LATVIA TO MAINTAIN AFGHANISTAN COMMITMENTS, BUT NO

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIGA 000108 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/26/2019 TAGS: PREL NATO MOPS MARR PARM EAID AF LG SUBJECT: LATVIA TO MAINTAIN AFGHANISTAN COMMITMENTS, BUT NO INCREASE OR NTM-I REF: A. STATE 15623 ¶B. STATE 15959 ¶C. STATE 16188 ¶D. STATE 14097 ¶E. RIGA 86 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Bruce Rogers, for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) As previously reported, President Zatlers assured Charge that despite hard economic times, Latvia would maintain its commitments in Afghanistan, and continues to serve without caveat. ¶2. (C) Latvia's position was reiterated when Acting PolEcon Chief delivered latest reftel points to Zane Petre, Head of the MFA's International Operations and Crisis Management Division, on February 25. Petre welcomed the details on our increase in forces in Afghanistan and thanked us for noting appreciation for Latvia's current deployments there. She said that Latvia will maintain its current commitments in Afghanistan, but with the ongoing budget crisis, it is unlikely that the GOL's resources will allow it to increase deployments in the near future. ¶3. (C) Petre also mentioned that while Latvia supports the NATO Training Mission - Iraq, the GOL is focusing all its efforts on Afghanistan and does not have the resources to send personnel back to Iraq. ROGERS