AFGHAN POLICE TRAINING: ITALY PREPARED TO SEND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ROME 000364 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/31/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR MOPS NATO IT AF FR SUBJECT: AFGHAN POLICE TRAINING: ITALY PREPARED TO SEND MORE CARABINIERI, WARY OF FRENCH EGF PLAN REF: ROME 346 Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Barbara A. Leaf for Reaso ns 1.4 (B) and (D) ¶1. (C/NF) Summary: Italy is prepared to double or triple its current contingent of 40 Carabinieri police trainers in Afghanistan and expand their mandate to include district-level mentoring, but is concerned about cost. The GOI favors either (1) an NTM-A arrangement in which the burden of funding is distributed among alliance members or (2) a continuation of the current U.S.-Italian police training arrangement at the Adraskan training facility in which Italy provides the trainers and CSTC-A pays the bulk of logisitics and life support expenses. Italy is opposed to France's plan to deploy European Gendarmerie Force (EGF) assets to Afghanistan on the grounds that it would complicate efforts by adding a third policing entity to the mix, but favors French involvement in an NTM-A-style police training arrangement. Italian planners want to use their additional Carabinieri to speed up the training of the elite ANCOP police at Adraskan, possibly by adding an additional training facility in order to meet the goal of 20 ANCOP battalions (5,500-6,500 police) trained by early 2010. Italy is also willing to use the Focused District Development (FDD) model to train and mentor Afghan Uniformed Police (AUP) in RC-West. End Summary. Funding is Potential Obstacle - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶2. (C) GOI interlocutors have stressed to Post that the informal Italian offer to send up to 80 additional Carabinieri trainers to Afghanistan (Ref A) is predicated on the hope that the U.S. or NATO will find a way to pay the bulk of expenses, and that the U.S. or NATO should approach Italy with a concrete proposal soon after the NATO summit. MFA NATO Desk Officer Carlo Batori and Defense General Staff Deputy J3 GEN Alberto Rosso told Poloff and DATT on March 25-26 that Italy wants to expand its collaboration with CSTC-A in police training but wishes to avoid the misunderstandings that arose in late 2008 when the GOI (under pressure from the U.S.) agreed to deploy the Carabinieri to Afghanistan before an MOU was finalized. This led to disagreements over the ANCOP Plan of Instruction (POI), training material and funding that took months (and sustained engagement by Embassy Rome) to work out. Italy favors using the funding model of the NATO Training Mission in Iraq (NTM-I),in which Carabinieri trainers work out of a facility provided by MNSTC-I and funded by NATO. Italy Wary of French EGF Proposal - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶3. (C/NF) GOI contacts have told us that Italy was taken off guard by France's proposal to deploy elements of the European Gendarmerie Force (EGF) as police trainers in Afghanistan. The Carabinieri consider themselves to be at the cutting edge of gendarme-style police training and have more experience than the French in working alongside U.S. trainers (e.g. CoESPU, NTM-I, Adraskan). The French Gendarmerie's training experience, they claim, is confined largely to missions in Francophone Africa and the Balkans with little exposure to Afghanistan. The French proposal would add a third police training entity to an already crowded field (EUPOL and Carabinieri/CSTC-A) when the goal is greater allied unity of effort, and would require buy-in not only from the EU but also from the other EGF members (Italy, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands and Romania) who regard the EGF primarily as a crisis management and planning tool and are wary of French efforts to "lead" the EGF. An MFA interlocutor told PolOff that when Italian delegates pressed the French to accept an NTM-A-type arrangement at an EGF meeting in Paris on March 30, they were told that Italy was "blocking European efforts to meet President Obama's request for more police trainers in Afghanistan." The Carabinieri Plan: Two ANCOP Training Centers Plus FDD - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (SBU) Carabinieri Plans and Operations Director General Ciceri told Poloff and Marine Attache on March 27 that the ROME 00000364 002 OF 002 Carabinieri would like to expand its current ANCOP training program to include ANCOP Officers (who would then help train lower-level police alongside Carabinieri trainers) and to open a second training facility, perhaps using Camp Invicta, the Italian base in Kabul, if and when Italian troops rotate out of Kabul in December (pending COMISAF agreement). The ANCOP academy in Mazar-i-Sharif is less suitable for this purpose because it is not in the Italian deployment areas of RC-West and RC-Capital (Kabul). This would permit Italy to increase trainee throughput and meet the goal of 20 battalions trained by 2010. The Carabinieri are also interested in using the U.S. Focused District Development (FDD) model to train and mentor AUP in certain districts in RC-West, using Carabinieri or Italian Army force protection and with ISAF security guarantees. This would entail sending AUP units from their districts to either the Regional Training Center in Herat or to Adraskan itself, and deploying Carabinieri mentors alongside the ANCOP units sent to the districts to backfill. Ciceri stressed the need for funding to provide AUP trainees with basic material resources, from uniforms and batons to radios and vehicles -- all of which should be provided to them at the beginning of their training and taken back with them to their home districts. ¶5. (C) Comment: The Carabinieri are the jewel in the crown of Italy's deployable capabilities, with a long and proven track record in police training. They are willing to do more in Afghanistan, but are stretched thin by other deployments and budget cuts. The GOI is highly aware of the esteem in which the Carabinieri are held in most USG circles and are clearly hoping that the U.S. will be willing to help foot the bill for the Carabinieri increase (or distribute the cost among allies). However they are also aware that the new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan asks that allies contribute not merely trainers but funding and support elements. If Italy makes a formal offer of police trainers to Afghanistan, we should expect it to be merely the first step in a longer, more detailed negotiation on funding, authorities and logistics. End Comment. DIBBLE