REQUESTING ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN

S E C R E T STATE 120807 FROM THE SECRETARY FOR THE CHIEF OF MISSION E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/23/2029 TAGS: NATO PREL MOPS MARR AF SUBJECT: REQUESTING ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN Classified By: Classified By: EUR A/S Nancy McEldowney, Acting, for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (S) The Department requests that action addressees at the chief of mission level draw on the points in para 5 below to inform host governments of U.S. plans for robust additional contributions in Afghanistan and encourage host governments to join us in making their own new commitments at the earliest possible date. Indications of host government's willingness to provide strong public support in the days after the President's announcement and any concrete contributions that are feasible at the December 3-4 NATO Foreign Ministerial would be a signal of ISAF unity and resolve. BACKGROUND -------------- ¶2. (S) The United States will formally announce our way forward on Afghanistan and Pakistan prior to the December 3-4 NATO Foreign Ministerial Meetings in Brussels. Part of that announcement will be a robust contribution of additional military and non-military support to Afghanistan. It is important that this announcement be in the context of an expression of solidarity with the goals and strategy of the alliance and ISAF. We are actively pursuing significant additional support for Afghanistan and Pakistan from all of our Allies and partners. The goal is for expressions of political support immediately after the President's announcement, including at the NATO Foreign Ministerial and for military resource requests to be addressed then, or at the ISAF Force Generation conference on December 7. ¶3. (S) We appreciate the need to communicate to our partners why we are in Afghanistan and our roadmap for success. In this cable, we lay out why greater support for Afghanistan is required at this time, what security support is needed, and how we will work with the Afghans to ensure accountability and keep focused on our goals. It will be essential for allies and partners to express strong political support for the President's decisions in the days after they are announced. The NATO ministerial on December 3-4 should produce a strong and unanimous public statement of support plus any concrete contributions that are feasible in such a short time frame. The ISAF Force Generation conference on December 7 and subsequent international conferences early in 2010 (for example, the proposed conference in London on January 28) also provide important opportunities for Allies and partners to announce concrete contributions. We hope that collectively NATO-ISAF partners in Afghanistan will contribute a multi-national combat brigade-equivalent deployed to Afghanistan in 2010, 1,200 military and police trainers, and substantial annual increases to the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Law and Order (LOTFA) trust funds over 5 years. We also expect that Allies and partners will provide substantially increased civilian assistance in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, as Japan has already done. REPORTING DEADLINE -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Embassies should provide feedback on their counterpart meetings to the Department by cable immediately following their meetings and no later than Thursday, November 26, 2009. TALKING POINTS -------------- ¶5. (S/REL ISAF) Action addressees in ISAF member countries should draw on the following points: -- Our core goal and supporting objectives for Afghanistan and Pakistan remain unchanged from March 2009, when the international community endorsed President Obama's strategy for the two countries. -- The United States' core goal remains: to disrupt, dismantle, and eventually defeat al-Qa'ida and its extremist allies and to prevent their return to Pakistan or Afghanistan. -- We have a great interest in Pakistan's security and stability because of the presence of al-Qa'ida and other violent extremist groups in Pakistan's border areas, and Pakistan's importance to regional stability. -- We continue to see Pakistan and Afghanistan as interdependent, requiring a common regional strategy. -- We remain committed to both Afghanistan and Pakistan as strategic partners in this effort. -- For Pakistan, it is important to continue to encourage civilian and military leadership in Islamabad to sustain their fight against extremists and to eliminate terrorist and Taliban safe havens in their country. We also need to assure them of continued international support for these efforts and for increased economic development in Pakistan. -- In light of the importance of our interests, the serious security situation on the ground, and the need to provide a quicker bridge to Afghan self-sufficiency, the United States is prepared to commit significant additional resources, both military and civilian, to the NATO effort in Afghanistan. -- Our assistance efforts, however, are not open-ended. We will hold ourselves and the Afghans and Pakistanis responsible for progress. Accordingly, we will continue to develop benchmarks and measurements of effectiveness in conjunction with our NATO-ISAF partners. -- In Afghanistan, we agree that the Afghans must assume greater responsibility, and we are focusing our efforts toward this goal. Our integrated civilian-military plans point to strengthening Afghan governance at all levels and transferring responsibility for security to Afghans as they demonstrate greater capacity. In this process, it is essential that we clearly understand what is achievable and sustainable by the Afghans -- and by way of support, what is sustainable for us and our international partners. -- As an essential part of the implementation of our shared strategy, we are encouraging the Afghans to take strong actions, including combating corruption, improving governance, and providing real services and benefits to the people -- especially in the fields of agriculture, education, and health. Secretary Clinton and other foreign ministers, on the margins of President Karzai's November 19 inauguration, conveyed clear expectations of performance. President Karzai's inaugural speech set the right tone and articulated the key elements of a compact with the Afghan people. These included commitments to tackle corruption, to make merit-based appointments, to reinvigorate reconciliation and reintegration efforts, to improve relations with neighbors and to steadily increase the security responsibilities of Afghan forces. We hope you will join us in reinforcing with President Karzai the importance of following through on these commitments. -- On the security front, our mission needs combat troops without caveats at the company and preferably battalion levels; embedded military trainers (Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs) and Police Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (POMLTs)) for both the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP); and money for the various trust funds in Afghanistan such as the ANA Trust Fund, the Law and Order Trust Fund, and the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund. -- Our goal is to have Allies and partners express strong public support for the President's decisions in the days after they are announced. The NATO ministerial on December 3-4 should produce a strong and unanimous public statement of support plus any concrete contributions that are feasible at that time. The ISAF Force Generation conference on December 7 and subsequent international conferences early in 2010 also provide important opportunities for Allies and partners to announce concrete contributions. We hope that collectively NATO-ISAF partners in Afghanistan will contribute a multi-national combat brigade-equivalent deployed to Afghanistan in 2010, 1,200 military and police trainers, and substantial annual increases to the Afghan National Army (ANA) and Law and Order (LOTFA) trust funds over 5 years. -- Our goals also include substantially increased commitments of civilian assistance in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Japan's recent $5 billion pledge for Afghanistan demonstrates that large commitments to vital sectors are an important way to express international leadership and solidarity. -- We appreciate the importance of the proposed Afghanistan Conference in London early next year for confirming a joint understanding between the international community and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan on expectations and benchmarks for international efforts in Afghanistan. -- It is also imperative that we increase the coherence of the international civilian assistance effort and the integration of the civilian effort with NATO's ISAF mission. CLINTON