DISCUSSIONS REGARDING SENDING SPANISH CIVIL GUARD

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000371 SIPDIS SIPDIS KABUL PLEASE PASS TO CSTC-A FOR BG GEORGE E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/27/2018 TAGS: PREL SP SUBJECT: DISCUSSIONS REGARDING SENDING SPANISH CIVIL GUARD OFFICERS TO AFGHANISTAN REF: MADRID 202 Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION HUGO LLORENS, REASONS 1.4 (B) an d (D) ¶1. (C) In Post's continued efforts to encourage the Spanish to do more in Afghanistan, Deputy Chief of Mission Llorens met on March 26 with Secretary of State for Security Antonio Camacho (Deputy Interior Minister equivalent) to discuss SECDEF's January 24 letter to MOD Alonso requesting Spain send Civil Guards to Afghanistan to assist in training Afghan police. The Civil Guard (Guardia Civil) is one of Spain's two national police forces and would be uniquely suited to carry out the mission envisioned by the SECDEF. Per REFTEL, our Spanish counterparts told us last month that they were reluctant to make any decisions on this issue in advance of Spain's March 9 national election. We are now re-engaging in the wake of President Zapatero's reelection. ¶2. (C) The DCM reminded Camacho that the U.S. sent an additional contingent of more than 3,000 Marines to Afghanistan to fill the critical battalion shortfall in Regional Command-South (RC-S) and assist with Afghan National Security Forces training and mentoring, but that these additional forces were only slated to be on the ground for seven months. The DCM said the U.S. is asking our Allies to use our examples of sacrifice to show renewed commitment to NATO and fulfill its pledges to Afghanistan, and inquired about the possibility of deploying Civil Guard officers to Afghanistan this year. The DCM stressed that the Civil Guard would not be sent for the purposes of combat and encouraged the Spanish to make a gesture of additional support at the upcoming NATO Summit in Bucharest. ¶3. (C) Camacho said he would take a close look at the Civil Guard's current force posture both deployed abroad and within Spain (where they carry out their primary duty of maintaining domestic security and battling the terrorist group ETA),and would let us know whether Spain was in a position to deploy additional forces. We asked that the Interior Ministry (who wields overall command of the Civil Guard) coordinate closely with MOD and let us know what is possible. Camacho asked if the U.S. had requested a specific number of forces to be sent, and the DCM asked that Spain provide what it can. //COMMENT// ¶4. (C) We all believe that Spain can and should do more. We will continue to urge that Spain send additional Civil Guard (or Spanish National Police) officers, even if only a relatively small force to conduct police advisory and training missions within Badghis Province. AGUIRRE