BELGIAN TRAINERS LEAVE TO BEGIN TRAINING AFGHAN

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 000069 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/WE, EUR/RPM AND NEA/A E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL MOPS NATO AF BE SUBJECT: BELGIAN TRAINERS LEAVE TO BEGIN TRAINING AFGHAN TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN REF: A. BRUSSELS 1496 ¶B. IIR 6 807 0122 09 ¶1. At its first cabinet meeting on December 30, the government of new Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy gave final approval for the sending of Belgian troops to Afghanistan as an Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT),charged with training soldiers of the Afghan National Army. The first group of 16 soldiers left Belgium on January 5, headed for Kabul, where the Belgian OMLT is to take charge of a battalion of Afghan troops. Fifty-three more soldiers will be sent to Afghanistan in March and the OMLT will transfer to the Northern Afghan town of Kunduz to continue training operations. The OMLT will teach tactics and procedures to the Afghans. It is taking with it eleven Iveco jeeps and seven Dingo II Multi-purpose Protected Vehicles equipped with defenses against improvised explosive devices (IED's). ¶2. The 16 Belgian trainers were accompanied by about thirty other troops from the Belgian Air Component who were sent to relieve members of the detachment operating the four F-16's Belgium is maintaining in Kandahar. ¶3. Each new deployment of Belgian troops abroad continues to be controversial to some degree. Defense Minister Pieter De Crem, who is a strong supporter of a more robust role for Belgium in operations such as ISAF, was obliged to state once again that "we have no intention of sending troops to the south of Afghanistan", which is considered to be more dangerous than the north. He also told the press that the Belgians have received no demand for additional troops from NATO or the United States, despite the announced intention of the Obama administration to increase the number of troops committed to Afghanistan. In December, just before the cabinet meeting, Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht hastened to deny a press report that he was opposed to the deployment. However, he said he had demanded and received a promise that the Belgians' role will be limited to training and not active operations. ¶4. The arrival of the OMLT will again increase the Belgian commitment to Afghanistan, begun after the Leterme government and De Crem came into office in March 2008. Belgian troops are now guarding the Kabul airport, and they operate and maintain the F-16's in Kandahar. The F-16's have seen some action in support of ISAF operations. When all Belgium's troops are in Afghanistan later this year, they will total about 500 soldiers in all. BUSH .