KOSOVO: NEW COMKFOR CALLS ON AMBASSADOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000417 SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE NSC FOR HOVENIER E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/27/2019 TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL MARR KV SUBJECT: KOSOVO: NEW COMKFOR CALLS ON AMBASSADOR Classified By: Ambassador Christopher W. Dell for Reasons 1.4 (b),(d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On September 24, the new COMKFOR, Lieutenant General Markus Bentler paid a courtesy call on the Ambassador. The two discussed KFOR's planned drawdown and the importance of creating a mechanism to ensure close coordination between military and civilian organizations as KFOR's presence diminishes. Bentler said that he recognizes the challenges inherent in the KFOR drawdown and told the Ambassador that he wants to take an active approach that creates the proper conditions for drawing down rather than waiting for events to develop. END SUMMARY KFOR PLANS TO DRAWDOWN: -------------- ¶2. (C) During Lieutenant General Markus Bentler's (COMKFOR) September 24 courtesy call on the Ambassador, KFOR's drawdown--with an initial reduction of force from 15,000 to 10,000 expected to occur in the coming months--was the central topic of conversation. The Ambassador expressed three major points of concern that needed to be addressed to ensure KFOR's successful drawdown. First, he noted that KFOR's intelligence was undersourced. As KFOR minimizes its maneuver unit presence, good intelligence becomes critical to ensure KFOR can respond effectively to any flare-ups. Second, there are problems, like Gates 1 and 31 in northern Kosovo, that need to be solved while KFOR remains at full strength. Third, once drawdown commences, KFOR will reach a point where it can no longer perform all its current missions. KFOR must coordinate this process to ensure that critical mission areas, like border patrols, particularly along the border with Serbia, continue. ¶3. (C) COMKFOR agreed with the Ambassador that accurate, well-sourced intelligence will play a critical role in KFOR's future success, acting as a force multiplier for a reduced KFOR. When discussing KFOR's drawdown and tasks that KFOR might complete prior to reducing its force presence--for example, ensuring that border crossing operations at Gates 1 and 31 in northern Kosovo operate under Kosovo institutional control--COMKFOR expressed doubt that he could maintain sufficient international support to wade into thorny, local political issues, and he noted KFOR's "prudent" political posture to this point. CLOSE COORDINATION: -------------- ¶4. (C) As planning for KFOR's drawdown continues, COMKFOR said that he is under constant pressure from participating nations eager to withdraw their forces, and he wants to make sure that he can coordinate with other actors to assume some of the responsibilities that KFOR will no longer be able to perform with its reduced personnel. As an example, COMKFOR wondered whether EULEX might take over KFOR's border patrol responsibilities. The mechanism for coordinating transition of responsibility to civilian agencies, however, is still not in place. COMKFOR told the Ambassador that he needs more time to think about how to coordinate with civilian institutions and is pondering a working group that can take a comprehensive approach and explain the drawdown process to the public in order to allay continued local anxiety. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: COMKFOR, in his first meeting with the Ambassador, showed that he has given thought to the challenges that await him in the coming months. It is also clear that COMKFOR in not inclined to let any domestic political challenge inhibit KFOR's drawdown plans. He expressed a sensitivity to local political concerns that might complicate his plans, but he tempered this with an insistence that KFOR can help create the conditions that will facilitate the troop reduction. At this point we are skeptical that existing civilian institutions can assume all of KFOR's duties--for example, we do not know if EULEX is willing or capable of performing border patrols--but it is a positive sign that COMKFOR is ready to coordinate KFOR's drawdown with other vital actors in Kosovo in an effort to PRISTINA 00000417 002 OF 002 ensure a peaceful transition. END COMMENT DELL