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
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