BELGIAN OFFICIALS DISCUSS AFGHANISTAN WITH SENATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 001130 SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D COPY TEXT STATE FOR S/SRAP, EUR/WE, EUR/RPM, AND NEA/A E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2019 TAGS: MARR MOPS PREL EAID BE AF SUBJECT: BELGIAN OFFICIALS DISCUSS AFGHANISTAN WITH SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE STAFFERS Classified By: Acting Political-Economic Counselor Robert Kiene, reason s 1.4(B) and (D). ¶1. (C) Summary: On August 10, two staff members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Douglas Frantz and Fulton Armstrong, met with a delegation of Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense officials to discuss the challenges and opportunities shared by Belgium, the United States and NATO in Afghanistan. The Belgians outlined Belgium's current military and civilian commitment to Afghanistan. They said the GOB is working toward providing two to four trainers to EUPOL-Afghanistan, but is trying to ascertain security requirements before committing. Maintaining public support for Belgium's mission in Afghanistan is not easy, the officials said. Belgians generally want to show solidarity with the new administration in Washington, but they are beginning to wonder how long their commitment must last. More EU and UN activity would be welcome, because the public responds well to the perception that Belgium is fulfilling a duty to those institutions. Narcotics smuggling is not a top concern. The Belgians urged the USG to support a unified European foreign policy with euro-skeptics like the UK and the Eastern Europeans, because it would facilitate opening up EU resources for Afghanistan. They would also like to see a greater contribution by Arab and other Muslim countries to the effort. End Summary. ¶2. The Belgian delegation was led by Jean-Arthur Regibeau, MFA Director General for Policy. Also present were Francois De Kerchove, Director for Security Policy, Alain Hanssen, Afghanistan desk officer, Vincent Mertens De Wilmars, Diplomatic Advisor to the Minister of Defense, Francois Delhaye, Belgium's Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO, and others. The large number of participants on the Belgian side illustrates the importance the GOB puts on the Afghanistan issue. Frantz and Armstrong told the Belgian officials that with a new President in Washington, a new Supreme Commander at SHAPE and a new Secretary General in NATO, as well as a new ISAF commander, the USG is taking a new look at its strategy in Afghanistan. The goals are being reviewed, and the USG is asking whether it has the right mix of military and civilian tools in place to accomplish them, he said. He observed that NATO by itself does not have the civilian development assistance capabilities that are needed. BELGIUM'S ACTIVITIES IN AFGHANISTAN -------------- ¶3. (C) Mertens reviewed Belgium's military commitments to Afghanistan. These include nearly 300 soldiers providing security to Kabul airport, participation in a German-led PRT in Kunduz, an Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) in Kunduz, with another on the way in late 2009, and six F-16's in Kandahar supported by 120 troops. De Kerchove said that more than 60 percent of the MOD's operational budget is spent on Afghanistan, although the MFA and MOD do not like to publicize the fact. The Belgian government has an office in Kabul to oversee its interests but not an Embassy. Alain Hanssen, the MFA's Afghanistan desk officer, said that Belgium does not provide development assistance directly to Afghanistan, because Afghanistan is not one of Belgium's 18 "partner countries", most of which are in Africa. Rather, Belgium's aid money is channeled through NGO's and UN agencies. In 2009, Hanssen said, Belgium's assistance includes one million euros to UNDP for election purposes, two million euros to the World Food Program, two million euros to UNICEF, one million euros to UNHCR and the International Committee of the Red Cross, plus other contributions to the OSCE for election observers, to a border management staff college and to the World Bank and to other programs such as women's education and BBC programming in Pashto and Dari. ¶4. (C) The GOB is inching forward to providing 2-4 police trainers and a public relations expert to Afghanistan, De Kerchove said. A study of the possibility has been completed by the Federal Police, which has raised questions about the security of the trainers in Afghanistan. The MFA has reached out to countries that have police trainers on the ground in Afghanistan to reassure the police and gain their acquiescence. If approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, the trainers could arrive in Afghanistan in three or four months time and would stay for 12 months. SUPPORT, BUT FOR HOW LONG? -------------- ¶5. (C) Asked by Armstrong what kind of arguments help support Belgium's operations in Afghanistan in the minds of the Belgian people, Regibeau said that one is solidarity with the United States -- especially now that President Obama is in office. Also, the political message that the operations prevent terrorism is gaining ground. However, he said that the government's task is not easy and people are asking how long the operations must last, and whether there is a chance they will end in a reasonable time. Now the government and the people of Belgium are feeling that Belgium has done so much on the military side that a greater effort should be made on the civilian side, he said. Regibeau would like to see both the UN and the European Union do more, partly because the perception that Belgium is fulfilling an EU commitment resonates best with the Belgian public. Regibeau did not see the problem of narcotics smuggling from Afghanistan as an especially valuable argument in Belgium. He said that Europeans do not support an approach based on eradication of opium crops, but Belgians prefer to treat and help addicts in Belgium to avoid drugs. Frantz responded that there is an unfulfilled need for help to treat addiction in Afghanistan, which is a growing problem, even among women and children.Q NEED FOR BROADER INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENT -------------- ¶6. (C) Regibeau commented that the GOB recognizes a different wind is blowing in Washington, that is not making it easy to say no to the Obama administration. The Belgians are now getting the dialogue on key foreign policy issues that they had wanted for years. The GOB appreciates the new emphasis on civilian development and "Afghanistanization" of the conflict. Regibeau feels the new administration's views are much closer to European views. Frantz replied that the ISAF and American operations in Afghanistan are increasingly being viewed as a counter-insurgency. Such an effort requires 20 percent military and 80 percent civilian development assistance, he estimated. He said the allies have done much on the military side but there is far to go on the civilian side. Mertens said that the UN should be more visible in coordinating international assistance, because its global structure would give programs more legitimacy than might be expected from even the EU, which is still after all a Western entity. It is also important to have an "audible demand" from the Afghans themselves for programs. Regibeau continued, saying that the UN umbrella shows Afghans that their development is not just a project of the United States or the West, but that its stability is important to the entire world. Ideas for projectsshould come from the Afghans, he repeated. Te problem, he said, is in finding the "right Afghans" to work with. THE EU SHOULD SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE, TO THE BENEFIT OF AFGHANISTAN -------------- ¶7. (C) In general, the EU needs to react more quickly and act strategically in the UN, multiplying its leverage on the organization, Regibeau said. The U.S. should encourage the EU to develop a real unified foreign policy, which will give EU views even more weight in UN discussions of issues such as Afghanistan. Belgium will have the EU presidency in 2010 and can use it to develop the new institutions under the Lisbon Treaty in that direction, Regibeau hopes. The European Commission should have one policy and one financing, he said, and in fact it has lots of money to spend. He urged to USG to talk to members of the EU that like the United States but are skeptical of a centralized EU foreign policy, such as the UK and Easter European countries, in order to persuade them. Regibeau mentioned that in his experience, it is easier to get a consensus on an issue in the EU when it is known that the United States supports it. He added that while Russia and China are difficult to work with in the UN, if the U.S. and the EU maintain solidarity they often have such political and financial weight that Russia and China cannot block decisions without using their vetos at significant political cost. ¶8. (C) De Kerchove said that he hopes the U.S. will support the EU in doing "rule of law" projects in Afghanistan. He also observed that the GOB likes the "big tent" approach to Afghanistan at the meeting organized by Secretary Clinton in the Netherlands earlier this year. It was an excellent beginning, he said, but he had not seen much follow through in the approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan. ARAB COUNTRIES AS OTHER SOURCES OF FUNDS -------------- ¶9. (C) Delhaye said that there is still good will among NATO countries to succeed in Afghanistan, but there is a problem with funds. Budgets are strapped in the current economic crisis and countries have little more to offer on the BUSH .