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
.