U.S. COORDINATOR FOR COUNTERNARCOTICS AND JUSTICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L USEU BRUSSELS 003511 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/ERA (NDEAN); EUR/RPM (JHILLMEYER); SCA; INL/FO JOINT STAFF FOR ENP (JHIRST, JSEAMON, JDIENNO) AND ENRA (MSHIELDS) E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2017 TAGS: PREL MARR EUN AF SUBJECT: U.S. COORDINATOR FOR COUNTERNARCOTICS AND JUSTICE REFORM IN AFGHANISTAN SCHWEICH'S MEETING WITH EUPOL HEAD OF MISSION IN BRUSSELS REF: BRUSSELS 02603 Classified By: USEU Pol-Mil Chief Jeremy Brenner for reasons 1.4 (b) an d (d) ¶1. (C) Summary. The EU Police Mission in Afghanistan is deeply interested in working closely with the U.S. The EUPOL mission was delayed in its deployment by internal procurement difficulties, but these have been resolved and vehicles and equipment should be delivered by January. The EUPOL mission is supportive of the Focused District Development program (FDD),but its current mandate does not provide for working at the district level. End summary. ¶2. (C) Brigadier General Jurgen Scholz, the recently-appointed Head of Mission for the European Union's police training mission in Afghanistan (EUPOL) met November 29 with Ambassador Tom Schweich, U.S. Coordinator for Counternarcotics and Justice Reform in Afghanistan. They were joined by the USEU Charge, Political Minister-Counselor, Pol-Mil Chief, and Joint Staff Liaison officer to review EUPOL developments and examine ways for the U.S. to support the mission. BG Scholz expressed the "deep interest" within the EU for working closely with the U.S. on Afghan police training. He acknowledged the difficulties that EUPOL has encountered in reaching full operational capability, and said that it will take some more time. He attributed much of the delay to internal EU procurement procedures, which hampered EUPOL's ability to get the equipment they needed to deploy effectively. The need to negotiate individual bilateral Technical Arrangements with lead nations for deployment to PRTs caused additional delays. Scholz said that the procurement issues have been resolved, and he expects to have the necessary vehicles, communication equipment and cryptographic gear in theater by January. ¶3. (C) General Scholz said that he has used the time since his appointment to develop a new "organogram" for EUPOL and to establish a more streamlined chain of command. He characterized relations with BG Cone, Commander of the U.S. Combined Security Transition Command for Afghanistan (CSTC-A),as "excellent, but fragile." He urged closer cooperation and coordination with the U.S. at all levels. ¶4. (C) The EUPOL HOM said that a priority of the mission will be to work on reforming the Ministry of the Interior. He urged close coordination with the U.S. in order to avoid giving contradictory input. Any suggestion of a divergence between the EU and the U.S. would be exploited by the Afghans. Scholz said that he and BG Cone are in full agreement that 90 mentors working with the MOI is "ridiculous," and the international effort should be reshaped to address corruption within the Ministry. ¶5. (C) In response to a question from DAS Schweich concerning the "Focused District Development" program, Scholz said that EUPOL would not be deeply engaged in the "robust pillar" of Afghan police, and asked how much military style training we considered necessary. He acknowledged the need for skills and equipment to allow the police to counter attacks by anti-coalition militias (ACM),but said that involvement in this component of police training would be politically problematic for the EU. Scholz was adamant that the civil order police must not come under Ministry of Defense (MOD) authority, but must be under civilian control. He emphasized that he is not critical of the concept, but noted that EUPOL has no mandate for working with the civil order police. ¶6. (C) In response to General Scholz's expressed desire to find ways to cooperate more closely with the U.S. police training effort, Ambassador Schweich said he believed the U.S. might be able to accommodate 10-12 EUPOL officers in the Regional Training Center in Kandahar. Further discussions will be required with the Bureau for European Affairs to determine how to support EUPOL's deployment to PRTs elsewhere in the country. Ambassador Schweich emphasized that any eventual U.S. support would have to be provided only within our means and capabilities. General Scholz acknowledged this principle and said that force protection and vehicles are the key short-term requirements. He said that EUPOL currently is budgeted for force protection teams only in Kabul, not for PRTs. The procurement problems that hindered the initial deployment of the mission have been largely resolved, and EUPOL expects delivery of armored vehicles beginning in January. Scholz reiterated that ISAF support to the mission is limited only to in extremis assistance, and that there is a need for bilateral arrangements with the U.S. in order for the mission to fully deploy. ¶7. (C) Scholz made the point several times during the meeting that the EU wishes to signal Washington of its "deep interest" in working closely with the U.S. on concrete actions. He will maintain a close dialog with CSTC-A, and expects soon to have an action plan that will spell out EUPOL's activity in the provinces. ¶8. (U) Ambassador Schweich has cleared this message. Murray .