FRIENDS OF AFGHANISTAN MEETING AT THE UN

UNCLAS STATE 105096

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL UNSC UNAMA UNGA KDEM EAID MARR MASS MOPS UN
AF
SUBJECT: FRIENDS OF AFGHANISTAN MEETING AT THE UN


1. This message is sensitive but unclassified: please protect
accordingly.


2. (U) Participants:

U.S.
A/S Richard Boucher, SCA

AFGHANISTAN
Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta

AUSTRALIA
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith

CANADA
Ambassador John McNee, Permanent Representative to the UN

DENMARK
Ambassador Carsten Damsgaard, Political Director

FRANCE
Ambassador Gerard Araud, Political Director
Ambassador Pierre Duquesne

GERMANY
Ambassador Volker Stanzel, Political Director

ITALY
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini

JAPAN
Ambassador Yukio Takasu, Permanent Representative to the UN

NETHERLANDS
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen

NORWAY
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store

UNITED KINGDOM
Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, Political Director

UNITED NATIONS
Under-Secretary-General Alain Le Roy, Department of
Peacekeeping operations (DPKO)
Special representative Kai Eide (UNAMA)


3. (SBU) SUMMARY: This message contains an action request for
USUN, please see paragraph 4. Norway hosted a meeting of the
informal group of the friends of Afghanistan on the margins
of UNGA on September 24. The meeting provided an opportunity
to follow-up the implementation of the Afghan National
Development Strategy endorsed at the June international
conference in Paris in support of Afghanistan. UN Special
Representative Kai Eide called on Friends to work together to
reverse negative trends in Afghanistan by March 2009, by
focusing on the following priorities: security (particularly
police),local governance, anti-corruption, aid-effectiveness
and increased civil-military cooperation. Friends of
Afghanistan expressed support for Eide,s recommendations.


4. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: During the meeting, newly-appointed
UN Under-Secretary-General Le Roy for peacekeeping confirmed
UNSYG approval of budget requests to expand the UN Assistance
Mission to Afghanistan. However, the formal budget approval
in the UN requires that the proposal is reviewed by the
Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions
(ACABQ) and put to a vote in the UN General Assembly 5th
Committee (Administrative and Budgetary). This review and
vote would likely take place in December. As expansion is a
U.S. priority, the Department requests that USUN work with
the Friends of Afghanistan on ways to accelerate
consideration and approval of the budget. END OF SUMMARY AND
ACTION REQUEST.


5. (SBU) Afghan Foreign Minister Spanta first reported on the
worsening security situation in Afghanistan, mentioning the
increase in the number of &Kashmiri jihadists8 in
Afghanistan and the lack of control of the central government
(3 out of 13 districts in Helmand are under government
control). Despite this situation, Spanta underlined the steps
taken to implement the national development strategy,
including the appointment of the anti-corruption commission
by President Karzai and the effort to reduce poppy
production, which is down 19 percent this year. Mentioning
civilian casualties, Foreign Minister Spanta pointed to the
lack of coordination and to &wrong intelligence sources.8
He feared that further loss of civilian life would put the
support of the Afghan population for the Coalition at risk.


6. (SBU) UN Under Secretary General Le Roy stressed that
Afghanistan would remain a priority for the UN in the coming
years and confirmed that the UN Secretary General had
approved the expansion of the UN budget and personnel in
Afghanistan. The UN had accepted a higher degree of
responsibility over the situation without having the full
control of the military or financial tools. It relied on the
willingness of Friends to be coordinated and pledged the UN
would make every effort to be convincing. He noted the UN
was now a target of the insurgency, as three UN staff were
killed in Southern Afghanistan last week. The international
community and the Afghan government had to reverse the
security situation as time was running out. He mentioned
civil-military cooperation, aid-effectiveness and a fair
electoral process as key to this effort.


7. (SBU) Special Representative Eide gave a frank assessment
of the situation. After the Paris conference, he said, the
international community had been distracted by the
deteriorating security situation. Attacks were now happening
in and around Kabul, not only in Southern and Eastern
Afghanistan. He reiterated Le Roy,s comment that the UN had
now become a direct target of the insurgency. Civilian
casualties, as highlighted by the Shindand incident, have
also created additional tensions. The Coalition had to do
its best to avoid this situation, but it was &time to move
forward8 and to &come back to the Paris agenda.8


8. (SBU) Eide welcomed the decision by the Afghan government
to create new structures for implementation of the national
development strategy. He outlined the following challenges:

-- Elections: given less-than-perfect security conditions,
the Afghans had to strike a balance between security
requirements and the need to see the process move forward.

-- Humanitarian assistance: the UN had made an appeal for USD
400 million, of which only 40 percent has been received. A
failure in meeting the target would result in possible famine
and new displacements of population. (Comment: the United
States is committed to providing half of the 200,000 metric
tons of food requested, and has already shipped 50,000 metric
tons).

-- Afghan National Army expansion: Eide welcomed the
decision, but expressed concern that the Afghan National
Police might be forgotten as a result of an increased focus
on the army. The police were &in a miserable state8 and
durable security would only be achieved through a stronger
police, which would combat the insurgency, fight crime, and
protect borders.

-- Governance: he stressed that subnational entities needed
to be strengthened. While the creation of the independent
directorate for local governance was welcomed with
enthusiasm, implementation of the &Afghanistan Social
Outreach Program,8 however was still pending, mainly due to
a lack of coordination among donors. Eide vigorously called
on Friends to stop negotiating separate agreements with the
Directorate on the basis of their respective provincial
interests and to adopt standardized procedures.

-- Corruption: the new mechanism was not enough and needed to
be strengthened, but the trend was right. We need to support
the new office and then see what more can be done. Eide also
welcomed the creation of a &National Institute for Public
Management,8 but noted that it is under-resourced.

--Aid effectiveness: The UN was working on establishing
criteria for increased transparency among donors, and Eide
announced he would soon reach out to donors with proposals.
(Comment: towards this effort, State will ask Embassies to
approach governments in donor capitals, show them how our
Paris pledge aligns to Afghan national strategy sectors, and
encourage them to report similar information to the Afghan
Ministry of Finance). He stressed the need for an equitable
distribution of resources, as more and more countries were
&entrenched in a province-based approach.8 Donors were
losing the &nation-wide perspective8 of developing
Afghanistan, which would diminish the impact of international
aid and make the strategy unimplementable.

-- Civil-military coordination: Eide pointed to the
difference of concept between the military and civilians.
Rather than just considering civil-military coordination as a
process of &clear, hold and build,8 he wanted to sit down
with General McKiernan to balance overall resource
allocations of both civilian and military resources, based on
an assessment of the political situation.

-- UNAMA: Eide described his mission as &small and fragile8
and conveyed to the group his frustration that despite
decisions that had been made in June in Paris, he would only
be able to deliver a full response by spring 2009, due to UN
procedures. He regretted the delay in achieving the
&surge8 of the UN in Afghanistan.


9. (SBU) The Friends offered unanimous support to Eide,s
assessment and expressed their commitment to the strategy
endorsed in Paris in June.


10. (SBU) The Netherlands and Italy committed additional
police training resources, notably through the European
Police mission. Germany wondered whether the decrease in
poppy production might be the result of a move by producers
to keep the prices high. In a critical comment on slow
improvements on the ground, the United Kingdom urged the
Afghan government to accelerate implementation of the
national strategy and the UN to move &beyond rhetoric8 on
coordination of foreign assistance. France expressed its
concern that commitments made in Paris in June were
&fulfilled partly and slowly.8 Political Director Araud
called on all parties to accelerate implementing the strategy.


11. (SBU) Boucher reiterated the call on Friends to implement
the strategy and supported Eide,s recommendations on police
(more trainers and better structures) and local governance.
Governors had to be empowered to exert real authority.
Boucher agreed with Eide, Norway, Australia and Canada that
the deterioration of the humanitarian situation needed to be
addressed and recalled the figures of U.S. humanitarian
assistance to Afghanistan (USD 170,000 in food aid and
100,000 metric tons of wheat).


12. (SBU) UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Australia
mentioned improved Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship as a
positive step. FM Spanta confirmed that he would travel to
Islamabad on the first week of October to work on a &common
strategy8 to fight against terrorism and on the wider
bilateral relationship. He also informed the group that a
Regional Peace Jirga would be held on October 28-29.


13. (SBU) At Germany and UK,s request, UN
Under-Secretary-General Le Roy gave further details on the
proposed increase in the Mission'sbudget and the expansion of
the number of personnel. Now that the UN Secretary General
and the UN controller have formally proposed the expansion of
the UN Mission, the budget increase will have to be approved
by the UN General Assembly 5th Committee (Administrative and
Budgetary) after the review by the Advisory Committee on
Administrative and Budgetary Questions. The review by the
Committee and vote by the Fifth Committee would likely take
place in December. Le Roy informed the group that he had
authorized UNAMA to hire a higher percentage of staff on the
current budget, but any pressure by Friends in the 5th
Committee to expedite consideration of this matter might
help. UK and U.S. called on Friends to urge countries in the
5th Committee to accelerate budget approval.
RICE