ESTONIAN REACTION TO AFGHANISTAN CIV-MIL CELL

C O N F I D E N T I A L TALLINN 000347

SIPDIS

FOR EUR/NB-MIGUEL RODRIGUES, EUR/RPM RAPHAEL COPELAND,
SCA/A TOM REOTT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR MOPS NATO AF EN
SUBJECT: ESTONIAN REACTION TO AFGHANISTAN CIV-MIL CELL
CONCEPT

Classified By: DCM Karen Decker for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d).

REF: STATE 99182
STATE 97991


1. (C) Post has engaged the Government of Estonia (GOE)
Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Defense (MOD) on
multiple occasions with regards to reftel. Neither agency
was able to provide a substantive response with regards to
requests for contributions to the Civ-Mil cell. However,
on October 1, the MOD informed Poloff that they (MOD)
support the initiative in principle, but in all likelihood
will not be able to send representatives. As such, the MOD
is more likely to support the second option outlined in the
non-paper related to reftel which envisions COM-RC South
hosting regular meetings of PRT/Task Force senior
civilians, Task Force commanders and headquarters staff
already in theater to facilitate cross-provincial and
cross-sectoral coordination. However, MOD interlocutors
were clear that this is not the official GOE position on
the matter, but the current thinking within the MOD. The
GOE will only express their final position at an official
meeting in which the Cell is formally discussed.


2. (C) DCM has conducted an active outreach campaign to
and among Estonian government departments involved in
Afghanistan on this issue. The MFA leadership supports
civ-mil coordination, though they cannot fund new positions
as the MFA's budget was significantly reduced this fall,
and they are now faced with the necessity of eliminating
MFA positions. The likelihood of Estonia's participation
in the cell ultimately rests on whether Estonia decides to
stop doing something else. For example, in a recent
conversation with Andres Kolk, an Estonian diplomat
currently assigned to the EUPOL mission in Kabul, he told
DCM and Poloff that Estonia currently fields at least six
other civilians throughout Afghanistan: a Charge in Kabul,
an MOD advisor in the Afghan Parliament, a diplomat
assigned to Security Sector Reform at UNAMA, two medical
professionals with Task Force Helmand and a police officer
in the EUPOL mission.


3. (C) COMMENT: We'd love to see Estonia do more. As one
of the first ISAF countries to enter southern Afghanistan
and one of the few to operate without caveats, Estonia
"gets" the importance of the RC-South civ-mil cell. They
"get" the necessity of fielding an OMLTs (as it was
recently suggested they do) and they "get" the urgency of
training enough ANA (Ref B). What they don't have,
unfortunately, is enough Estonian bodies to fulfill all
these requirements. We can and will continue to work with
them to find ways to do more with less, but we also need to
help them manage competing priorities.

Phillips