Ambassador's Meeting with Japanese SRAP Yoshikawa

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SIPDIS

E.O. 12958 N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EAID JP AF
SUBJECT: Ambassador's Meeting with Japanese SRAP Yoshikawa


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Japan's Special Envoy for Afghanistan and
Pakistan, Ambassador Motohide Yoshikawa, told the Ambassador July 22
that he had stressed to President Karzai that the Afghan elections
must be credible, secure, and free - only on that basis would Japan
continue to support Afghanistan. The Ambassador thanked Japan for
its generous assistance to Afghanistan and shared preliminary U.S.
ideas on a post-election understandings between Afghanistan and the
international community, covering sovereignty, reconciliation,
accountable governance, development, and regional issues. Yoshikawa
agreed with this conceptual framework and said Japan hopes to
continue providing financial assistance for Afghan police salaries
but is unlikely to deploy police trainers. However, he said Japan's
interest in Afghanistan may be waning and it is getting harder to
make the case for continued high aid levels. End Summary


2. (SBU) Yoshikawa said he was focusing on elections during this,
his first trip to Afghanistan. He had met with President Karzai, as
well as candidates Ghani and Abdullah, and stressed to Karzai that
the elections must be credible, secure, and free - only on that
basis would Japan continue to support Afghanistan. Karzai, he
noted, sounded confident, and said his priorities were peace, for
which he needed Pakistani help to take on the Afghan Taliban in
Pakistan, and reconciliation, where he was seeking Saudi help to
bring the Taliban back into society. Yoshikawa said Karzai has
successfully charmed the Japanese people, but his support among
Japanese government leaders may be waning. Japan is concerned that
the campaign has lacked a debate on policy visions; Karzai appeared
to think the election result is already decided. Japan has been a
steady supporter of Afghanistan but its interest is declining and is
"artificially inflated" by the fact that Af-Pak is the number-one
U.S. foreign policy priority.


3. (SBU) The Ambassador thanked Japan for its generous assistance to
Afghanistan and its vital political and diplomatic role - a great
example as we urge other donors to do more here. He noted that the
Disarmament of Illegally Armed Groups (DIAG) process has been
frustrating but that the international community (IC) and the GIRoA
have an opportunity ahead to find a more coherent approach. He said
the USG is neutral in the election and has pressed for a more
competitive debate of ideas. We've been successful among opposition
candidates but less so with Karzai, whose platform is more a list of
projects than a policy vision.


4. (SBU) The Ambassador said that the election provides an
opportunity for the IC to consider how it will partner with the
GIRoA over the next five years. The U.S. is considering an approach
which would not be bilateral but must have IC agreement. He said
any way ahead should cover five areas: 1) return of full Afghan
sovereignty, with continued IC assistance, over an agreed timeframe
(key issues would be detention operations and Afghan Army and Police
development); 2) reconciliation; 3) justice and accountable
governance; 4) economic development (with emphasis on reinforcing
existing plans and institutions; and 5) Afghanistan's place in the
region. The Ambassador said the GIRoA in principle will support all
the elements of this conceptual framework except number 3, where the
U.S. and GIRoA have significant differences.


5. (SBU) Yoshikawa agreed with this general framework. He said
Japan hopes to continue providing financial assistance for Afghan
police salaries but is unlikely to deploy police trainers. In
response to the Ambassador's question, he said domestic political
factors partly explain why the GOJ did not build on its Iraq
experience and deploy military forces here. Former Prime Minister
Koizumi had the political clout to do this in Iraq, but the next
government did not. Yoshikawa said Japan also has stronger economic
interests in Iraq than in Afghanistan. He said Japan's challenge on
security assistance is to demonstrate to the public what more the
GOJ can do even under existing laws on peace and security. Although
outsiders who support a change in the laws may see that as a
setback, Yoshikawa hoped Japan could do more without changing laws.
But he cautioned that a political change after Japan's August 30
election could make even that harder.


6. (SBU) On justice and accountable government, Yoshikawa said the
Afghan media somewhat overstated things when it reported after
recent bilateral aid consultations that Japan would stop assistance

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if corruption continues. He said the GOJ has been hesitant to take
such a hard line but it will more closely scrutinize projects. On
development, he agreed that we have enough coordinating and delivery
mechanisms. On regional integration, he agreed the IC can do more
to help Afghanistan feel more secure, to prevent it moving closer to
Iran.


7. (SBU) In response to the Ambassador's question, Yoshikawa said
China's role in Afghanistan has been purely economic and related to
China's own narrow interests. Though China's infrastructure
investment is welcome, we should urge China to be a more responsible
partner here. Finally, Yoshikawa hoped President Obama would visit
Japan in the fall and that this would provide an opportunity to
concentrate on the foreign policy agenda, including Af-Pak issues.


EIKENBERRY