READOUT NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 05 USNATO 000472

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2018
TAGS: AF NATO PREL
SUBJECT: READOUT NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL MEETING DECEMBER
17, 2008

Classified By: Classified by Charge' de Affaires Walter S. Reid for rea
sons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C/NF) Summary from the NAC Meeting:

-- AFGHANISTAN: The Secretary General (SYG) obtained North
Atlantic Council (NAC) agreement to task NATO Military
Authorities to provide rapid military advice on elections
support prior to the next Council discussion on January 7.
He asked for cooperation from nations to provide the Senior
Resource Board with the information it needs to make an early
January decision on enlarging the scope of the Afghan
National Army (ANA) Trust Fund to include sustainment costs.
The International Military Staff gave a year-end review of
ISAF operations, reporting that ISAF had grown to 57,000
troops and that international and Afghan military casualties
had increased in 2008. Germany asked for information on
reports that Gormach District would move from RC-W to RC-N.
Canada announced an increase in its ISAF contribution by 332
troops and soon fielding up to 20 helicopters. Germany, the
Netherlands, Bulgaria and Norway announced financial
contributions to the ANA Trust Fund.

-- BALKANS: The SYG said the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo
(EULEX) deployment has been progressing well. He called for
Allied pressure on Prime Minister Thaci to approve the
nominated commander of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) in
order to facilitate movement on the KSF stand-up, and
Ambassador Volker urged Allies to contribute to the KSF trust
fund.

-- AFRICA: The SYG announced that Deputy Assistant SYG
Jochems is in Africa to consult with the AU and regional
states on counter-piracy and NATO support for the AU.

-- IRAQ: The SYG reported that the Iraqi Council of
Ministers had approved a draft law governing the legal status
of non-U.S. coalition forces (including the NATO Training
Mission ) Iraq) and said he would distribute a copy of the
draft law to Allies. Assistant Secretary General Howard
noted the draft law provides similar, but not identical,
legal protections to those afforded to U.S. forces. He also
said the law calls for NATO to withdraw by July 31, 2009, but
allows for an extension, which he was confident PM Maliki
would provide. Allies expressed serious concerns about the
possibility of a lapse in the authorization and legal
protections for NTM-I.

-- RESPONSE TO TERRORISM: No discussion

-- TRANSFORMATION: Item postponed until January 2009 meeting.

-- 2009 BUDGET ESTIMATES FOR THE INTERNATIONAL STAFF: Allies
agreed to the Secretary-General,s proposed compromise budget
for 2009.

-- STATEMENTS ON POLITICAL TOPICS: No discussion.

--AOB: Allies approved the proposed allocation of NATO
Contact Point Embassy responsibilities for 2009-2010.
Several Allies commented that the method for making CPE
assignments should be revised given the bruising debate over
the assignments.

END SUMMARY.

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Afghanistan
--------------


2. (C/NF) Afghanistan: The Secretary General (SYG) obtained
Council approval to task NATO Military Authorities to provide
advice on elections support as soon as possible, to inform
the next Council discussion scheduled for January 7. Nations
are to consider the request from Supreme Allied Commander
Europe (SACEUR) to evaluate the possible use of the NATO

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Response Force to supplement the Elections Support Force
should force generation come up short. The extraordinary
force generation conference for the Elections Support Force
is scheduled January 14. The SYG also urged PermReps to
encourage their military representatives to work with SHAPE
to provide the information requested by the Senior Resource
Board by January 5, enabling the committee to make a decision
in early January on enlarging the scope of the Afghan
National Army (ANA) Trust Fund to include sustainment costs.



3. (C/REL ISAF) Assistant Director of the International
Military Staff Operations Division MG Li Gobbi gave a
year-end snapshot of ISAF operations in Afghanistan. He said
the Military Committee would give a follow-on early January
report on the evolution of opposing militant forces in 2008.
Li Gobbi said ISAF forces increased from 44,000 to 52,000
troops (among 41 nations) this year due mostly to additional
U.S. and French contributions and additional Operational
Mentor and Liaison Teams (OMLT) from Allies. He said there
are already confirmed offers for next year from troop
contributing nations that will bring the troop total to
57,000. There were improvements in helicopter assets in
theatre this year, although ISAF still has critical
weaknesses in this area, such as medical evacuation. Li
Gobbi showed that the numbers of killed and wounded among
international and domestic military forces increased as
overall engagement of ISAF and Afghan forces with insurgents
increased in 2008. The two primary ISAF operations this year
were Operation Shamshir through October, and Operation Tolo,
ongoing until next March. ISAF judged Operation Shamshir an
overall success (later responding to a Canadian question, Li
Gobbi admitted the success was uneven from province to
province, especially in the south where effects were less
apparent). Transfer of Lead Security Responsibility for
Kabul Province is on track for Phase III completion on
December 31, which will leave only Sarobi district for Phase
IV handover in early 2009. The number of completed
Provincial Reconstruction Team projects more than quadrupled
this year to 9,868. Li Gobbi mentioned improvements in the
Afghan National Army, which is now participating in 70
percent of ISF operations and leading the planning for half.
ISAF has a shortage of 17 OMLTs.


4. (C/REL ISAF) MG Li Gobbi said ISAF still needs to
establish a military liaison element in Islamabad and a
transit agreement for NATO. Good news stories for 2008 were
the establishment of the first Border Coordination Center and
revitalization of the Tri-Partite Commission.


5. (C/REL ISAF) Canada questioned the accuracy and
effectiveness of ISAF metrics to evaluate operational success
on the ground in Afghanistan for non-tangible goals such as
separating the population from insurgents. Germany asked to
be informed regularly about ISAF,s intentions or plans to
expand the Regional Command-North boundary &beyond the
operations box8 to include Gormach district. MG Li Gobbi
assured Germany that the chain of command would keep the
Council fully informed. The SYG said the Council should
consider taking a decision about changing regional command
boundaries and areas of responsibility following military
advice in the near future. France noted that the December 14
meeting in Paris hosted by Foreign Minister Kouchner was
successful, and included discussions on the Afghanistan
region, narcotics, and local and regional cooperation.


6. (C/REL ISAF) Canadian PermRep McRae said, &We are not
waiting for the phone call, but making new commitments now.8
Canada will increase its troop strength by 332 to a total
2,832, effective February 2009. It will also add 6 Mi-8
transport helicopters to Kandahar, 6 Chinook helicopters, 8
Griffin escort helicopters, and improved Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle (UAV) systems. Germany said it would contribute 3
million euros to the Law and Order Trust Fund of Afghanistan
(LOTFA),with 1.6 million covering police check-point
facilities and 1.4 million for police pensions. The

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Netherlands is giving 1 million euros to a helicopter trust
fund led by the UK and France.


7. (C/REL ISAF) The Bulgarian PermRep announced a
prior-to-year-end contribution of 60,000 euros to the ANA
Trust Fund, noting that his country saw opportunities for
donations now despite ongoing debate at NATO over whether to
expand the fund,s scope for recurring costs. Norway is
giving 220,000 euros to the ANA Trust Fund before January 1,
specifically to ship the remaining three Mi-8 helicopters
donated by the Czech Republic to theatre. The Netherlands
reminded the group that it already contributed of 10 million
euros to the ANA Trust Fund prior to the December
ministerial.


8. (S/REL NATO) The Czech PermRep called attention to a
recent NATO classified report that specifically addresses
ongoing attempts by Russian intelligence services to target
NATO member states. He asked the SYG to task the appropriate
NATO committee with discussing the report, and reminded the
Council that it should not forget the importance of
counter-intelligence measures. (Comment: This was a
by-product of the concurrent bruising budget debate in the
Tuesday &Coffee.8 End Comment.)

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Balkans
--------------


9. (C/NF) Balkans: The SYG said the EU Rule of Law Mission
in Kosovo (EULEX) deployment had progressed well over the
past week. He said there are roughly 1,500 EULEX
international staff on the ground, including 50 police in
northern Kosovo and 150 in reserve. Ambassador Volker said
the U.S. was pleased with the EULEX deployment to date, and
the U.S. has its full complement of 80 personnel on the
ground in EULEX.


10. (C) The SYG said the Kosovo authorities approved the
nomination of Behxhet Brajshori as the Deputy Minister of the
Kosovo Security Force (KSF),but still need to nominate the
second Deputy Minister. He encouraged Allies to press Prime
Minister Thaci to approve the nominated KSF Commander,
because his inaction is delaying movement on KFOR,s new
tasks of deactivating the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) and
standing up the KSF. Ambassador Volker, supported by the
SYG, urged Allies to contribute to the KSF trust fund. In
response to a Czech request that NATO begin briefing the
Serbian military and Serbian Ambassador to NATO Milinkovic on
the civilian aspects of the new tasks, Assistant Secretary
General for Operations Martin Howard said such a brief has
been offered to Ambassador Milinkovic.

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Africa
--------------

11. (C/NF) Africa: The SYG reported that Deputy Assistant
SYG for Operations Maurits Jochems was in Africa to discuss
NATO support for the AU as well as piracy-related issues. He
said Jochems would brief the NAC in early January.

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Iraq
--------------


12. (C/NF) Iraq: The SYG reported that, so far, NATO had
received no formal response from the Government of Iraq (GOI)
regarding the proposed Exchange of Letters (EOL) authorizing
NTM-I to continue beyond December 31, 2008, although he noted
the Iraqi Council of Ministers approved a new draft law that
sets out the legal basis for NTM-I. The law still must be
approved by the Council of Representatives.


13. (C/NF) The SYG announced he would circulate a text of
the draft law among Allies, and that the protections afforded
by this new law are similar to, but not the same as, those in

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the U.S. SOFA. He also said that NATO Legal Advisor DeVidts
thinks the law provides adequate authority and protections
for NTM-I to continue into 2009. Nevertheless, it is
understood that a new EOL is needed, as called for in the new
law, per the SYG.


14. (C/NF) The SYG acknowledged that if the new Iraqi law
is not passed by the end of the year, NATO will have to
instruct its commanders to cease operations and confine
personnel to base effective January 1, 2009. NATO Assistant
SYG for Operations Howard noted that the draft law calls for
NTM-I to terminate its mission by July 31, 2009, but makes
provision for an extension. PermReps from Italy, the
Netherlands, Romania and Portugal all expressed serious
concern over the potential for a lapse in legal authority and
protection for NTM-I. The UK said its authorities were less
concerned about these developments and saw the evolving
situation as &generally positive.8 (See USNATO septel.)


15. (C/NF) Response to Terrorism: No discussion


16. (C/NF) Transformation: Items postponed until January
2009 meeting.

--------------
2009 Civil Budget
--------------


17. (C/NF) 2009 Civil Budget: The compromise proposal of
the Secretary General for the 2009 Civil Budget was accepted
by consensus. The compromise budget proposal contained the
following significant items:

-- The two major priorities of the SCR,s office in Kabul
and Strategic Communications will be funded via reallocations
from other parts of the budget.

-- The NOS security programs will be reviewed carefully in
2009 and a multi-year solution will be agreed as to NOS
needs.

-- The dynamic elements of the budget, including the
liaison offices in Tbilisi and Kyiv, will be handled via
in-year reviews as required.

-- The sustainability of core programs will be addressed
in the 2010 Medium Term Financial Plan.

-- The compromise on NATO-Russia funding permits the
Secretary-General to consider the way forward in Russia
relations before the second half of the year, in conjunction
with the two ministerials and the summit in early 2009.

-- The compromise funds NATO-Russia programs for the
Resettlement Center for the first six months only with a
review required by July 1.

-- Euro 977,000 was found as four 2008 programmes had not
required all their funding. Euro 843,000 was diverted from
funds previously allocated to ICTM revitalization.

-- These funds were allocated as follows: Euro 300K to
NOS security requirements, 250K restored to MD/ICI/Ukraine
partnerships (almost all to MD),100K to offices in Kyiv
and Tbilisi, 170K to move a parking lot to make room for the
building housing the two new NATO members.

-- In the end, Turkey did not press her requirement that
SPS funding cuts be reinstated in the 2010 budget by decision
now, but pressed for &following the 2006-agreed five-year
plan funding levels through 2011.8


18. (C/NF) Statements on Political Subjects: No Discussion.

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Any Other Business

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19. (C/NF) Any Other Business: The Council approved NATO
Contact Point Embassy assignments for 2009-2010, which had
been negotiated during the Perm Reps, informal lunch meeting
the day before. The SYG noted that Slovenia was left with no
CPE assignment for next year, and so the decision sheet would
include an understanding that Slovenia would be assigned CPE
for Montenegro for 2011-2012. Numerous Allies noted how
flexible they had been in the negotiations and stressed how
they had settled for less than their first choices, and
expressed the hope this would be taken into account in the
next round of negotiations. Several Allies commented on the
need to find a better way to assign CPEs to avoid similar
difficult negotiations in the future.
VOLKER