NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT - MARCH 5, 2008

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 USNATO 000093 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/11/2018 TAGS: NATO PREL AF SUBJECT: NORTH ATLANTIC COUNCIL READOUT - MARCH 5, 2008 USNATO 00000093 001.2 OF 003 Classified By: DCM Richard G. Olson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C/NF) Summary from the NAC Meeting: -- Afghanistan: Secretary General (SYG) de Hoop Scheffer thanked the NAC for strengthening the Senior Civilian Representative's office and, in later discussion, reiterated his disagreement with a U.S. intelligence report that concluded the Afghan government only controlled 30 percent of the country's territory. The Canadian PermRep asked for NATO analysis in light of the intelligence report,s conclusion. Chairman of the Military Committee Henault described recent efforts by JFC Brunssum to enhance international coordination in Afghanistan, and the International Military Staff announced the launch of Operation SHAMSHIR. -- Balkans: The Chairman of the Military Committee (CMC) highlighted the lack of inter-ethnic violence to date, and SACEUR briefed on cooperation between the KPC and UNMIK and their relation to KFOR. Several Allies commented that UNMIK's activities should be better coordinated with KFOR and remarked that the UN should keep UNMIK in sufficient strength until EULEX is fully deployed throughout Kosovo. The Czech PermRep commented that there are reports of as many as 1,200 Serbian Ministry of Interior Police (MUP) infiltrating into northern Kosovo on Belgrade's instruction. Ambassador Nuland noted the importance of public diplomacy and the importance of conveying the true story of NATO,s success in Kosovo. -- Africa ) Support to the AU: Not discussed. -- Iraq: Ambassador Nuland urged Allies to respond to Iraq PM Maliki's request for expanded NATO training of Iraqi security forces, and asked the SYG to schedule a discussion on Iraq next week with the goal of preparing a positive response at Bucharest to PM Maliki's request. -- Response to Terrorism: Ambassador Nuland briefly referenced the March 2 U.S. missile strike southern Somalia. The Turkish PermRep informed that Turkish land forces had completed limited land attacks against the PKK and had withdrawn to Turkey from northern Iraq. END SUMMARY. -------------- Afghanistan -------------- ¶2. (C/NF) The SYG pointed to the recent removal by President Karzai of Helmand Governor Wafa as an encouraging sign on the governance front, and thanked the NAC for approving a package to strengthen the office of the NATO Senior Civilian Representative (SCR) in Kabul. (Comment: This package for the first time gives the SCR NAC-approved Terms of Reference, as well as ten commonly funded staff positions that will provide the core policy and public affairs structure of the office. Previously, the office had relied solely on Voluntary National Contributions, resulting in at-times under-qualified individuals and unpredictable, lengthy staffing gaps. End comment.) ¶3. (C/NF) CMC Henault briefed on a recent "Afghanistan Coordination Conference" hosted by JFC Brunssum. The conference was led by UNAMA and included representatives from the Afghan Government, UNDP, NATO HQ, ISAF, CENTCOM, CSTC-A, USAID, and the EU. The purpose of the conference was to produce a draft Action Plan for the development of an integrated approach to better coordinate the International USNATO 00000093 002.3 OF 003 Community's involvement in Afghanistan. CMC Henault commended this initiative, and stated that given that UNAMA has an extremely limited planning capability, should any requests by UNAMA to NATO for planning assistance be forthcoming, it would be in NATO's interest to respond positively. ¶4. (C/NF) IMS Assistant Director for Operations MG Li Gobbi anticipated increased activity by Opposing Militant Forces (OMF) and increased infiltrations from Pakistan as spring weather approaches. These infiltrations could also be facilitated by the ongoing ceasefire between militants and Pakistani forces in Pakistan's FATA. He briefed ongoing activity in RC-East to counter this, while also noting that levels of OMF activity in RC-East continue to be lower thus far in 2008 in comparison with the same time period in 2007. Li Gobbi stated that ISAF's pan-theater Operation SHAMSHIR had been launched on March 1. Recalling an oft-briefed figure ) 70 percent of activity against OMF has occurred in only 10 percent of Afghanistan's districts ) he stated that Operation SHAMSHIR will focus on that 10 percent, and aim to enhance security, facilitate reconstruction and development, and bolster the credibility of local governance. ¶5. (C/NF) Canadian PermRep McRae expressed puzzlement at recent testimony of Director of National Intelligence McConnell before the Senate Armed Services Committee, during which it was stated that the Afghan government controlled only 30 percent of the country's territory, and asked for the views of NATO's intelligence officials. McRae also asked if there were any indications that Taliban destruction of cell phone towers in the south had affected the public mood. The SYG reminded PermReps that he had publicly disagreed with the DNI's testimony while in Washington in late February, repeated his disagreement, and told the Canadian PermRep he would ask for a NATO analysis. -------------- Balkans -------------- ¶6. (C/NF) The SYG informed the Council that twenty-three countries have recognized Kosovo independence, with additional countries indicating their intent to recognize. The SYG also briefed on the status on the Kosovo constitution, which is currently under public review. Work continues on the 30 laws that will be necessary to carry out the tenets of the Ahtisaari plan, with nine having passed last week. The CMC highlighted the lack of inter-ethnic violence to date, despite Serbian provocations to effect a soft partition of the Serb populated region north of the Ibar River. ¶7. (C/NF) SACEUR briefed on cooperation between the KPC and UNMIK and their relation to KFOR. He said tension was manageable, even in northern Kosovo. Ethnic Serb officials and members of the police were not cooperating with Kosovar-Albanian authorities, but Serb efforts at soft partition were concentrated in judicial functions, including requisition of the court house and recognition of Serb magistrates only. Customs collection still did not work in the north. ¶8. (C/NF) Slovakia, Turkey, France, Belgium, the UK and the Netherlands commented that UNMIK's activities should be better coordinated with KFOR and remarked that the UN should keep UNMIK in sufficient force until EULEX is fully deployed throughout Kosovo. SACEUR said that while the KPC had no USNATO 00000093 003.3 OF 003 authority in the north, northern Serb cooperation with UNMIK and UNMIK's cooperation with KFOR has improved in recent days. SACEUR said he did not understand UN HQ intentions for the remainder of UNMIK's mandate. He wanted UNMIK to remain at full force until the transition to the EULEX mission in June. SACEUR said that the international community needed to get on with its task of disbanding the KPC, and recruit some of its elements into a truly multi-ethnic Kosovo Security Force. ¶9. (C/NF) The SYG reported on his discussion Tuesday with EU Special Representative Peter Feith, who told him that Serbs in northern Kosovo would not recognize the legitimacy of the EULEX police mission. The SYG said he would have talks both with UN SYG Ban Ki-moon and EU Secretary General Javier Solana about the need for maintaining a full strength UNMIK police presence, especially in the north, during the ramping up of EULEX. The Czech PermRep commented that there are reports of as many as 1,200 Serbian Ministry of Interior Police (MUP) infiltrated into northern Kosovo under Belgrade instruction. SACEUR rejoined that there were no more than 200 MUP in northern Kosovo, but it appeared that they were not there on a permanent basis. Ambassador Nuland noted the importance of public diplomacy and the importance, both for Allied capitals and the NATO Secretariat, to convey to the media, the true story about NATO's success in Kosovo. She remarked that since independence, no one has been displaced from Kosovo or forced to become a refugee. -------------- Iraq -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Ambassador Nuland urged Allies to respond to Iraq PM Maliki's letter requesting expanded NATO training of Iraqi security forces. She asked the SYG to schedule a discussion on Iraq next week with the goal of preparing a positive response at Bucharest to PM Maliki's request. -------------- Response to Terrorism -------------- ¶11. (SBU) Ambassador Nuland made a brief statement that on March 2, a U.S. missile targeted a high value al-Qaeda terrorist in southern Somalia. ¶12. (SBU) Turkey's PermRep informed the NAC that Turkish land forces had completed limited land attacks against the PKK and had withdrawn to Turkey from northern Iraq. NULAND