ENGAGING MONGOLIA ON AFGHANISTAN AND INCREASE OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L ULAANBAATAR 000061 STATE FOR EAP/CM, SCA/A: TOM REOTT, EUR/RPM: AARON COPE E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/24/2019 TAGS: NATO PREL MOPS MARR MG AF SUBJECT: ENGAGING MONGOLIA ON AFGHANISTAN AND INCREASE OF U.S. FORCES REF: A. STATE 15959 ¶B. STATE 15623 Classified By: Political Counselor Andrew Covington, Reasons 1.4 (b/d) ¶1. (SBU) Poloff delivered points requested in reftels to Deputy Director of the Department for the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa, R. Mounkhou, on February 24. Specifically, we outlined the key points of the Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy review. ¶2. (C) Mongolia continues to be receptive to a U.S. request to participate again in Afghanistan. The USG has continued to engage Mongolia over the last several months regarding the form their participation may take. It was therefore unnecessary to encourage GOM involvement. Rather, we reiterated that we expect a letter from Defense Secretary Gates will be sent to Defense Minister Bold to request Mongolian involvement in Afghanistan. ¶3. (C) We thanked the Mongolians for their previous participation in Afghanistan and for their willingness to consider strongly future engagement in Afghanistan. ¶4. (C) Note: Major General Choijamts (Deputy Chief of Staff of the Mongolian General Staff) as recently as February 20 requested of our DAO that the USG provide the Defense Secretary,s letter at his earliest convenience, so that the Mongolians may proceed with planning for the deployment of their next contingent to Afghanistan. End Note. MINTON