ISAF: GREEKS WON'T GO TO RC-WEST AFTER ALL, NEW GOVERNMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 001629 SIPDIS AMEMBASSY ANKARA PASS TO AMCONSUL ADANA AMEMBASSY ASTANA PASS TO USOFFICE ALMATY AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL LEIPZIG AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PASS TO AMEMBASSY PODGORICA AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PASS TO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/11/13 TAGS: PREL PGOV NATO MARR GR AF SUBJECT: ISAF: GREEKS WON'T GO TO RC-WEST AFTER ALL, NEW GOVERNMENT DECIDES CLASSIFIED BY: Daniel V. Speckhard, Ambassador; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (SBU) As foreshadowed by MOD Venizelos in his November 4 meeting with the Ambassador, Greek press reports that the Government Council of Foreign Affairs and Defense (KYSEA),Greece's NSC equivalent, decided November 13 to reverse the previous government's commitment to re-deploy the Greek ISAF engineering contingent from Kabul to RC-West and to increase the number of Greek troops from 147 to 300. After the KYSEA meeting, MOD Venizelos announced the decision. The Greek troops will stay in Kabul. Commenting on the previous government's decision, Venizelos said the Papandreou administration was concerned with the possibility of loss of life among Greek troops and that the cost of re-deployment was too high. Instead, Venizelos said, Greece will dispatch 19 army officers to help with the training of Afghan security forces and will contribute 3 million euros to the ANA Trust Fund. ¶2. (C) Comment: The High Level Consultative Committee meeting on November 16, led by Assistant Secretary of Defense Vershbow, affords an opportunity to discuss this announcement. Previous Embassy reporting had indicated growing Greek concerns with the possibility of casualties, and the Greek realization that they simply did not have the money or equipment necessary to send their forces to a more hazardous part of Afghanistan. We understand, though, that the engineers have little work to do in Kabul, and that the space they occupy has already been pledged to other units, based on the Greeks' April 2009 announcement that they were moving to RC-West. Greece will need to work this out with ISAF. Given the current budget crisis and the public nature of the new Government's decision, it is unlikely that we would succeed in reversing this decision. With our own announcement of the results of the President's Afghanistan strategy review on the horizon, Embassy recommends identifying other ISAF needs that Greece could conceivably fill given its current force structure. End comment. Speckhard