NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT MAY 24, 2007

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 USNATO 000330

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/23/2017
TAGS: NATO PREL AF
SUBJECT: NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT MAY 24, 2007


Classified By: DCM Richard G. Olson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY:

-- Afghanistan: Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee
(D/CMC) noted SACEUR,s letter to PermReps regarding the
start of Operation Adalat. The D/CMC also highlighted recent
offers of additional Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams
(OMLTs),but stressed that these offers are not sufficient to
address long-term training needs. The SYG underscored the
significant long-term shortfall in OMLTs and pressed Allies
to do more. Germany, Italy, Denmark and Netherlands detailed
recent high-level national visits to Afghanistan and
Pakistan.

-- Afghanistan ) Strategic Communications: NATO Spokesman
Appathurai briefed on strategic communications in
Afghanistan, focusing on critical areas in which NATO and
Allies needed to improve: nurturing the Afghan National
Communications Coordination Center (NC3),providing more
trained Public Information Officers (PIOs),and getting ISAF
a dedicated capability to gather and uplink video.
Appathurai urged Allies to devote more resources to move NATO
communications abilities into the 21st century.

-- Kosovo: The Secretary General (SYG) noted his discussion
with President Bush at Crawford, where he urged maintaining
diplomatic momentum to reach a conclusion on the UNSCR soon.

-- Iraq: SG on gendarmerie training to go to Senior Resource
Board on May 25 for consideration on financial aspects.
D/CMC noted need for NAC approval by early June to enable a
September mission start date.

-- Response to Terrorism: The SYG strongly condemned the
terrorist attack in Ankara, expressed solidarity with Turkey,
and said that NATO will continue to fight terrorism in all
its forms.

-- Crisis Management Exercise 2008, (CMX-08): Lack of
agreement on security provision hinders issuance of CMX-08
invitations to international organizations. SYG will raise
the issue in a coffee/lunch the week of May 29.

Note: The May 24 NAC began with an exchange of views with
Albanian Prime Minister Berisha, Foreign Minister Basha, and
Defense Minister Mediu on progress in the context of
Albania,s Membership Action Plan (MAP). Reporting on this
session to follow septel. End note.

END SUMMARY.

Afghanistan
--------------

2. (C) D/CMC LTG Eikenberry, in his operations briefing,
noted the Taliban was attempting to overcome the death of
Mullah Dadullah-Lang by increasing its operational tempo.
Dadullah-Lang,s death appears to have demoralized mid and
low-level Taliban fighters. It is unlikely the Taliban will
be able to replace Dadullah in the short term. Eikenberry
said the recent incident involving ISAF soldiers along the
border between Paktia Province and Kurram Agency, Pakistan,
is still under investigation, and will be discussed at the
May 26 Tripartite meeting in Kabul. He noted the SACEUR
letter to PermReps regarding the start of Operation Adalat in
northern Kandahar province.


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3. (C) The D/CMC noted recent offers of Operational
Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs) from Canada and Poland,
and said that two (unnamed) nations are likely to offer OMLTs
at the 12 June Force Generation conference. (Note: The
Romanians have informed us separately that they are in
discussions with SHAPE and hope to be able to announce an
OMLT contribution by the June Defense Ministerial. End
note.) The D/CMC provided the following figures: current
NATO requirement for OMLTs is 46, but will grow to a
projected requirement of 103. At present, there are 21 OMLTs
and recent offers will bring this number to 30, leaving a
near-term shortfall of 16 and a long-term deficit of 73
OMLTs. The General stated, "The announced potential offers
are very welcome and will help, but do not solve the
problem." The SYG, in unusually sharp remarks, echoed the
D/CMC's comments and urged Allies to be more ambitious in
filling OMLTs.


4. (C) Several PermReps provided readouts on recent
high-level visits to Afghanistan. The German PermRep noted
Foreign Minister (FM) Steinmeier had traveled to Afghanistan
and Pakistan in preparation for the G-8 Foreign Ministers,
meeting in Potsdam on May 30. As G-8 President, Germany has
launched an initiative on Afghanistan-Pakistan cooperation,
and both countries, Foreign Ministers have accepted
invitations to attend the Potsdam meeting. Italy,s PermRep
reported on FM D,Alema,s visit to Afghanistan and announced
Italy,s commitment of 60 million euros for improvements to
the Bamiyan-Kabul road. The Danish PermRep shared highlights
of his Prime Minister,s visit to Kabul and Lashkar Gah, and
the Netherlands, PermRep reported on the visit to
Afghanistan of the Crown Prince.


5. (C) The SYG said that SACEUR will address the issues of
civilian casualties and ISAF-OEF procedure coordination
during the NAC Day at SHAPE on June 4.

Afghanistan ) Strategic Communications
--------------

6. (C) NATO Spokesman James Appathurai briefed the NAC on
strategic communications in Afghanistan. After a review of
the current situation, Appathurai focused on the critical
areas in which NATO and Allies need to improve. First, NATO
needs to nurture the Afghan National Communications
Coordination Center (NC3) and expand its reach to more parts
of the country. Second, Allies need to enhance ISAF and NATO
capabilities by providing more trained PIOs and getting ISAF
a dedicated capability to gather and uplink video. Noting
that the 26 modern democracies that make up NATO are often
trumped on communications technology by a group of Taliban
cave-dwellers, he urged Allies to devote more resources to
moving NATO from the 1950,s into the 21st century.
Appathurai touched on the issue of civilian casualties,
stating that while there was no way to &spin8 this negative
story, the Alliance could put in place a policy for assisting
victims, families that would at least mitigate the damage of
these events on public opinion.


7. (C) The Spanish PermRep stressed that NATO cannot simply
separate message from substance, adding that financial
assistance to the families of civilian casualties would be
seen as patronizing by the Spanish public. He also pointed
out the need to improve synergy between NATO, ISAF, OEF, and
the Afghan government. His comments were supported by the
French, German, and Italian PermReps, although the Bulgarian
PermRep said that NATO needed to &walk on two legs8 by
managing both substance and presentation at the same time.

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The UK PermRep dismissed the &message from substance8
debate and urged Allies to agree on a short list of tools )
video imagery, a permanent Media Operations Center, and more
Afghan interlocutors ) so that they could focus quickly on
how to resource these capabilities.


8. (C) Ambassador Nuland stressed the importance of the
issue, emphasizing that it was a major topic of discussion
during the meeting between President Bush and the SYG in
Crawford this week. She said that the Taliban were crushing
NATO on the communications battlefield because they were
getting their version of events out first. She laid out the
concept of an Afghan military spokesman out front, with a
stronger ISAF (non-U.S. or UK) spokesman. She added that an
OEF spokesperson would be in the lead when an operation was
OEF-led. She agreed that NATO,s press operation was
outdated and said the U.S. was willing to offer the resources
of its Digital Video Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS)
capability as soon as possible. She supported making the
Media Operations Center a permanent fixture and stressed that
Headquarters needed to do more regular press conferences to
amplify ) the same day - what was coming out of Kabul.
Finally, she pointed to NATO,s bloated publications budget
($1.6 million annually) as a place from where money could be
reprioritized for new media.

Balkans
--------------

9. (C) Kosovo: The SYG noted that deliberations on the
Kosovo UNSCR were continuing, but that the Russian position
was difficult. He said he had discussed the issue with
President Bush at Crawford, underscoring the importance of
maintaining momentum in the diplomatic process and reaching a
positive outcome soon. The SYG noted that parties in the
region seemed to be managing expectations; for example, Prime
Minister Ceku was cautioning that delays in a decision could
be possible.

Iraq
--------------

10. (SBU) SG(2007)0345 on the Gendarmerie training program
passed silence this afternoon and the Senior Resource Board
will meet on May 25 to consider its advice on the plan, as
outlined in the SG. The D/CMC emphasized that the NAC must
approve the plan by early June to facilitate the planned for
September start date.

Terrorism
--------------

11. (U) The SYG said he was saddened and appalled by the
terrorist attack in Ankara. He expressed condolences and
solidarity with Turkey, saying that NATO strongly condemns
the attack and will continue to fight terrorism &in all its
manifestations,8 as conveyed in his official statement on
May 23. The Turkish Deputy PermRep expressed appreciation
for the statement and shared Turkey,s initial impressions of
the attack: six people had been killed, including one
Pakistani, and approximately 100 were injured; the attack was
carried out by a suicide bomber with C-4 type explosives; and
the bomber had a previous conviction for the mob beating and
lynching of a policeman.

Political Subjects
--------------

12. (C) Ambassador Nuland briefed on developments in the
UNSC. She noted the draft UNSCR on Kosovo is being debated
and that efforts are being made to accelerate the process.

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The five permanent members of the Council will meet on the
draft resolution May 25, and hope to engage Russia on the
text. Separately, the UNSC is working on a resolution to
establish the Hariri Tribunal and hopes to conclude
deliberations this week.

AOB
---

13. (C) CMX-08: The SYG regretted the lack of agreement in
the SPC-R on a CMX-08 invitation letter to international
organizations, due to an objection regarding language on
security arrangements. The SYG will raise the issue at a
coffee or lunch the week of May 29. He urged that nations be
prepared to provide answers on wording at that time, and that
they show flexibility to resolve the issue.

NULAND