Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08CANBERRA262
2008-03-19 04:30:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Canberra
Cable title:  

CORRECTED COPY - AUSTRALIAN POLICE AID TO

Tags:  MARR MOPS SNAR PTER PREL AS 
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DE RUEHBY #0262/01 0790430
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 190430Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9220
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE IMMEDIATE 5074
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH IMMEDIATE 3357
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY IMMEDIATE 3263
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/CJCS WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS IMMEDIATE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0604
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE IMMEDIATE 0056
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO IMMEDIATE 0786
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 000262 

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

FOR DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE FROM AMBASSADOR MCCALLUM
STATE ALSO FOR SCA, EUR, INL AND EAP
PACOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/2018
TAGS: MARR MOPS SNAR PTER PREL AS
SUBJECT: CORRECTED COPY - AUSTRALIAN POLICE AID TO
AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ

REF: A. CANBERRA 245

B. CANBERRA 232

C. CANBERRA 230

D. STATE 19516

Classified By: Ambassador Robert D. McCallum, Jr., for reasons 1.4 (b),
(d).

SUMMARY
-------
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 000262

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

FOR DEPUTY SECRETARY NEGROPONTE FROM AMBASSADOR MCCALLUM
STATE ALSO FOR SCA, EUR, INL AND EAP
PACOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/2018
TAGS: MARR MOPS SNAR PTER PREL AS
SUBJECT: CORRECTED COPY - AUSTRALIAN POLICE AID TO
AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ

REF: A. CANBERRA 245

B. CANBERRA 232

C. CANBERRA 230

D. STATE 19516

Classified By: Ambassador Robert D. McCallum, Jr., for reasons 1.4 (b),
(d).

SUMMARY
--------------

1. (C/NF) Ahead of the NATO Summit in Bucharest, Australia is
considering deploying a small force of Australian Federal
Police to southern Afghanistan to focus on counternarcotics.
To assist Iraq enhance its policing capability, Australia is
reviewing options for training outside Iraq, including in
Kuwait and Australia. Options for police assistance to
Afghanistan have not yet been approved by the Cabinet,
however, according to the Australian Federal Police
Commissioner. The Police Commissioner plans to travel to
Kuwait and Afghanistan in April, and will visit the United
States in June. End summary.


2. (C/NF) In a March 18 meeting, Australian Federal Police
(AFP) Commissioner Michael "Mick" Keelty updated me on GOA
thinking about enhancing its police presence in Afghanistan
and providing further police training for Iraq. He was
joined by Mark Walters, National Manager for the AFP's
International Deployment Group.

AFGHANISTAN: FOCUS ON COUNTER-NARCOTICS
--------------

3. (C/NF) Keelty opened by noting that a planned March 17
meeting of the National Security Committee of Cabinet, which
was to have reviewed a recommendation for an expanded AFP
presence in Afghanistan, had been postponed, thus information
he had hoped to give me on the AFP's role there was not yet
available. He suggested, however, that an option under
consideration was to increase the AFP presence from its
current level of four officers -- two each in Kabul and
Jalalabad -- to about 16, including increasing the number in
Kabul and establishing a new presence in Tarin Kowt, Oruzgan

Province, and Kandahar City, Kandahar Province. While the
AFP may engage in some capacity building in Afghanistan, the
major focus would be on counter-narcotics, particularly
tracking and interdicting the flow of heroin through
Jalalabad to Pakistan for the international market. (Note:
Local Australian media recently cited a confidential customs
intelligence report and a recently-released International
Narcotics Control Board report that police and security
officials are bracing for a flood of "brown" Afghan heroin
following a 34 percent increase in opium production in
Afghanistan.) The AFP had sent two intelligence gathering
teams to Afghanistan, including to Jalalabad, earlier in the
year, he noted. There was no plan for the AFP to assume a
counterterrorism role in Afghanistan, Keelty added, an area
left completely to the Australian Defence Force.

INTEREST IN COORDINATING WITH DEA
--------------

4. (C/NF) The Police Commissioner expressed interest in plans
Q4. (C/NF) The Police Commissioner expressed interest in plans
under consideration by the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration to increase its presence in Afghanistan. Once
the Australian Cabinet had approved the AFP's plan for an
enhanced presence, Keelty said the AFP would contact DEA for
preplanning prior to deployment. (Keelty did not specify the
timing of the deployment.)


5. (C/NF) Keelty alluded to pressures on Prime Minister Rudd
to provide inputs on Afghanistan. He was trying to "do the
right thing" but other international partners needed to
participate, too, he said. It was important to ensure that

CANBERRA 00000262 002 OF 002


the AFP could play a role and could deliver value for the
cost. One issue for the AFP presence was security: Australia
relied on the UK private security company Armor to provide
force protection for its AFP deployment. Keelty said some
have argued that the high security cost did not justify the
return of benefit.

IRAQ: POLICE TRAINING...BUT OUTSIDE IRAQ
--------------

6. (C/NF) Keelty noted the AFP had provided police training
for Iraqi police in Amman in the past. The GOA was currently
reviewing other possible sites outside Iraq in which to
continue police training. Possible venues were Kuwait,
where Germany was currently conducting training, and
Australia. A downside to the latter option was that some
trainees may decide to stay in Australia, he added.

AFP COMMISSIONER'S TRAVEL PLANS TO AFGHANISTAN AND THE U.S.
-------------- --------------

7. (C/NF) Keelty said he would not travel with Prime Minister
Rudd to the United States at the end of March, but would join
him on the London leg of his trip, and then break off to
travel first to Kuwait and then to Afghanistan. The latter
stop was not public and would be kept close hold. In late
May, Keelty plans to accompany Home Affairs Minister Bob
Debus to Canada and then to the United States, where a
Five-Eyes meeting would take place on the west coast in early
June.

MCCALLUM