Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ROME312
2008-03-12 11:33:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rome
Cable title:  

AFGHANISTAN: ITALY STRESSES LONG-TERM COMMITMENT

Tags:  MARR MOPS NATO PREL PINS SNAR AF IT SP LH 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2684
PP RUEHFL RUEHNP
DE RUEHRO #0312/01 0721133
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 121133Z MAR 08 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9973
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0401
RUEHTI/AMEMBASSY TIRANA PRIORITY 4319
RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN PRIORITY 9292
RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE PRIORITY 2948
RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES PRIORITY 3100
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 2924
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ROME 000312 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

OSD-P FOR MADELINE LEPAGE; USNATO FOR COL SANDY GUPTILL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/12/2018
TAGS: MARR MOPS NATO PREL PINS SNAR AF IT SP LH
SUBJECT: AFGHANISTAN: ITALY STRESSES LONG-TERM COMMITMENT
AT WEST 4 MEETINGS

REF: STATE 19466

Classified By: Acting Political Minister-Counselor Jonathan Cohen for R
easons 1.4 (B) and (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ROME 000312

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

OSD-P FOR MADELINE LEPAGE; USNATO FOR COL SANDY GUPTILL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 3/12/2018
TAGS: MARR MOPS NATO PREL PINS SNAR AF IT SP LH
SUBJECT: AFGHANISTAN: ITALY STRESSES LONG-TERM COMMITMENT
AT WEST 4 MEETINGS

REF: STATE 19466

Classified By: Acting Political Minister-Counselor Jonathan Cohen for R
easons 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (SBU) Summary: Italy hosted a "West 4" meeting of ISAF
RC-West contributor nations (Italy, Lithuania, Spain and the
U.S.) in Rome on March 4. Italian MFA U/S for Asia Gianni
Vernetti, in his opening address, said that Italy is in
Afghanistan for the "long haul" in both its civilian and
military capacity. Other participant nations made similar
statements of commitment and demonstrated broad agreement as
to the priorities and challenges facing their contingents in
RC-West. Participants agreed on the importance of the
"comprehensive approach" to security and reconstruction, the
continued "Afghanization" of the security mission through the
training of Afghan security forces, capacity building and
governance support on the provincial and district level, and
isolating violent extremists from local populations. The U.S.
delegation stressed the need to fill the shortfall in OMLTs
and police mentors, to ensure that embedded trainers play an
active part in Afghan Army and Police operations, and to
increase donor contributions in support of upcoming
elections. End summary.

Meeting of RC-West Nations Reveals Unity of Views on
Afghanistan
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- -


2. (SBU) The so-called "West 4" Political-Military
Consultations, an Italian initiative, is a series of meetings
between the PRT contributor nations to ISAF Regional
Command-West, which Italy commands. The first meeting was
held in Kabul in February. Subsequent meetings are planned
for Kabul and Herat with future meetings with representation
from capitals only on an as-needed basis. (Note: MFA
Officials, when briefed on U.S. concerns that the West 4

proposals not duplicate or undermine existing NATO-ISAF
mechanisms (Ref A),stressed that this was not their intent
and that future consultations after the Rome meeting would
remain informal and Kabul/Herat-based). Also in attendance
were delegations from Albania and Slovenia, both of which
have troops in RC-West. The Italian MFA is in the process of
circulating a draft informal statement of conclusions which
will be forwarded to the Department once completed.


3. (SBU) Italian MFA U/S for Asia Gianni Vernetti, in his
opening address, said that Italy is in Afghanistan for the
"long haul," in both its civilian and military capacity. He
underscored the "broad political consensus" in Italy in favor
of the mission (as demonstrated by the fact that 85 per cent
of Parliament voted for the decree refinancing military
missions abroad on February 26),and asserted that this
consensus would remain intact regardless of the outcome of
the April 13-14 Italian General Elections. He also stressed
that the RC-West consultations were not meant to set up a
competing mechanism to existing fora in Brussels and Kabul,
but rather to ensure better international and interagency
coordination in the field by strengthening interagency
coordination in and among capitals. Among Italy's main
priorities, Vernetti listed the strengthening of the Police
and Armed Forces, support for local government and justice
sector capacity-building programs at the provincial and
district level, and isolating extremists from the local
population. He stressed that success in RC-West will depend
upon the effective implementation of the "comprehensive
approach," integrating civilian and military efforts in all
aspects of the mission.

Fragile Security Situation in All Four Provinces
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


4. (C) Italian PolDir Giulio Terzi, Spanish PolDir Dezcallar,
Lithuanian MoD U/S for Defense Policy Norkus and U.S.
Department of State Afghanistan Office Director Tim Wilder
described security challenges in their respective provinces
(Herat, Baghdis, Ghor and Farah): which include friction
between local leaders and tribal groups, infiltration of

ROME 00000312 002 OF 003


Taliban from RC-South, ties between insurgents and drug
traffickers, ineffective local government and insufficient
Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP)
presence. The Spanish and Lithuanian delegations noted that
the weak presence of UNAMA in their provinces hampers PRT
reconstruction efforts, as does the lack of a permanent ANA
presence. Italian and U.S. representatives stressed that any
proposals to increase ANA levels must be coordinated with the
ANA National Strategy that was approved in the Afghanistan
Compact. Both Tim Wilder and Madeline LePage from OSD-Policy
underscored the need to close the gap between security
operations and reconstruction, citing the Commanders
Emergency Response Program (CERP) as a potential model. They
described the Focused District Development Program for police
training and mentoring and encouraged RC-West partners to
deploy OMLTs alongside their units during operations.


5. (C) Italian Defense General Staff Operations and Plans
Chief Major General Preziosa highlighted the need for
additional OMLTs in the Farah-based Second Brigade of the
207th ANA Corps as well as for increased police training for
the ANP and Afghan National Civil Order Police (ANCOP) (Note:
these are both areas where Italian officials have suggested
they may be able to do more). Italy is considering sending
Mobile Artillery and Engineer Training Teams to Herat as
well, under the CSTC-A framework. The Spanish delegation
said that Spain will provide a Forward Support Base at a
former Soviet base in Qal-e-Naw to train an ANA kandak
(battalion) and will sponsor the training and equipping of
one ANA unit. Spain also noted plans to set up "PRT
satellite centers" in the north if the ANA provides force
protection.


6. (C) Dezcallar said that in Spain's view Iran has been a
"stabilizing influence" in Baghdis, building schools and
infrastructure. Considering that Iran has a problem with
opiate trafficking from Afghanistan, ISAF should consider
engaging Iran to optimize its positive influence and minimize
its negative tendencies. Wilder stressed that Iranian
involvement was a complex issue that might not be appropriate
for this forum, and that Iran's contribution was mixed at
best, due to its expulsion of Afghan refugees, the appearance
of Iranian-supplied weapons in insurgent-held areas, and
trade practices that were undercutting local producers.


7. (C) All delegations stressed the importance of getting the
EUPOL mission off the ground. Lithuania had withdrawn its
police trainers from Ghor in the expectation that they would
be replaced by EUPOL, but that has not happened. Italy,
which has 16 Carabinieri and Financial Police officers
assigned to EUPOL, noted that the EUPOL mission at the PRT in
Herat is focused exclusively on mentoring, not training.
Italy also has 14 Financial Police training Afghan Border
Police in Herat outside of the EUPOL framework. Italy, Spain
and Lithuania all stressed the importance of disaster
preparedness training for local governments in the wake of
the winter 2007-2008 snowfall emergencies.

Support to Provincial Governance/Justice Sector: Importance
of the IDLG
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - -


8. (SBU) Italian MFA Special Envoy for Afghanistan Sergio
Mercuri said that Italy's aid focus is shifting towards
building local government capacity and invited other RC-West
members to consider pooling their funding in support of the
Afghan Government's Independent Directorate for Local
Government (IDLG). Italian MFA Justice Reform Coordinator
Rosario Aitala stressed that local governance and justice
reform were "two sides of the same coin," and that if local
governments fail to provide services the population will turn
to the Taliban. The GoA had committed to formulating a
National Justice Plan at the Rome Rule of Law Conference in
July 2007; the resulting plan, unveiled at the Tokyo JCMB
meeting last February, was robust and realistic. He
encouraged all RC-West members to contribute to it via the
Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund (ARTF). Italy has funded a
train-the-trainers program for Afghan judges in 12 provinces

ROME 00000312 003 OF 003


including Herat, and is looking into working with the Focused
District Development program to provide judicial training in
Farah.

Comment
- - - -


9. (C) From the Italian perspective, the RC-West meeting was
a success. The GOI not only demonstrated and declared its
long-term commitment to Afghanistan, but was able to display
an in-depth knowledge of local realities and challenges that
is not always apparent in the public pronouncements of
Italian officials. Despite the high-level representation on
the part of the Italian, Spanish and Lithuanian delegations,
their presentations were substantive rather than generic.
Contrary to public statements that have been made in the past
by senior-level Italian politicians, the participants never
suggested that there was any NATO responsibility for civilian
casualties or insufficient OEF-ISAF coordination. From the
U.S. perspective, the results were encouraging because all
participants agreed on the fundamental importance of the
comprehensive approach, ANA and ANP training and mentoring,
the need to partner with provincial and district officials to
enhance local governance, and the core principles of
counterinsurgency, including the need to separate insurgents
from the population.


10. (U) SCA/A Director Tim Wilder has cleared this message.

SPOGLI