Luxembourg Director of Political Affairs and Director of

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2034/12/22
TAGS: PGOV EAID PREL AF LU
SUBJECT: Luxembourg Director of Political Affairs and Director of
Defense Met with West EUR Director Cormack on Afghanistan

CLASSIFIED BY: Via, Michael, Political and Economic Chief, DOS, Pol;
REASON: 1.4(A),(B),(D)


1. (S) Summary. George Friden, Director for Political Affairs
and Jean-Jacques Welfring, Defense Director, explained Luxembourg's
planned contributions for Afghanistan during a December 17 visit of
West EUR Affairs Director Maureen Cormack to Luxembourg. Friden
said Luxembourg was committed to the Afghanistan effort until 2011
but the GOL had some concerns. He stated that there was unease
with even the perception created by the "announcement of July 2011"
as Luxembourg "didn't want to be the ones left to turn out the
lights." Friden emphasized that public opinion and support for
Luxembourg's involvement won't last forever and more "good news
stories" needed to be forthcoming.




2. (S) Friden said the army was undergoing reform but there
was no possibility in the short term of increasing the number of
Luxembourg soldiers from their current nine, as they had 23 in
Kosovo and others in the Congo and Bosnia. He expects there will
be pressure in the upcoming meetings in London to be more assertive
on the Afghanistan corruption issue. Cormack stated that the U.S.
shares GOL's concerns regarding corruption and would welcome an
E.U. partnership to manage the corruption issue, but that stating
those concerns publicly would not be helpful. Welfring asserted
that the GOL was shy about going public with it's contributions for
Afghanistan but the Minister of Defense, Jean-Marie Halsdorf,
decided December 16 to contribute 375,000 USD for expanded
satellite access during 2009 which will be expanded to three
million USD in 2010. The satellite access support is in addition to
other monetary contributions for efforts in Afghanistan. End
summary.




3. (C) George Friden, Director for Political Affairs and
Jean-Jacques Welfring, Defense Director met with West EUR Affairs
Director Maureen Cormack and Pol/Econ Chief December 17, at the
Ministry of Defense in Luxembourg.




4. (C) Cormack expressed U.S. gratitude for GOL's current
contributions in Afghanistan, their offer of assistance with the
relocation of Guantanamo detainees, and the heartwarming
commemorations ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of the
Battle of the Bulge which she attended on December 16. She
invited feedback concerning President Obama's recent Afghanistan
announcement.




5. (C) Friden expressed Luxembourg's gratitude for the
sacrifices of American soldiers to "give us our freedom." He
shifted to Afghanistan and said that although Luxembourg was "
feeling the effects of the German incident in Afghanistan," the
recent debate in the Chamber of Deputies concerning continued
support for Luxembourg's involvement went well. He said 59 out of
60 votes cast were in favor of continued support for GOL's current
military deployment and development efforts in Afghanistan. (note:
The "incident" Friden mentioned occurred on September 4 when German
forces in Afghanistan called in an airstrike that killed up to 142,
many of them civilians. End note.) He cautioned however that
"political concerns are still strong" and there "needs to be work
on the visibility of results" as we move forward. He added that
the E.U. recently adopted an action plan which he believes will
strengthen the coordination between the civilian and security
sectors. According to Friden the E.U. plan calls for more trainers
for the security sector with increasing attention to agriculture,
schools and infrastructure. He mentioned that although the NATO
and Europol missions aim is to send Gendarmerie elements as they
are police with military skills, Luxembourg's Gendarmerie was
merged into the police some years ago and thus do not have those
skills.




6. (S) Responding to Cormack's request for GOL's take on
President Obama's Afghanistan announcement, Friden said Luxembourg
was committed to the Afghanistan effort until 2011 but the GOL had
some concerns. He stated that there was unease with the
announcement of July 2011 as Luxembourg "didn't want to be the ones
left to turn out the lights." Pol/Econ Chief responded that July

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2011 was only the beginning of a withdrawal, subject to conditions
on the ground at the time, not a firm withdrawal date. Friden
replied that there was concern for even the perception of a date
for a withdrawal and "lights out." He said other concerns included
a "general mood within the GOL and the E.U. concerning expectations
of progress and a need to start to talk to Afghanistan regarding
progress on corruption." Friden emphasized that public opinion and
support for Luxembourg's involvement won't last forever and more
"good news stories" needed to be forthcoming. Cormack stated that
the U.S. shares GOL's concerns regarding corruption and would
welcome an E.U. partnership to manage the corruption issue, but
that stating those concerns publicly would not be helpful. Friden
responded that he expected there would be pressure in the upcoming
meetings in London to be more assertive on the corruption subject.
Welfring asserted that Luxembourg public opinion was being shaped
negatively by the German media as more Luxembourgers obtain their
international news from German TV channels in Luxembourg than
French stations. He said that the ascendancy of the German language
had more to do with the number of available television channels
from Germany than any other factor. He added that more trips to
Germany by GOL politicians, and the "crumbling need for French as
one was no longer seen as lower class" if one could not speak
French were also factors.




7. (C) Welfring stated the MOD's 3-D approach of Diplomacy,
Development and Defense, which began 10 years ago, had made
progress. He explained that the Luxembourg Army is "Foreign Policy
by other means" because border security is not an issue for the
GOL. He said the army was undergoing reform and there have been a
number of missions that the army has not been able to perform.
(NFI). He explained that there was no possibility of increasing
the number of Luxembourg soldiers from their current nine in the
short run as they had 23 in Kosovo and others in the Congo and
Bosnia. Welfring asserted that the GOL was shy about going public
with it's contributions for Afghanistan but the Minister of
Defense, Jean-Marie Halsdorf, decided December 16 to contribute
375,000 USD for satellite use where it was possible to switch "SES
Global" commercial capabilities to military use. He said the in
kind contributions would expand to three million USD in 2010. He
said Luxembourg was committed to the Afghanistan effort until 2011
but a more integrated approach, between the civilian and military
efforts, was needed.




8. (SBU) Welfring provided a spread sheet of additional
"Afghanistan funding from Luxembourg."



- Afghanistan National Army trust fund
6,000,000 USD for 2010 (same as 2009)

- Shape and NAMSA satellite communications (in kind)
3,000,000 USD for 2010 (up from 375,000 in 2009)

- UN/UNDP/UNFPA/WFP/ICRC/NGOs
3,500,000 USD for 2009 (up from 3 million in 2008)

- DPKO/UNMAS anti-mine action Afghanistan
300,000 USD for 2009

- UNDP electoral support
125,000 USD for 2009




9. (C) Comment. While the tone of the meeting was
overwhelmingly positive it was not surprising to learn that GOL's
additions will be primarily financial. GOL's reticence to increase
troops beyond nine, all presently at the Kabul airport, is likely
more a domestic public support issue than a strategic military
decision and therefore subject to change should sufficient "good
news" stories overcome current negative public perceptions.
Luxembourg's army reform consists of a planned 40 percent expansion
from 1000 to 1400 personnel by 2013. Portions of their expanding
niche capabilities of water purification, Explosive Ordinance
Disposal (EOD),and reconnaissance units are to become available as
early as 2010 and might be units to be requested in the future.
Evans