-Pakistani
relations. On May 8, 2002, three Pakistani assailants bombed
a bus in Karachi owned by French defense contractor DCN,
killing 11 French engineers and technicians. DCN had signed
a contract in 1994 with the Pakistani Navy to jointly build
three Agosta 90B submarines and then transfer the technology.
The GoF responded to the terrorist attack with a drastic
reduction in its diplomatic presence in Pakistan, suspending
development assistance, closing the French high school and
Alliance Francaise programs, and evacuating all but one
diplomat from the Consulate in Karachi.


4. (C) Until revelations of A.Q. Khan's vast proliferation
network emerged in early 2004, Barbry conceded that the MFA
had neglected Pakistan. What followed was what Barbry called
a period of reflection, during which the MFA acknowledged
that its "crisis of confidence" with Pakistan should not
dissuade it from embracing a "pragmatic" dialogue with a
country where the international struggle against terrorism
and proliferation would either flounder or succeed. In
December 2005, President Musharraf embarked on a tour of the
Middle East to urge fellow Muslim leaders to join forces in
finding a diplomatic solution to the Israel-Palestine
conflict. Barbry said his constructive diplomacy "proved to
the MFA that Pakistan could be present in international
debates." Later that month, then-Political Director Stanislas
de Laboulaye went to Islamabad to propose a structured
bilateral dialogue on shared political and security concerns.
Barbry said the Pakistanis cautiously agreed, but much of
2006 was spent discussing who would be the appropriate
interlocutors on each side and what subjects would be most
fruitful to discuss.


5. (C) Following Filhol's visit, Barbry said the MFA has a
more concrete sense of what the next steps should be. The
MFA has established three areas in which it wants French and
Pakistani technical experts to engage and share information.
First, Pakistan must explain its export control regime for
weapons and how it tracks final end-use; Barbry said the GoF,
in turn, would share its own export controls, and explain
what safeguards the Pakistanis must implement before France
could justify further arms sales. (NOTE: Pakistan has been
pressing France for years to sell it Mirage fighter aircrafts
to offset the traditional defense imbalance in the
sub-continent, but France has always refused, preferring to
favor its relationship with India. In the MFA's view, this
lack of defense contracts limits its leverage with Pakistan.
END NOTE.) Second, the MFA wants to discuss concrete
strategies that could help the GoP disrupt nuclear
proliferation networks. Third, the MFA hopes to discuss
counterterrorism, particularly how Pakistan can clamp down on

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Al Qaeda and Taliban operating within Pakistan, secure the
porous Afghan-Pak border, and address the roots of
fundamentalism that begin in the madrassas.


6. (C) Ultimately, Barbry concluded, the MFA's goal is to
better understand Pakistani thinking, to view security
challenges in the sub-continent from its perspective, and
ultimately to learn its outlook on questions of international
concern. "It's hard for us to imagine, these past 60 years,
what it would be like to be faced with enemies on both sides.
Pakistan asks to be considered a strategic partner. So,
we're saying to them: Explain yourselves." Barbry
characterized the Pakistani response so far as tepid but
encouraging: Although the GoP has not committed to anything,
Filhol's interlocutors told him they agreed that a more
structured strategic dialogue was indeed necessary. Barbry
had the impression from Filhol that the Pakistanis would be
cautious until they felt more personally familiar with their
French interlocutors.

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

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