Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07USNATO601
2007-11-08 18:06:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Mission USNATO
Cable title:
NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT - NOVEMBER 7, 2007
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 USNATO 000601
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2017
TAGS: NATO PREL AF
SUBJECT: NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT - NOVEMBER 7, 2007
REF: USNATO 599
Classified By: CDA Richard G. Olson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 USNATO 000601
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2017
TAGS: NATO PREL AF
SUBJECT: NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT - NOVEMBER 7, 2007
REF: USNATO 599
Classified By: CDA Richard G. Olson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (C/NF) Summary from the NAC Meeting:
-- Balkans: The NAC discussion with Ambassador Miroslav
Lajcak, High Representative and EU Representative for Bosnia
and Herzegovina, reported separately in reftel.
-- Afghanistan: The SYG reported on his November 6 phone
conversation with President Karzai in which he offered Karzai
whatever assistance NATO could provide in the aftermath of
the suicide bombing in Baghlan that killed several
Parliamentarians and civilians. The SYG said is still
looking for nominations for a new Senior Civilian
Representative in Afghanistan. NATO CHODs will focus on ISAF
force requirements and ANA training at their meeting in
Brussels next week. SHAPE briefed on Kabul security
situation, Tora Bora, and Musa Qala, plus recent Taliban
attacks on Farah district centers. Czechs reported on
Iranian denial of overflight clearance on ISAF resupply.
-- Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR (OAE): JFC Naples made a strong
case for enhanced funding for and continued Alliance
commitment to OAE, and JFC Naples Commander Admiral Ulrich
delivered his farewell address.
-- Farewell Address by JFC Naples Commander Admiral Ulrich:
Admiral Ulrich noted that NATO, through operations like
Active Endeavor, had moved from providing traditional defense
to delivering comprehensive security. He said NTM-I should
continue and be expanded and gave assurances KFOR would
maintain a safe and secure environment in Kosovo, though it
would need political guidance from the NAC once status is
determined.
-- Darfur: No discussion.
-- Iraq: No discussion.
-- Response to Terrorism: The Turkish PermRep reported the
PKK returned the captured Turkish soldiers on October 22, and
Turkish Security Forces continue to try to prevent PKK
terrorists from fleeing back into Iraq. Turkey, emphasizing
the need for solidarity amongst NATO Allies, highlighted
agreement between President Bush and PM Erdogan on the urgent
need to take steps to combat the PKK.
-- AOB: In other business, five Allies (the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and Romania) circulated a letter on
the way forward on energy security with an eye to the
Bucharest Summit.
END SUMMARY.
--------------
Afghanistan
--------------
2. (C/NF) The SYG reminded Allies that he still had not
received from nations any nominations of candidates to
replace Senior Civilian Representative Daan Everts, who
leaves Kabul December 2007. He stressed the importance of
USNATO 00000601 002 OF 005
closely monitoring the situation in Pakistan for any
spillover impact on ISAF nations supply routes through
Pakistan, or on the Afghan-Pakistani border. He noted
tongue-in-cheek that preliminary results from the force
generation conference ongoing at SHAPE were "not
spectacular," but said he would wait for D/SACEUR's report
before passing judgment. In a phone conversation with
President Karzai November 6 about that day's bomb attack on a
ceremony in Baghlan that killed several Parliamentarians and
civilians, he said he offered Karzai whatever assistance NATO
could provide to the Afghan government in the aftermath.
Many Allies expressed appreciation for the SYG's immediate
press statement on November 6 condemning the attack.
3. (C/NF) Chairman of the Military Committee (CMC) Henault
highlighted next week's CHOD's meeting at NATO HQ, noting
that the continuing inability of Allies to meet ISAF's
minimum military requirements (the Combined Joint Statement
of Requirements, aka "CJSOR") plus the status of NATO's
training and equipping support to the Afghan army would be
major focuses. General Henault's successor will be chosen,
as well.
4. (C/NF) SHAPE DCOS Ops MG Wright told the Council that an
ISAF EOD team was working with Afghan authorities on forensic
analysis of the November 6 Baghlan bomb scene. Addressing
two questions that had been raised by Ambassador Nuland as
well as other PermReps over the past few weeks, MG Wright
looked at the security situation in and around Kabul, and
ongoing ISAF operations in Tora Bora. On Kabul, he relayed a
recent conversation from his trip to Afghanistan with the
commander of RC-Capital, who predicted continued asymmetric
attacks by Opposing Militant Forces (OMF) over the winter,
but stated that OMF cannot launch complex, sustained attacks
in or around Kabul, and pose no threat to isolate Kabul. He
said that although COMISAF's main tactical effort had shifted
back to RC-South on November 1, ISAF's theater task force
remained in the Tora Bora region, and would stay for the
foreseeable future, working with the ANA 201 Corps and ANP to
target OMF leadership, and assist the local population with
quick impact reconstruction projects, medical assistance, and
enhanced freedom of movement. Wright also said political
changes in Pakistan would have minimal impact on NATO's lines
of communication.
5. (C/NF) Looking at other operations across the theater, MG
Wright said that Task Force Helmand was working to disrupt
OMF movement into and out of Musa Qala in northern Helmand,
and ISAF was carefully tracking the fate of Mullah Salem of
the Alizai tribe in Musa Qala, whose potential defection from
the Taliban there could be of major significance to ISAF
efforts. Noting that OMF attacks on district centers in
remote areas of Afghanistan that lack significant ISAF and
ANSF presence were largely for symbolic and propaganda
purposes, he stated that of the three district centers
recently seized in Farah province, Delaram is now back under
ANSF control, and ANSF, supported by ISAF forces, will
conduct operations in the near future to displace OMF from
Bakwa and Gulestan, as well.
6. (C/NF) Czech PermRep Fule briefed that on October 31, Iran
had denied overflight permission to a Czech ISAF supply
flight using the standard "ISF" international flight codes
that ISAF flights use, on the basis of $22,000 of unpaid
USNATO 00000601 003 OF 005
debts from ISAF supply flights. After convincing the
Iranians that the Czechs were current on all overflight fees
owed to Iran, clearance was granted, but the Iranians had
told the Czechs all future "ISF" coded flights would be
denied clearance. Ambassador Fule stated his government was
unsure as to the legitimacy of the Iranian assertions, but
asked NATO military authorities to investigate. MG Wright
stated that he was unaware of the Czech experience or any
similar experiences, but would investigate.
7. (C/NF) The Spanish PermRep condemned the November 6 bomb
attack in Baghlan, and asked for enhanced NAC discussion of
what motivates these types of attacks and who could be behind
them. The Canadian PermRep and UK Charge agreed with the SYG
on the need to follow events in Pakistan closely, and the
Canadian briefed on a recent Canadian-sponsored
Afghan/Pakistan border workshop in Dubai that brought
together both sides to discuss a wide range of border issues
from security to commerce. Germany stated that Baghlan
attack showed that "violence was spreading throughout the
country," and briefed on Chancellor Merkel,s November 3 trip
to Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, noting she had assured President
Karzai and the Afghan government of Germany,s continued,
enhanced support to Afghanistan. The Bulgarian PermRep
informed the NAC that his President and Defense Minister were
also in Afghanistan last week, and met with Karzai. He also
announced a 37,000-euro donation to NATO's Afghanistan
weapons stockpile management trust fund, and 35,000-euro
donation to ISAF's Post-Operations Humanitarian Relief Fund.
--------------
Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR
--------------
8. (C/NF) The SYG noted that the sixth anniversary of
Operation Active Endeavor (OAE),a part of NATO,s immediate
response to the 9/11 tragedy, was in October. The Operation
had thus far had an important impact on Mediterranean
security and demonstrated Alliance solidarity in its
commitment against terrorism.
9. (C/NF) Vice Admiral Roberto Cesaretti, Commander, Maritime
Component Command at JFC Naples, briefed on improvements made
in OAE's operational effectiveness over the past year. In
the context of an upcoming Periodic Mission Review at the end
of 2007 or in early 2008, Cesaretti made a case for
continuation of the operation. He advocated OAE's added
value to Mediterranean security, noting the achievements on
the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. He said
that on the strategic level, OAE demonstrates NATO's resolve
against terrorism and serves as a catalyst for enhancing
regional security. Participation of Russian and Ukrainian
ships in OAE serves as a good example of this principle. On
the operational level, OAE has put NATO in the position as
the global leader in maritime counterterrorism, maritime
situational awareness, and trend analyses in maritime
security. On the tactical level, he stated that OAE clearly
deters terrorism, has increased Allied ability to act against
terrorism, and has enabled the development of technology that
paints a maritime situational awareness picture of a quality
"unimaginable" when OAE was launched in 2001.
10. (C/NF) Cesaretti stated that in accordance with NAC
direction in October 2005 and June 2006, OAE had greatly
USNATO 00000601 004 OF 005
improved Allies' and partners' ability to see a complete
picture of shipping activity in the Mediterranean and to
better detect suspicious activity. Crediting Allied Command
Transformation assistance, he described a system that takes
unclassified maritime data, analyzes it on an unclassified
SIPDIS
level at NATO, fuses that analysis with classified NATO
intelligence, and creates a useful tool to presenting a
variety of real time meaningful displays. OAE was moving
from a platform-based to a network-based operation that
collects and analyses information and which will provide a
far greater ability to detect suspicious maritime activity.
He also hailed the strengthening of NATO's partnership
throughout the region due to enhanced maritime cooperation
under the OAE rubric.
11. (C/NF) Italy, Canada, Spain, UK, and Bulgaria all
commented favorably on OAE. Canada and Bulgaria called for
an examination of rules of engagement in the coming PMR, with
a view toward liberalizing them, so that boarding operations
could be conducted under NATO command. At present, when an
OAE vessel decides to conduct a boarding operation of a
suspect ship, it must revert from NATO command back to
national command.
12. (C/NF) JFC Naples Commander Admiral Ulrich, responding to
a question, urged the Council to provide OAE with the
resources to continue developing the network that had
improved the operation's effectiveness over the past years.
He presented some stark figures ) two years ago, a vessel in
the Mediterranean had a one percent chance of being detected,
and there was a 1 in 1000 chance that even if detected,
suspicious activity could be identified. Even then, if
suspicious activity were identified, chances of the vessel
being stopped were close to zero due to restrictive ROE.
Now, due to NATO's technological advances, there was a 75
percent chance of detection, a 25 percent chance of
identifying suspicious activity, and a near 100 percent
chance of intervention due to better ROE and strong regional
partnerships. Most interventions were conducted by nations
who are alerted by NATO that a suspicious ship was entering
their waters. More money is necessary to further improve, he
stressed.
--------------
Farewell Address by Admiral Ulrich
--------------
13. (C/NF) In his farewell address to the NAC, Admiral Ulrich
said that NATO today is no longer focused on traditional
"defense," but instead on providing "security" in
comprehensive manner to all its citizens. He told PermReps
that the comprehensive approach concept has great resonance
at the operational level and that Operation Active Endeavor
has moved from a traditional defensive operation to a forward
leaning security operation. He said the NTM-I mission
should continue and be expanded as it transitions to an
approach based on mobile teams and mentoring. In the
Balkans, he praised the work of NATO advisory teams on
military aspects of security sector reform. On Kosovo, he
was confident that KFOR could deliver its mandate to maintain
a secure environment, but said KFOR would urgently need
guidance from the NAC on how to deal with the political
dimensions of new situation once status is determined. He
said NATO would soon need to move beyond the ongoing prudent
USNATO 00000601 005 OF 005
planning for its post-status tasks in Kosovo if it is to meet
the aggressive timelines set out for this work.
--------------
Response to Terrorism
--------------
14. (C/NF) The Turkish PermRep informed the NAC that the PKK
had returned the eight Turkish soldiers captured on October
21, but said Turkish Security Forces continue to try to
prevent PKK terrorists from fleeing back into Iraq. Turkey
emphasized the need for solidarity amongst NATO Allies in the
fight against terrorism and the need to fulfill commitments.
He criticized "certain European countries for giving the PKK
room to maneuver in their countries." He highlighted
agreement between President Bush and PM Erdogan in their
recent meeting on the urgent need to take steps to combat the
PKK.
---
AOB
---
15. (C/NF) Energy Security: In other business, the Polish
PermRep noted that five Allies (the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Latvia, Poland, and Romania) circulated a letter on the way
forward on energy security with an eye to the Bucharest
Summit.
OLSON
SIPDIS
NOFORN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2017
TAGS: NATO PREL AF
SUBJECT: NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT - NOVEMBER 7, 2007
REF: USNATO 599
Classified By: CDA Richard G. Olson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
1. (C/NF) Summary from the NAC Meeting:
-- Balkans: The NAC discussion with Ambassador Miroslav
Lajcak, High Representative and EU Representative for Bosnia
and Herzegovina, reported separately in reftel.
-- Afghanistan: The SYG reported on his November 6 phone
conversation with President Karzai in which he offered Karzai
whatever assistance NATO could provide in the aftermath of
the suicide bombing in Baghlan that killed several
Parliamentarians and civilians. The SYG said is still
looking for nominations for a new Senior Civilian
Representative in Afghanistan. NATO CHODs will focus on ISAF
force requirements and ANA training at their meeting in
Brussels next week. SHAPE briefed on Kabul security
situation, Tora Bora, and Musa Qala, plus recent Taliban
attacks on Farah district centers. Czechs reported on
Iranian denial of overflight clearance on ISAF resupply.
-- Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR (OAE): JFC Naples made a strong
case for enhanced funding for and continued Alliance
commitment to OAE, and JFC Naples Commander Admiral Ulrich
delivered his farewell address.
-- Farewell Address by JFC Naples Commander Admiral Ulrich:
Admiral Ulrich noted that NATO, through operations like
Active Endeavor, had moved from providing traditional defense
to delivering comprehensive security. He said NTM-I should
continue and be expanded and gave assurances KFOR would
maintain a safe and secure environment in Kosovo, though it
would need political guidance from the NAC once status is
determined.
-- Darfur: No discussion.
-- Iraq: No discussion.
-- Response to Terrorism: The Turkish PermRep reported the
PKK returned the captured Turkish soldiers on October 22, and
Turkish Security Forces continue to try to prevent PKK
terrorists from fleeing back into Iraq. Turkey, emphasizing
the need for solidarity amongst NATO Allies, highlighted
agreement between President Bush and PM Erdogan on the urgent
need to take steps to combat the PKK.
-- AOB: In other business, five Allies (the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and Romania) circulated a letter on
the way forward on energy security with an eye to the
Bucharest Summit.
END SUMMARY.
--------------
Afghanistan
--------------
2. (C/NF) The SYG reminded Allies that he still had not
received from nations any nominations of candidates to
replace Senior Civilian Representative Daan Everts, who
leaves Kabul December 2007. He stressed the importance of
USNATO 00000601 002 OF 005
closely monitoring the situation in Pakistan for any
spillover impact on ISAF nations supply routes through
Pakistan, or on the Afghan-Pakistani border. He noted
tongue-in-cheek that preliminary results from the force
generation conference ongoing at SHAPE were "not
spectacular," but said he would wait for D/SACEUR's report
before passing judgment. In a phone conversation with
President Karzai November 6 about that day's bomb attack on a
ceremony in Baghlan that killed several Parliamentarians and
civilians, he said he offered Karzai whatever assistance NATO
could provide to the Afghan government in the aftermath.
Many Allies expressed appreciation for the SYG's immediate
press statement on November 6 condemning the attack.
3. (C/NF) Chairman of the Military Committee (CMC) Henault
highlighted next week's CHOD's meeting at NATO HQ, noting
that the continuing inability of Allies to meet ISAF's
minimum military requirements (the Combined Joint Statement
of Requirements, aka "CJSOR") plus the status of NATO's
training and equipping support to the Afghan army would be
major focuses. General Henault's successor will be chosen,
as well.
4. (C/NF) SHAPE DCOS Ops MG Wright told the Council that an
ISAF EOD team was working with Afghan authorities on forensic
analysis of the November 6 Baghlan bomb scene. Addressing
two questions that had been raised by Ambassador Nuland as
well as other PermReps over the past few weeks, MG Wright
looked at the security situation in and around Kabul, and
ongoing ISAF operations in Tora Bora. On Kabul, he relayed a
recent conversation from his trip to Afghanistan with the
commander of RC-Capital, who predicted continued asymmetric
attacks by Opposing Militant Forces (OMF) over the winter,
but stated that OMF cannot launch complex, sustained attacks
in or around Kabul, and pose no threat to isolate Kabul. He
said that although COMISAF's main tactical effort had shifted
back to RC-South on November 1, ISAF's theater task force
remained in the Tora Bora region, and would stay for the
foreseeable future, working with the ANA 201 Corps and ANP to
target OMF leadership, and assist the local population with
quick impact reconstruction projects, medical assistance, and
enhanced freedom of movement. Wright also said political
changes in Pakistan would have minimal impact on NATO's lines
of communication.
5. (C/NF) Looking at other operations across the theater, MG
Wright said that Task Force Helmand was working to disrupt
OMF movement into and out of Musa Qala in northern Helmand,
and ISAF was carefully tracking the fate of Mullah Salem of
the Alizai tribe in Musa Qala, whose potential defection from
the Taliban there could be of major significance to ISAF
efforts. Noting that OMF attacks on district centers in
remote areas of Afghanistan that lack significant ISAF and
ANSF presence were largely for symbolic and propaganda
purposes, he stated that of the three district centers
recently seized in Farah province, Delaram is now back under
ANSF control, and ANSF, supported by ISAF forces, will
conduct operations in the near future to displace OMF from
Bakwa and Gulestan, as well.
6. (C/NF) Czech PermRep Fule briefed that on October 31, Iran
had denied overflight permission to a Czech ISAF supply
flight using the standard "ISF" international flight codes
that ISAF flights use, on the basis of $22,000 of unpaid
USNATO 00000601 003 OF 005
debts from ISAF supply flights. After convincing the
Iranians that the Czechs were current on all overflight fees
owed to Iran, clearance was granted, but the Iranians had
told the Czechs all future "ISF" coded flights would be
denied clearance. Ambassador Fule stated his government was
unsure as to the legitimacy of the Iranian assertions, but
asked NATO military authorities to investigate. MG Wright
stated that he was unaware of the Czech experience or any
similar experiences, but would investigate.
7. (C/NF) The Spanish PermRep condemned the November 6 bomb
attack in Baghlan, and asked for enhanced NAC discussion of
what motivates these types of attacks and who could be behind
them. The Canadian PermRep and UK Charge agreed with the SYG
on the need to follow events in Pakistan closely, and the
Canadian briefed on a recent Canadian-sponsored
Afghan/Pakistan border workshop in Dubai that brought
together both sides to discuss a wide range of border issues
from security to commerce. Germany stated that Baghlan
attack showed that "violence was spreading throughout the
country," and briefed on Chancellor Merkel,s November 3 trip
to Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif, noting she had assured President
Karzai and the Afghan government of Germany,s continued,
enhanced support to Afghanistan. The Bulgarian PermRep
informed the NAC that his President and Defense Minister were
also in Afghanistan last week, and met with Karzai. He also
announced a 37,000-euro donation to NATO's Afghanistan
weapons stockpile management trust fund, and 35,000-euro
donation to ISAF's Post-Operations Humanitarian Relief Fund.
--------------
Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR
--------------
8. (C/NF) The SYG noted that the sixth anniversary of
Operation Active Endeavor (OAE),a part of NATO,s immediate
response to the 9/11 tragedy, was in October. The Operation
had thus far had an important impact on Mediterranean
security and demonstrated Alliance solidarity in its
commitment against terrorism.
9. (C/NF) Vice Admiral Roberto Cesaretti, Commander, Maritime
Component Command at JFC Naples, briefed on improvements made
in OAE's operational effectiveness over the past year. In
the context of an upcoming Periodic Mission Review at the end
of 2007 or in early 2008, Cesaretti made a case for
continuation of the operation. He advocated OAE's added
value to Mediterranean security, noting the achievements on
the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. He said
that on the strategic level, OAE demonstrates NATO's resolve
against terrorism and serves as a catalyst for enhancing
regional security. Participation of Russian and Ukrainian
ships in OAE serves as a good example of this principle. On
the operational level, OAE has put NATO in the position as
the global leader in maritime counterterrorism, maritime
situational awareness, and trend analyses in maritime
security. On the tactical level, he stated that OAE clearly
deters terrorism, has increased Allied ability to act against
terrorism, and has enabled the development of technology that
paints a maritime situational awareness picture of a quality
"unimaginable" when OAE was launched in 2001.
10. (C/NF) Cesaretti stated that in accordance with NAC
direction in October 2005 and June 2006, OAE had greatly
USNATO 00000601 004 OF 005
improved Allies' and partners' ability to see a complete
picture of shipping activity in the Mediterranean and to
better detect suspicious activity. Crediting Allied Command
Transformation assistance, he described a system that takes
unclassified maritime data, analyzes it on an unclassified
SIPDIS
level at NATO, fuses that analysis with classified NATO
intelligence, and creates a useful tool to presenting a
variety of real time meaningful displays. OAE was moving
from a platform-based to a network-based operation that
collects and analyses information and which will provide a
far greater ability to detect suspicious maritime activity.
He also hailed the strengthening of NATO's partnership
throughout the region due to enhanced maritime cooperation
under the OAE rubric.
11. (C/NF) Italy, Canada, Spain, UK, and Bulgaria all
commented favorably on OAE. Canada and Bulgaria called for
an examination of rules of engagement in the coming PMR, with
a view toward liberalizing them, so that boarding operations
could be conducted under NATO command. At present, when an
OAE vessel decides to conduct a boarding operation of a
suspect ship, it must revert from NATO command back to
national command.
12. (C/NF) JFC Naples Commander Admiral Ulrich, responding to
a question, urged the Council to provide OAE with the
resources to continue developing the network that had
improved the operation's effectiveness over the past years.
He presented some stark figures ) two years ago, a vessel in
the Mediterranean had a one percent chance of being detected,
and there was a 1 in 1000 chance that even if detected,
suspicious activity could be identified. Even then, if
suspicious activity were identified, chances of the vessel
being stopped were close to zero due to restrictive ROE.
Now, due to NATO's technological advances, there was a 75
percent chance of detection, a 25 percent chance of
identifying suspicious activity, and a near 100 percent
chance of intervention due to better ROE and strong regional
partnerships. Most interventions were conducted by nations
who are alerted by NATO that a suspicious ship was entering
their waters. More money is necessary to further improve, he
stressed.
--------------
Farewell Address by Admiral Ulrich
--------------
13. (C/NF) In his farewell address to the NAC, Admiral Ulrich
said that NATO today is no longer focused on traditional
"defense," but instead on providing "security" in
comprehensive manner to all its citizens. He told PermReps
that the comprehensive approach concept has great resonance
at the operational level and that Operation Active Endeavor
has moved from a traditional defensive operation to a forward
leaning security operation. He said the NTM-I mission
should continue and be expanded as it transitions to an
approach based on mobile teams and mentoring. In the
Balkans, he praised the work of NATO advisory teams on
military aspects of security sector reform. On Kosovo, he
was confident that KFOR could deliver its mandate to maintain
a secure environment, but said KFOR would urgently need
guidance from the NAC on how to deal with the political
dimensions of new situation once status is determined. He
said NATO would soon need to move beyond the ongoing prudent
USNATO 00000601 005 OF 005
planning for its post-status tasks in Kosovo if it is to meet
the aggressive timelines set out for this work.
--------------
Response to Terrorism
--------------
14. (C/NF) The Turkish PermRep informed the NAC that the PKK
had returned the eight Turkish soldiers captured on October
21, but said Turkish Security Forces continue to try to
prevent PKK terrorists from fleeing back into Iraq. Turkey
emphasized the need for solidarity amongst NATO Allies in the
fight against terrorism and the need to fulfill commitments.
He criticized "certain European countries for giving the PKK
room to maneuver in their countries." He highlighted
agreement between President Bush and PM Erdogan in their
recent meeting on the urgent need to take steps to combat the
PKK.
---
AOB
---
15. (C/NF) Energy Security: In other business, the Polish
PermRep noted that five Allies (the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Latvia, Poland, and Romania) circulated a letter on the way
forward on energy security with an eye to the Bucharest
Summit.
OLSON