RFG: JULY 1 NAC DISCUSSION ON WHITHER NATO-PAKISTAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L USNATO 000221 SIPDIS CENTCOM FOR SOCCENT AND CENTCOM FWD E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/26/2018 TAGS: NATO PREL MOPS MARR AF PK SUBJECT: RFG: JULY 1 NAC DISCUSSION ON WHITHER NATO-PAKISTAN REF: A. USNATO 215 B. USNATO 212 C. USNATO 208 Classified By: Charge Richard G. Olson, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) This cable contains a request for guidance in paragraph 4. ¶2. (C) As reported in reftels and other channels, the role of Pakistan as a safehaven for insurgents in Afghanistan and how NATO's political and military engagement with Pakistan should evolve has become an increasingly high-profile issue within NATO HQ. NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General Ambassador James Pardew met with Pakistani officials June 22-23 in Islamabad to exchange views on the border, assess the general political climate as it relates to NATO-Pakistan relations, lay groundwork for a visit to Islamabad by Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer later this year, and examine whether any forward movement is possible on longstanding NATO-Pakistan negotiations for a military liaison and transit arrangements for ISAF. He will debrief the NAC on July 1, and following his debrief, the Private Office has ceded to a Turkish request to schedule a briefing by the Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan. ¶3. (C) This informal July 1 meeting among NATO PermReps offers the first opportunity in some time for nations to lay out detailed thinking on next steps for NATO in its political and military relationship with Pakistan. It will also set the initial course for discussion and development of the themes and messages that NATO wants the SecGen to deliver to the Pakistani government when he eventually travels to Islamabad in Fall 2008. (Comment: FM Qureshi invited the SecGen to Islamabad when they met June 12 on the margins of the Paris Support Conference, but the Private Office tells us that the earliest the SecGen could conceivably travel would be October. We also understand that Ambassador Pardew reiterated to his interlocutors the SYG's June 12 invitation to Qureshi for either Qureshi or PM Gilani to address the NAC. If accepted, this might precede the SYG's anticipated travel to Islamabad. End comment.) It will be important for the United States to play a leading role in this discussion, and help steer Allies in a direction where we would like to see NATO head over the next several months and the longer-term. ¶4. (C) RFG: Mission requests interagency cleared talking points no later than OOB Brussels Tuesday, July 1, for use during this discussion. Points should take into account commitments made by HOSG at Bucharest with regard to NATO-Pakistan relations (PO(2008)0059-NC, emailed to EUR/RPM),and would ideally permit Charge to suggest actionable items for NATO to work on in the coming months. Further details on the discussions here at NATO HQ, as well as USNATO's ideas on how we might direct NATO's engagement with Pakistan were included in reftel B. OLSON