AFGHANISTAN: ITALY SUPPORTS ANA EXPANSION BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 001452 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2018 TAGS: MARR MOPS NATO PREL AF SUBJECT: AFGHANISTAN: ITALY SUPPORTS ANA EXPANSION BUT FUNDING LACKING REF: SECSTATE 125172 Classified By: Acting Pol MinCouns J. Liam Wasley. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Charge met with MFA Director General for Multilateral Affairs Luca Giansanti on November 25 to encourage Italy to announce substantial contributions to the NATO trust fund for the Afghan National Army (ANA) at the December NATO Foreign Ministerial. Giansanti noted that Afghanistan remained a top GOI priority and Italy had heard our request for more resources when the U.S. demarched them in September. The GOI is currently trying to find funds in next year's budget for the ANA trust fund but, whatever they will eventually contribute, it will fall short of the $100 million per year requested in the U.S. demarches. He noted that GOI budgets were being slashed accross the board and that funds available for foreign assistance were particularly effected. Giansanti also argued that the U.S. continues to press the very countries that were doing the most on the ground in Afghanistan to do more and provide more financial assistance. He advocated that NATO cast a wider net, targeting countries that were providing fewer troops or withdrawing forces. He agreet that broadeining the mandate of the trust fund so non-NATO countries could contribute was a good idea. ¶2. (C) While the GOI is still seeing what funds it can devote to the ANA Trust Fund, Giansanti said that Italy sees its value added as hands on trainers for the ANA. He noted that Italy already had four Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs) in Afghanistan, three more would be deployed before the end of the year, and the GOI was looking to make pledges for additional training teams in the future. He told the Charge that there were ongoing discussions with the MOD and it was premature to discuss numbers. ¶2. (C) Giansanti noted that NATO had many trust funds and the GOI had provided funding for nine of them this past year. Next year they will focus all their resources on their two top priorities, Afghanistan and Kosovo. He noted that the Kosovo Trust Fund was almost empty and that no one had pledged funds to equip the Kosovo Protection Force. Equipping the KPF was critical to the success of NATO's efforts in Kosovo and that element also needed better funding, Giansanti argued. DIBBLE