SYG BAN AND AMB RICE DISCUSS AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 001023 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV IZ AF SUBJECT: SYG BAN AND AMB RICE DISCUSS AFGHANISTAN, IRAQ, AND CLIMATE CHANGE REF: USUN 1007 Classified By: Ambassador Susan E. Rice for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary: During a November 9 meeting with Ambassador Rice, UN SYG Ban said his recent trip to Afghanistan had been a good one and that President Karzai appears concerned about his own future, in particular his relations with the U.S. and other Western power; supports an increase in the international civilian presence in Afghanistan; and is still unhappy about how the election was handled. Ban confirmed that the UN is still determined to expand its presence in Afghanistan, although it must first address security concerns. Ban also gave a brief readout of A/SYG Fernandez-Taranco's recent trip to Iraq to discuss the recent bombings, relaying that Maliki wants continued UN involvement as a deterrent, claimed Syria was behind the August 19 bombings, and rejected a UN offer of counter-terrorism assistance. On climate change, Ban said he will be looking for binding political agreement at Copenhagen, not a binding legal agreement in treaty form. End Summary. Afghanistan -------------- ¶2. (C) UN SYG Ban met with Ambassador Rice on November 9 to discuss his recent trip to Afghanistan. Ban was accompanied by DPKO U/SYG Alain LeRoy, chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, and deputy chief of staff Won-soo KIM. Ambassador Rice told Ban that she had been fully briefed on his discussion with the Security Council on Afghanistan on November 6. The U.S. is continuing its policy review on Afghanistan and discussing where UNAMA should go from here, including how to enhance the civilian component of assistance to Afghanistan. ¶3. (C) Ban said his trip to Afghanistan was a good one, and that he had met with UN staff and President Karzai in Kabul. He said he sensed that Karzai is concerned about his own future, in particular his relations with the U.S. and other Western powers. Ban told him that the key to enhancing trust and confidence is how committed Karzai is to good governance and fighting corruption; and told Karzai he needed his personal commitment to address corruption and governance issues. Ban urged Karzai to "catch a big fish, not lots of little ones" to demonstrate his seriousness. Ban said SRSG Kai Eide was telling Karzai the same thing, although Eide seems to have lost confidence in Karzai. Karzai told Ban that Eide is a "good man" in whom he has confidence, but Ban commented that despite this, Karzai has been attacking Eide in the media. Ban also told Karzai that the allegations against his brother were damaging to him and his country. Ban advised Karzai to visit the U.S. and come to the UN while there; to reach out to political opponents, including Abdullah; to heal rifts; and to reach out to the nation with a speech on these topics. ¶4. (C) Karzai supports an increase in the international civilian presence, Ban said, although Karzai expressed some apprehension about a rapid increase in U.S. military numbers. Rice asked if the concern appeared to be with the pace or the numbers; Ban replied that Karzai said whatever numbers the U.S. comes up with are fine with him; but Ban thought Karzai felt politically threatened by the increase. Ban also commented that he thought Karzai did not appear to be psychologically stable and feels embattled by the West, and is still unhappy with the way the election was handled. Karzai sees what happened during the election as a campaign against him, and still considers that he won the first round. ¶5. (C) Ban said Eide wants a 50% increase in UNAMA's budget and more staff. While the UN does indeed need to increase its staff in Afghanistan, it must first address security requirements. Ban repeated the numbers he cited in his briefing to the Council (reftel),saying the plan is to move 100-200 UNAMA staff members temporarily out of the country and relocate 400-500 others to other locations within the country. Rice urged Ban to clarify this plan to the media, and asked if Eide's plan to increase the UN presence in Afghanistan was still viable. U/SYG LeRoy responded that the initial plan had been to open 11 more offices in 2010, but that realistically the UN expects to open six, with the rest to follow later. Expanding the UN presence is still the main task, he reiterated. Regarding security arrangements between ISAF, the Afgan security forces, and the UN, Ban said Karzai promised to devote 10% of the Afghan police (1000 officers) to UN security. Ban and Rice agreed that the Afghan police are weak, and not as effective as the military. Ban said he also met with General McChrystal, who promised that ISAF would do its best to help the UN. Rice suggested that the U.S. and UN hold a follow-up conversation about UN needs and USUN NEW Y 00001023 002 OF 002 requirements in Afghanistan. LeRoy commented that the mood amongst UN staff in Afghanistan is that there is still not enough ISAF protection in "in extremis" situations, but acknowledged that the UN itself must harden its physical premises and determine who will protect those premises on the Afghan side. He said he would discuss this with Eide and get back to the U.S. on the issue. Iraq -------------- ¶6. (C) Rice expressed gratitude for UN A/SYG Oscar Fernandez-Taranco's recent visit to Iraq to discuss the recent spate of bombings, and noted that the U.S. would like him to return and is thinking through how to approach that. Ban said Taranco would share the details of his visit with the U.S., and that he would be open to briefing the Security Council on his trip. Ban said Taranco had met with PM Maliki, FM Zebari, and other ministers including defense, justice, and national security. Maliki told Taranco that Syria was behind the August 19 bombing and that Syria wants regime change in Iraq. Maliki requested continued UN involvement as a deterrent to future attacks, and cited UNSCR 1483, UNSCR 1618, and Lockerbie as precedents for potential ways to continue UN involvement. (Note: 1483 set up a number of things under a Chapter 7 mandate, including DFI, the SRSG (UNAMI),and the Tarasov mandate; 1618 is not a Ch 7 resolution but condemns terrorism and was passed after the bombing of the Iraqi Electoral Commission in 2005. With regard to Lockerbie, Maliki was probably referring to the investigation and international tribunal set up in the Hague. End Note.) The UN team suggested to Maliki that the UN could provide counter-terrorism support to Iraq through the UN Counter-Terrorism Directorate (CTED). Maliki was not receptive to the suggestion (although the Minister for National Security and the experts were),saying that Iraq did not need capacity-building in counter-terrorism, it needed help in preventing its neighbors from supporting terrorism. Climate change -------------- ¶7. (C) Ambassador Rice noted Ban's upcoming trip to Washington the next day, commenting that this is a delicate moment for the Administration and Congress with regard to climate change, and that they must be sober about what is realistic in Copenhagen. She urged Ban to strategize with his U.S. interlocutors in Washington, rather than simply pressuring the U.S. to do more; Ban said that was his intention. She added that it would be helpful for Ban to reinforce with climate change advocates the need to work beyond Copenhagen in order to make progress. Ban said that at Copenhagen he will be looking for binding political agreement, not a binding legal agreement in treaty form. The upshot, he said, will be that the UNFCCC will continue to work on a treaty to be concluded as soon as possible. Ban noted that it is unclear what can be done in terms of a financial support package -- the UK target is 100 billion euros per annum, but is complicated by the Chinese and Indian position that the package should be funded solely by developed countries. Ban said he had given up the idea of holding a mini-summit during APEC in order to avoid looking as if he was pressuring China and the U.S., and said he had agreed to attend the Commonwealth Summit in Trinidad and Tobago, where he would join UK PM Brown and Danish PM Rasmussen in raising the climate issue. Rice