U.S. COORDINATOR SCHWEICH ENGAGES ITALIANS ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ROME 000357

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/29/2018
TAGS: PREL SNAR NATO IT MARR MOPS AF EAID
SUBJECT: U.S. COORDINATOR SCHWEICH ENGAGES ITALIANS ON
AFGHAN JUSTICE REFORM AND NARCOTICS

REF: A. STATE 24923

B. ROME 312

Classified By: Acting Political Minister-Counselor Gabriel Escobar for
Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (SBU) Summary. In meetings with GOI officials and the
Italian press on March 13-14, Amb. Thomas A. Schweich,
Coordinator for Afghan Justice Reform and Counternarcotics
and INL PDAS, drew a strong correlation between security and
narcotics in Afghanistan. He presented new USG and UNODC
data showing that almost all new poppy cultivation is in
insecure zones in the south and west (including Farah, in the
Italian RC-West),where rule of law is weak or non-existent
and wealthy landowners, corrupt officials and insurgents
increasingly exploit the opium trade for profit. Schweich
praised U.S.-Italian cooperation on Afghan Justice Reform in
the wake of the Rome Rule of Law Conference in 2007, pressed
for Italian follow-up on the implementation of the Afghan
National Justice Sector Strategy, and urged more Italian
donor aid to the justice sector. In meetings with officials
from the Anti-Mafia Prosecutor's Office and the Central
Anti-Drug Service, he discussed the trafficking of South
American cocaine and Afghan opiates into Italy and the rest
of Europe. End Summary.


2. (SBU) In meetings with GOI officials and the Italian press
on March 13-14, Amb. Schweich provided an update on Afghan
cooperation with the international community in the area of
counternarcotics and justice reform. During meetings and a
working lunch hosted by the Italian MFA on March 13 he met
with Cristina Ravaglia, Deputy Director General for Asia and
Oceania; Sergio Mercuri, Senior Italian Envoy for
Afghanistan; Diego Brasioli, Director for G8 Affairs,
Counterterrorism and Counternarcotics; Gianni Bardini,
Director for Political-Military Affairs; Rosario Aitala,
Senior Legal Adviser for Afghan Justice Reform, and Walter
Zucconi, Central Asia Desk Officer at the Directorate General
for Development Cooperation.


3. (SBU) Schweich emphasized that U.S. and UN data indicate
that GoA-led educational programs and incentives have
deterred poor peasant farmers from growing poppy in the north
and east. These are areas where improved security has
enabled the GoA and international partners to deliver
counternarcotics services. In the areas in the south and
west where poppy cultivation has risen, ISAF control of the
terrain is more limited, and large-scale "industrial" poppy
growers have expanded production into the Helmand river
valley -- sometimes with insurgent protection, and often with
the complicity of governing entities.


4. (C) MFA Political Military Director Bardini acknowledged
the link between the insurgency and drug trafficking and
noted that this would be on the agenda at the NATO Summit in
Bucharest. He expressed concern that expanding ISAF's
counternarcotics (CN) role could potentially overburden the
mission with extra-military tasks. Schweich noted that
ISAF's CN mandate already allows for civil-military
information sharing and some force protection for Afghan
eradication teams; the U.S. is not advocating a revision of
ISAF's Operations Plan, but is instead urging military
commands to actively implement existing CN authorities. ISAF
Commander Gen. McNeill has introduced CN elements into his
operational planning, Schweich noted, and in recent months
integrated CN and counterinsurgency operations have
contributed to the improvement of governance and security in
Nangarhar. Schweich also stressed the importance of police
training in drug-producing areas and urged the Italians to
accept the U.S. invitation to embed Carabinieri trainers with
U.S. Marine police training teams (Ref A).


5. (C) Ravaglia told Schweich that the recent "West 4"
meeting of RC-West contributor nations in Rome (Ref B)
reaffirmed the importance of police and military training and
of close civil-military cooperation. She described the
recent visit of MFA DG for Asia Iannucci to Herat, where
Italy has its PRT, as "troubling." Lawlessness is on the
rise in the province, fueled in part by rivalries between the
Governor and the Police Chief. She welcomed the naming of

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UNSYG Special Representative for Afghanistan Kai Eide and
hoped that it would provide an impetus for donor coordination
efforts in the coming months.

Justice Reform: Need to Maintain Rome Conference Momentum
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6. (SBU) On justice reform, Schweich praised Italian
coordination of the 2007 Rome Rule of Law Conference, which
raised USD 98 million in pledges. He also noted the mood of
optimism for the justice sector at the February Joint
Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) meeting in Tokyo,
where Italian efforts were instrumental in achieving progress
on the Afghan National Justice Sector Strategy (NJSS) and
National Justice Program (NJP). Our priorities now should be
to maintain momentum on donor support for the NJSS, which
will require an additional USD 300 million if it is to be
implemented over the next five years. The U.S., Italy and
Canada, as the largest justice sector donors, have the high
ground from which to press other donors to do more. In
addition, the U.S. and Italy should continue to focus on
justice sector capacity-building and urge the GoA to put an
end to political interference in prosecutions. Mercuri
agreed that more funding was crucial and hoped that the World
Bank's approval of a justice sector chapter in the ARTF
(Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund) would spur donors to
contribute.


7. (SBU) In response to the GoI,s proposal to dismantle the
International Coordination Group for Justice Reform (ICGJR),
Schweich advocated that the ICGJR be supported indefinitely,
describing it as a well-functioning mechanism for justice
sector coordination and questioning the logic behind the
Italian proposal to dismantle it. Mercuri defended Italy,s
position on the grounds that the ICGJR will eventually need
to be replaced by an Afghan-owned institution, but assured
Schweich that the GoI has no desire to dismantle the ICGJR
until a parallel Afghan institution is functioning at full
capacity.

Heroin Trafficking from Afghanistan a Growing Concern
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8. (SBU) In his meetings with MFA Officials, with Chief
Anti-Mafia Prosecutor Piero Grasso, and with the Interior
Ministry's Anti-Drug Director Rodolfo Ronconi, Schweich
discussed cocaine and opiate trafficking patterns and the
status of international counternarcotics efforts. All
participants agreed on the importance of Iran, which is the
transit point for 50 percent of the Afghan opiate trade and
which is experiencing a boom in heroin addiction as a result.
Ronconi noted that Italy was the only European country with
a drug liaison officer in Tehran, in addition to officers in
Tashkent, Islamabad and Kabul. Data supplied by these
officials indicates the increasing problem of precursor
importation into Afghanistan (particularly via Pakistan).
Grasso and Ronconi confirmed that Italy remains a destination
and transit point for South American cocaine and, to a lesser
but still significant extent, Afghan heroin. Although both
drugs are increasingly trafficked via West African routes,
the primary heroin routes run through Iran and Central Asia
to Turkey, Russia and the Balkans. Italian organized crime
groups continue to play a prominent role in drug trafficking,
along with Albanian, Serbian and Ukrainian groups.


9. (SBU) Italian judicial cooperation in this area includes
training for anti-drug prosecutors and other officials in
Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Iran and Afghanistan, where one
of Grasso's deputies, Fausto Zuccarelli, worked with the
UNODC on drafting sections of the Afghan Penal Code. Italy
also has the lead role in the EU Police Chief's COSPOL heroin
trafficking investigation project, funds the Paris Pact
initiative to counter the consumption and trafficking of
Afghan opiates, and helps finance the Central Asian Regional
Information and Coordination Center (CARICC).


10. (U) Schweich also addressed the issues of Afghan
counternarcotics and justice reform in an on-the-record
luncheon with leading Italian editors and journalists with
experience in Afghanistan. In addition, he conducted

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television interviews on Afghanistan with TG-5, Italy's
leading private TV newscast, and the satellite channel of
AGI, Italy's second-largest wire service.

Comment
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11. (SBU) Ambassador Schweich's visit was successful not only
in reaffirming close U.S.-Italian cooperation on Afghan
justice reform and counternarcotics, but also in supporting
Embassy efforts to educate Italian public opinion on the
realities of the situation in Afghanistan and to build public
and political support for international efforts there. Both
in the run-up to the Italian General Elections of April 13-14
and during the formation of the new government, Embassy Rome
will continue to look for opportunities to engage the Italian
government and media on Afghanistan.


12. (U) This message has been cleared by Ambassador Schweich.

BORG