Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BRUSSELS1366
2008-09-04 06:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Brussels
Cable title:  

BELGIAN MFA FINDS IDEA OF BIG EXPANSION OF AFGHAN

Tags:  PREL MARR AF BE 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO4899
RR RUEHPW
DE RUEHBS #1366/01 2480604
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 040604Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7949
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001366 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/WE, EUR/RPM AND SCA/A:MSINGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/03/2018
TAGS: PREL MARR AF BE
SUBJECT: BELGIAN MFA FINDS IDEA OF BIG EXPANSION OF AFGHAN
ARMY "INTERESTING"

REF: STATE 93225

Classified By: DCM Wayne Bush, reason 1.4(b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRUSSELS 001366

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/WE, EUR/RPM AND SCA/A:MSINGH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/03/2018
TAGS: PREL MARR AF BE
SUBJECT: BELGIAN MFA FINDS IDEA OF BIG EXPANSION OF AFGHAN
ARMY "INTERESTING"

REF: STATE 93225

Classified By: DCM Wayne Bush, reason 1.4(b) and (d)


1. Summary: Without committing the GOB, Renier Nijskens of
the Belgian MFA received reftel demarche, regarding expanding
the Afghan National Army (ANA),favorably. He warned that
such an increase in manpower must be implemented
intelligently so that money spent is not wasted. He said
that currently, interest in Afghanistan in Belgium is high.
The government's main concern is the political situation, he
said, and he expressed doubts about the Karzai government's
willingness to curb corruption and incompetence among
officials. He was concerned that Pakistan may be creating
trouble in Afghanistan, in hopes of gaining territory.
Therefore, he said, the allies must make it clear that the
current borders will not be changed. The chief of Belgian
land forces was quoted in the press as expressing hope that
the Belgian's F-16 mission to Kandahar will be a success and
that as a result sufficient popular and political support
will be generated that Belgium can send a 60- or 70-man
training mission to Northern Afghanistan in 2009. End
Summary.


2. Poloffs delivered reftel demarche seeking support for
expansion of the Afghan National Army to Renier Nijskens,
Director of the Department of South and East Asia and Oceania
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 3. Belgium
is not a member of the coordination board, but Nijskens said
that his government takes the increasingly difficult security
situation in Afghanistan seriously and will give due
consideration to supporting the Afghan government's request
for authority to add troops to the ANA. "Afghanistan is an
emergency and we should do as much as we can," he said. The
charge d'affaires at the Belgian Embassy in Kabul will likely
"sit in the back" of the September 10 Coordination Board
meeting, as he has in the past, Nijskens said. Nijskens
noted that Defense Minister De Crem was in Afghanistan with
the four Begian F-16's and accompanying troops who arrived in
Kandahar on September 2. He said that Belgium would like to
see any increase in the ANA take place in an intelligent

manner so that money spent on the project is not wasted. He
added that the Afghan police need to be strengthened as well,
but that corruption in their ranks must be reduced, if it
cannot be eliminated.


3. Nijskens talked at length about the political situation
in Afghanistan, especially in light of approaching
parliamentary elections. The Belgian public, media and
government are taking a great and increasing interest in what
happens in Afghanistan, he said. In the Belgian government
and the MFA the focus is on the non-military, political
aspects of the problem. He believes that President Karzai is
too permissive toward incompetent and corrupt politicians,
allowing them to hold on to offices in his government and in
the regions. The government must stop shuffling corrupt
politicians from region to region, he said. Nijskens said
that vetting of candidates is required to keep warlords out
of parliament and permit other more acceptable persons to
run. He also urged outside support for protection of human
rights and more press freedom, so that the press is allowed
to expose wrongdoing. He was concerned by instances of
looting of food aid by a regional governor whom President
Karzai was unwilling to discipline. This undermines Afghans'
confidence in Karzai and his government, Nijskens said. All
these ideas will be included in a paper Nijskens is drafting
for the MFA's possible use with partners.


4. Nijskens also expressed doubt that the Pakistanis are
interested in real stability in Afghanistan. He wondered
whether the Pakistanis are deliberately encouraging trouble
in Afghanstan, because a weak Afghanistan would make it
easier for the GOP to claim land beyond its border with the
country. He urged that all involved must insist that the
current border (the Durand line) be considered untouchable in
the same way that colonially-imposed borders in Africa are
respected to avoid conflicts. Nijskens said the GOG was
disappointed when Paddy Ashdown was not appointed as UNAMA
coordinator. He speculated that President Karzai is not
interested in having a strong figure in the position, who
might reduce Karzai's leverage on the allies.


5. Nijskens called attention to an editorial in the Brussels
daily De Standaard by Rob van Wijk, a Dutch professor of
international relations at the University of Leiden and
director of the Hague Institute for Strategic Studies. Van
Wijk called on Belgium to show solidarity with its allies and
for NATO to stay in Afghanistan to avoid the perception of a
defeat. However, van Wijk sees a need for an exit strategy
based on decentralizing power in Afghanistan to the

BRUSSELS 00001366 002 OF 002


provinces, with NATO support for developing Afghan public
officials, military and police. Fighting on the ground
should be left as much as possible to the ANA. De Wijk also
envisages a rapid reaction force, stationed outside
Afghanistan, to execute "hit and run" operations if an
unfriendly regime comes to power.


6. Also in De Standaard, General Eddy Testelmans, chief of
staff of Belgium's land forces, is quoted as saying that he
hopes the mission of the F-16's in Kandahar will be a great
success, so that the army will be able to count on the
goodwill of Belgian politicians and the Belgian people will
be able to accept sending ground troops to Afghanistan.
Testelmans reportedly would like to send sixty to seventy
military instructors to train Afghan army recruits in the
north of Afghanistan, possibly in early 2009. Such a mission
would require government approval.
.