AFGHANISTAN: ITALY STILL SUPPORTIVE OF ANA

UNCLAS ROME 001143 SENSITIVE SIPDIS SCA/A FOR NISHA SINGH, EUR/RPM FOR RAPHAEL CARLAND E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR NATO IT AF SUBJECT: AFGHANISTAN: ITALY STILL SUPPORTIVE OF ANA EXPANSION IN PRINCIPLE, AWAITS DETAILS REF: A. STATE 93225 ¶B. ROME 835 ¶1. Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶2. (SBU) Poloff delivered reftel demarche to Italian MFA Coordinator for Afghanistan Sergio Mercuri and MFA Political-Military Office Deputy Director Carlo Batori on September 3. Mercuri and Batori both reiterated Italian support for ANA expansion in principle (Ref B),but stressed that the GOI will need more details on the proposal before committing funds. In a subsequent discussion on September 8 Batori said that MOD Wardak had made an excellent case for ANA expansion at the NAC on September 3 but that many questions still remain. The ANA already has difficulties with recruitment and desertions, Batori said; can it effectively grow to the 134,000-troop level? A larger ANA would, he agreed, help address some of the current CJSOR shortfalls, but it would also create a need for additional OMLTs and possibly divert scarce training resources away from the "underprioritized" Afghan National Police. ¶2. (SBU) Batori also cautioned that all of Italy's foreign aid and defense programs are facing the possibility of deep budget cuts under the current government. (Note: Budget cuts in defense spending alone are projected to total USD 2.5 billion over the next three years.) Although Afghanistan will remain a top priority for the GOI, he said, large new outlays of donor assistance are unlikely beyond the Euro 50 million/year commitment Italy made at the June 2008 Paris Conference. SPOGLI