SLOVENIA: AFGHANISTAN CONTRIBUTIONS WAITING ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000120

SIPDIS

SCA/A FOR TOM REOTT, EUR/RPM FOR AARON COPE, EUR/CE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2019
TAGS: PREL NATO MOPS MARR AF SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: AFGHANISTAN CONTRIBUTIONS WAITING ON
TOP-LEVEL POLITICAL DECISION, LIKELY IN MAY

REF: A. STATE 31102

B. LJUBLJANA 93

C. LJUBLJANA 114

Classified By: CDA Brad Freden, reasons 1.4(b,d)


1. (C) Officials from the ministries of Defense (MOD),
Interior (MOI),and Foreign Affairs (MFA) told CDA in
separate meetings that Slovenia will contribute equipment to
the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF),but decisions on
police mentoring teams (PMT) and an operational liaison and
mentoring team (OMLT) will be made by the Prime Minister and
his cabinet following the completion of a strategic review of
Slovenia's military deployments abroad (ref A, B). Interior
Minister Kresal told us she expects a government decision "in
May." We believe the OMLT will be the hardest sell, and we
will therefore focus our attention on convincing the
political leadership to field one, perhaps in cooperation
with Slovenia's State Partner, the Colorado National Guard.
Slovenia will contribute an additional 15 troops for Afghan
election security, with an unspecified arrival date and
likely October departure. Uros Krek, State Secretary for the
Ministry of Defense, told CDA on April 15 that the
possibility of a Slovene-led OMLT has been discussed during
the ongoing strategic review , but no decision has been made.
Krek stressed, however, that regarding equipment, it was not
a question of whether, but what equipment Slovenia would
contribute. He said the MOD was pushing the MFA to establish
a diplomatic presence in Kabul to coordinate Slovenia's
various contributions (military, civilian, and NGO),but he
implied that the MFA was dragging its feet.


2. (C) Interior Minister Katarina Kresal told CDA on April 20
that she has already sent a proposal on a police mentoring
team to the MOD, saying that the police are ready to
participate (ref C). Kresal said she expected the government
to make its decision on policy toward Afghanistan in May.
She also mentioned an Austrian proposal to train Afghan
police in a third country, an idea also brought up by Igor
Jukic, director of the MFA's security policy division, in an
April 23 meeting. We pushed back, saying that in-country
training was likely to be more effective. Jukic also said he
was aware of a proposal to send 2 police training experts as
part of EUPOL, but did not have further details.

Comment
--------------

3. (C) The GoS is taking a deliberative approach toward
Afghanistan, but it is clear to us that Defense Minister
Ljubica Jelusic is the driving force behind greater Slovenian
egagement in Afghanistan, both civilian and militar. It
also seems clear that the OMLT is going beour hardest sell.
All the ministries have made poitive noises about police
training and equipmentdonations, but only the PM will be
able to make he decision on an OMLT. Jelusic needs the
goverment's endorsement before she can engage in evententative discussions regarding the details of a Slvenian
OMLT. If Kresal is right, the governmentwill take that
decision sometime in May. This mans that we will have to
continue to engage at the political level in the coming weeks
if we are to convince Slovenia to field an OMLT. The
decision will likely require parliamentary approval as well,
so we are looking at ways to support the government through
our public diplomacy.
FREDEN