NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT - MAY 28, 2008

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 05 USNATO 000186 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/29/2018 TAGS: NATO PREL AF SUBJECT: NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT - MAY 28, 2008 Classified By: DCM Richard G. Olson, Jr. for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S/NF) Summary from the NAC Meeting: -- Afghanistan: Acting Secretary General (A/SYG) Bisogniero thanked the U.S. for arranging the May 22 brief with COMCSTC-A MG Cone. Chairman of the Military Committee Henault stated that 62 ANA kandaks would be fielded by August 2008, called for more political action on the problem of Pakistani OMF safehavens, and noted that SACEUR would provide advice on possible means of enhancing ISAF's role in counternarcotics. Acting Senior Civilian Representative Jochems briefed via VTC on increasing Afghan concern with a weak Pakistani government and potential deals that would increase cross-border infiltrations. Allies again held a lengthy discussion on Pakistan, with the Canadian PermRep suggesting that the Tripartite Commission be turned into a political-military body with UN and NATO participation. -- Balkans: The SYG is meeting in New York with the UN SYG on Kosovo. The NATO Military Committee continues its work on revision 3 of Balkans OPLAN based on current political guidance. -- Africa - Support to the AU: The A/SYG provided an update on NATO strategic airlift support to the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM),and reported the International Staff is consulting with AMISOM to obtain detailed requirements for implementation of the mission. -- Iraq: No discussion. -- Response to Terrorism: The A/SYG reported that the Ukrainian frigate expected to join Operation Active Endeavor (OAE) in the Mediterranean has been repaired and certified by SACEUR. -- Spring 2008 CNAD and NC3B Meetings: A/SYG for Defence Investment Flory debriefed the results of the April 24 Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) and May 21 ) 22 NATO C3 Board (NC3B) meetings. Additionally, he addressed the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) program in more detail, specifically focusing on additional criteria to be considered for selecting the AGS Main Operating Base (MOB). -- Statements on Political Subjects: The Slovenian PermRep briefed Allies on the EU Council statement welcoming NATO and EU cooperation in the areas of increased coordination, crisis management, and military capabilities. -- AOB: Iceland announced it will host a seminar on security prospects in the High North on January 29, 2009, in Reykjavik. END SUMMARY. -------------- Afghanistan -------------- ¶2. (C) Acting Secretary General Bisogniero, chairing, thanked the U.S. for arranging a May 22 briefing at NATO with U.S. USNATO 00000186 002 OF 005 CSTC-A Commander MG Robert Cone (reported septel),and reinforced the need for nations to meet NATO's agreed commitment to field ANA embedded trainers (OMLTs). ¶3. (C) Chairman of the Military Committee (CMC) Henault provided a readout of his trip to Afghanistan the prior week with SACEUR. He cited impressive results in ANA training over the past year: the ANA is presently manned at 72 percent, and by August 2008, 62 combat kandaks at 100 percent manning should be in the field. This is in comparison to only 47 kandaks at 55 percent manning in July 2007. He reminded the NAC of the importance that COMISAF and Afghan leaders place on NATO OMLTs. He stated that over the first five months of 2008, 77 percent of kinetic events in Afghanistan have taken place in only 10 percent of the districts, which tracks with analysis from 2007. The CMC stated that President Karzai, COMISAF, and several Afghan ministers had raised the issue of Pakistani safehavens for Opposing Militant Forces and their effect on long-term stability for Afghanistan; he said that more needed to be done from a political perspective. He characterized poppy eradication efforts as relatively unsuccessful, and said that SACEUR was presently considering options to enhance ISAF's efforts in the realm of counternarcotics, and would provide advice to the Council through the Military Committee. ¶4. (C/NF) Acting Senior Civilian Representative Maurits Jochems briefed via VTC from Kabul on a topic of increasing prominence in Council deliberations - Pakistan - reporting on the perspectives of his Afghan interlocutors. He commended recent statements by the NATO Spokesman that were critical of possible peace deals in the Pakistani border areas, and stated that Afghans were as concerned about the negative effects of such deals on Afghanistan as NATO Allies were. Noting that the grasp of many Afghan Parliamentarians of international affairs was low and the tendency toward conspiracy theories high, he stated that many of his contacts in Parliament cannot understand why NATO does not do more on the Pakistani side of the border. He judged that optimism had been high in Kabul after Pakistani elections earlier this year, but the mood was souring and many interlocutors viewed the Pakistani government as weak, divided, and unable to deal with challenges in the border region. He relayed a conversation he had with Afghan NSA Rassoul, in which Rassoul expressed concern that the Pakistani government sees a U.S. unable to deal forcefully with Pakistan due to upcoming U.S. elections, and that therefore NATO would not act, either. Jochems stated that his current terms of reference forbid him from traveling to Islamabad, leaving him to deal with an "old school" Pakistani diplomat in Kabul, and suggested that the NAC review this during an upcoming discussion of NATO's engagement strategy with Afghanistan's neighbors. ¶5. (C) A lengthy discussion on Pakistan ensued for the second straight week. A/SYG Bisogniero briefed on recent NATO-Pakistan interaction: SYG de Hoop Scheffer met with Pakistani Senate Chairman Soomro in Berlin on May 27; Pakistan requested a meeting between the SYG and FM Qureshi on the margins of the Paris Support Conference on June 12; and NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General Jim Pardew will travel to Pakistan in June for discussions on longstanding transit and liaison agreement negotiations between NATO and USNATO 00000186 003 OF 005 Pakistan. (Note: The Private Office informed USNATO late May 28 that the Pakistani NSA announced he will brief all NATO Ambassadors resident in Islamabad within the next two weeks. End Note.) ¶6. (C) Canadian PermRep McRae again led the charge, asking A/SCR Jochems if the Tripartite Commission (TPC) should be "put on a broader political-military basis" to include NATO and the UN. He also asked if recent riots at PRT Chagcharan were indicative of the mood in the rest of Afghanistan, or an isolated event. Turkish PermRep Ildem defended the Pakistani government's "multifaceted strategy" against terrorism and extremism in the border areas, urged NATO to look at expanding a long-term pol-mil partnership with Pakistan, and called for the SCR to play a more direct political role with Islamabad, but cautioned strongly against the Canadian call for NATO to get involved in Pakistan's internal policies vis-a-vis the tribal areas. The UK Charge briefed on MOD Browne's recent stop in Islamabad, where his Pakistani interlocutors defended their negotiations in the border areas, and Browne had reinforced the importance of seeing results. The Spanish PermRep urged that NATO be cautious lest it find itself dragged into the turmoil of Pakistani politics. Netherlands PermRep Schaper asked about the status of Afghan planning for voter registration for upcoming elections, and whether ISAF had been consulted. CMC Henault reiterated that NATO relations with the Pakistani military are developing and that the Pakistanis have asked for more access to NATO's educational and training infrastructure. Bulgaria announced a 100,000-euro contribution to the ISAF Post Operations Humanitarian Relief Fund. ¶7. (C/NF) A/SCR Jochems deferred questions about the TPC and elections security to COMISAF, who will brief the NAC in his farewell address on June 4. On PRT Chagcharan, he noted that the riots seemed suspiciously well organized and that many of the young people involved were the products of extremist educational systems in the area. (The Lithuanian PermRep came in to state that poor community relations with the police were a factor as well, and to reinforce an oft-made Lithuanian point on the need to increase development assistance in underfunded areas, such as Ghor.) Describing his relationship with the Pakistani Charge in Kabul, Jochems noted the typical message he receives when he raises border issues is for ISAF to do more about poppies in the south, "the real cause of the problem" according to the Charge; an admonition to put troops on the border as Pakistan has done; and a reminder that Pakistan was one of the few nations to have helped with the Afghan refugee problem following the Soviet invasion. -------------- Balkans -------------- ¶8. (C) The A/SYG mentioned that the SYG was in New York Wednesday meeting with the UN SYG on Kosovo. The A/SYG noted that the SYG would inquire about UNMIK's plans for transition following June 15 and seek more information about UNMIK's planned force posture. The CMC reiterated his request for additional political guidance from the NAC with regards to moving toward military committee approval of revision 3 of USNATO 00000186 004 OF 005 the Balkans Joint Operations Plan. In response, the NAC approved a decision directing the Military Committee to continue its work based on current political guidance from the NAC Initiating Directive, setting aside any outstanding political issues for the NAC to resolve. The A/SYG informed PermReps that the SYG has scheduled a Friday, May 30, coffee discussion in order to provide a readout from his New York trip. -------------- Africa - Support to the AU -------------- ¶9. (C) The A/SYG provided an update on NATO strategic airlift support to the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM),as requested by Ambassador Nuland last week. The A/SYG informed the NAC that the International Staff is consulting with AMISOM to obtain detailed requirements for implementation of the mission. -------------- Response to Terrorism -------------- ¶10. (C) The CMC reported that the Ukrainian frigate expected to join Operation Active Endeavor (OAE) in the Mediterranean has been repaired and certified by SACEUR. The CMC drew attention to a letter sent Wednesday from SACEUR to the SYG requesting approval for the ship to join OAE from 30 May to 2 August. -------------- Spring 2008 CNAD and NC3B Meetings -------------- ¶11. (S/NF) A/SYG for Defence Investment Flory debriefed the results of the April 24 Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) and May 21 ) 22 NC3B meetings. Flory also addressed the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) program in more detail, specifically focusing on additional criteria to be considered for selecting the AGS Main Operating Base (MOB). ¶12. (C) Regarding Missile Defense, CNAD is working on defining architecture options to extend coverage to all Allied territory and populations in accordance with the Bucharest Summit tasking. It was also noted that the ALTBMD IOC projection has slipped until November 2011. Regarding cyber defense (CD),NC3B initiatives will improve NATO's cyber defense capabilities to include standing up of a NATO Cyber Defense Management Authority (CDMA),developing a CDMA concept of operations (3Q08),and organizing recurring cyber defense exercises. ¶13. (C) Regarding AGS, Flory focused on the status of efforts required to move the program forward to include the release of the Program Memorandum of Understanding (PMOU),the release of the Request for Proposal to industry, the approval of the NAGSMO charter, solving the issue of what is eligible for common funding, and the selection of the main operating base (MOB). ¶14. (C) Flory informed Allies it was imperative to choose the USNATO 00000186 005 OF 005 MOB and finalize funding decisions in order to meet the 2012 target for IOC. Eight nations have submitted 10 locations for the MOB. The Chairman of the Military Committee and Allies (Germany, Poland, Estonia, Canada, Turkey, Spain, Bulgaria, Italy, and the United States) reiterated the need for the AGS and the importance of increasing contributions and quickly choosing a MOB. Spain in particular criticized the unfairness of the current funding system by arguing that the 19 contributing Allies must absorb the other seven's 32 percent share of AGS. Ambassador Nuland also urged Allies to complete this project by noting that the United States' current 95 percent share of surveillance capability in Afghanistan was unsustainable. She stated that the U.S. supported a quick decision on basing in order to move forward with all the other related activities and that the U.S. would make its decision based on financial, operational, and proximity to theater criteria focusing on the top tier options (and reiterating that, since all nations will benefit from the capability, all nations should participate in funding the operations and support phase). France questioned the notion that AGS was to be a "NATO Owned and Operated" capability and reiterated that they believe it to be a multi-national program, not a NATO program. Germany, Italy, and Turkey all advocated for their bases, while Poland conceded its candidate base (Powidz) did not meet the criteria and supported Germany. The A/SYG concluded by recommending the NAC note the military advice, agree that an urgent decision on the location of the MOB was needed in order to meet an IOC of 2012, and to request that the SYG recommend an MOB location taking into account all criteria discussed. -------------- Statements on Political Subjects -------------- ¶15. (C) Slovenia also briefed Allies on the EU Council statement welcoming NATO and EU cooperation in the areas of increased coordination, crisis management, and military capabilities. --- AOB --- ¶16. (C) Iceland will host a seminar on security prospects in the High North in Reykjavik on January 29, 2009. Norway spoke in support for this conference by urging Allies to attend. NULAND