SWEDEN COMMITTED TO NATO KFOR MISSION THROUGH END

C O N F I D E N T I A L STOCKHOLM 000214 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/27/2019 TAGS: PREL MARR NATO KPKO KVIR SW SUBJECT: SWEDEN COMMITTED TO NATO KFOR MISSION THROUGH END OF 2009, POSSIBLY LONGER REF: A. SECSTATE 26179 ¶B. IIR 6 892 0041 09 Classified By: CDA Robert J. Silverman, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Sweden will not pull its forces out of KFOR in 2009, according to Carl Magnus Ericsson of the MFA's International Security Policy unit. Replying to demarche points (Ref A) on March 26, Ericsson explained that Parliament last fall approved a bill extending the Swedish presence in KFOR for the calendar year 2009; the Government had sought a two-year extension to 2010 but lawmakers generally prefer to go a year at a time -- as they did with Afghanistan -- to allow for an annual debate and review of Sweden's overseas deployments. ¶2. (C) The Swedish government and Parliament currently agree that the status quo, with 250 Swedish troops in Kosovo, needs to be maintained at least until the EULEX mission is up and running, Ericsson stated. At the same time, the MFA thinks the mission needs to be calibrated to meet challenges on the ground, which are increasingly becoming "police work in nature." Consequently, Sweden welcomes the proportional shift with more police officers coming in as military troops depart. Sweden is tentatively planning to keep some military troops in Kosovo in 2010, but will look closely at taskings that come out of the April NATO Summit and the June NATO defense ministerial to see whether it needs to change its deployments (Ref B). SILVERMAN