CANADA SUPPORTS BROADENING ANA TRUST FUND MANDATE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 001493

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/26/2018
TAGS: PREL NATO MARR MOPS AF CA
SUBJECT: CANADA SUPPORTS BROADENING ANA TRUST FUND MANDATE,
CONTRIBUTION UNLIKELY

REF: A. STATE 125172

B. OTTAWA 1238

Classified By: PolMinCouns Scott Bellard, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) This is an action request -- see para 5.


2. (C) In the absence of the Ambassador, DCM spoke to
David Mulroney, Deputy Minister and Afghanistan Coordinator
in the Privy Council Office, regarding the U.S.-led
initiative to broaden the mandate of NATO,s ANA Trust Fund
(ref a). Mulroney confirmed that Canada will support
broadening the trust fund,s mandate to include ANA
sustainment costs. DCM noted the Embassy's discussions with
Canadian officials during the recent election campaign about
a $100 million per year Canadian contribution to the fund
(ref b),and asked whether the government had begun
consideration of that request since formation of the new
Cabinet on October 29. Mulroney stated that there &is not
much possibility of8 a Canadian financial contribution to
the trust fund &in the next two years,8 as Canada continues
to ramp up its military mission (and associated costs) in
Kandahar. In that regard, Mulroney noted Canada's recent
announcement that it is deploying eight CH-146 Griffon (U.S.
UH-1 equivalent) helicopters and their associated personnel
to Kandahar.


3. (C) DCM noted that Prime Minister Harper, Defence
Minister MacKay, and Foreign Minister Cannon had all made
statements since the Canadian election on October 14
reiterating that Canada's military mission in Afghanistan
will end in 2011, and asked whether this had now moved beyond
election campaign rhetoric to become settled government
policy. Mulroney said that the PM and others have also said
that Canada will have a &diplomatic and development8
mission in Kandahar after 2011, consistent with the March
2008 Parliamentary resolution, but not a military mission.
He commented that the nature of Canada's post-2011 mission in
Kandahar will depend on the success in achieving its Kandahar
goals. Mulroney pointed out that Canada had had missions in
other parts of Afghanistan before moving to Kandahar, and
suggested that some kind of continuing military mission might
be possible in Afghanistan after 2011.

4. (C) In separate conversation, Department of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) Afghanistan policy
advisor David Fairchild told poloff that Secretary Gates had
mentioned the trust fund mandate expansion in his recent
discussions with Canadian officials in Cornwallis for the
RC-S DefMin meeting. Fairchild said that Secretary Gates had
told Canadian interlocutors that the U.S. planned to seek
money for the trust fund from Japan as well as some of the
Gulf States. Fairchild inquired about the status of these
efforts, and sought further information on which other
non-NATO countries the U.S. plans to approach.

5. (U) Action request: please provide any information
available to respond to DFAIT's inquiry about likely or
possible non-NATO funding for the ANA trust fund.

6. (C) COMMENT: Shortly after PM Harper publicly said
Canada's military mission in Afghanistan would end in 2011,
DM Mulroney had implied privately that we could interpret the
comment as a campaign tactic. His changed tone suggests that
the government has now made the 2011 date a firm policy, from
which it will not easily deviate.

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