AUSTRIA ON AFGHANISTAN AT THE JANUARY 26 INFORMAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 000180 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/RPM AND EUR/AGS - SAINT-ANDRE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2017 TAGS: NATO PINS PREL MARR MOPS AF PK AU SUBJECT: AUSTRIA ON AFGHANISTAN AT THE JANUARY 26 INFORMAL NATO FOREIGN MINISTERIAL REF: A. STATE 4834 ¶B. STATE 7434 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Scott F. Kilner. Reason: 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) Charge presented reftel demarches on January 24 to Austrian MFA Political Director Thomas Mayr-Harting. Embassy had previewed ref (a) material on January 19 to Mayr-Harting's office. ¶2. (C) Mayr-Harting confirmed that Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik would attend the ministerial in Brussels on January 26. Charge said that Afghanistan was the clear focus of that meeting and of the February informal Defense Ministeral. The United States would be looking to partners, including Austria, to provide new contributions to the serious needs in Afghanistan, he stressed. ¶3. (C) Mayr-Harting noted that Austria continues to maintain a small military presence in Afghanistan, and recalled the fact that Austria had deployed larger numbers of troops to the country twice. Austria would support an EU consensus to deploy an ESDP police mission to Afghanistan, he said. However, Austria's priorities, and the focus of its resources, were principally in the Balkans. Mayr-Harting did not believe Austria had additional capacity for making a major change in its military presence in Afghanistan. ¶4. (C) Counter-narcotics was an area in which Austria had devoted attention in Afghanistan and in the Central Asian countries, Mayr-Harting added. This could be a field for closer cooperation, he offered. Kilner