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