LITHUANIA STILL COMMITTED TO AFGHANISTAN, DESPITE

C O N F I D E N T I A L VILNIUS 000172 FOR SCA/A:TREOTT, EUR/RPM:ACOPE, EUR/ERA:DWEISFIELD E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2019 TAGS: MOPS MARR PREL NATO AF PK LH SUBJECT: LITHUANIA STILL COMMITTED TO AFGHANISTAN, DESPITE BUDGET SHORTFALL REF: A. STATE 28929 ¶B. STATE 29482 ¶C. VILNIUS 160 Classified By: DCM Damian Leader, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) We briefed Vytas Leskevicius, director of the MFA's Transatlantic Cooperation and Security Policy Department, on the conclusion of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategic Review March 26, and shared ref B White Paper March 27. He thanked us for the information, and confirmed that Lithuania still views Afghanistan as a high priority, a sentiment echoed in public remarks by the Defense Minister March 30, during a visit to Afghanistan. ¶2. (C) Leskevicius explained that, with a second round of significant budget cuts underway, Lithuania's already limited funding for foreign assistance projects in Afghanistan would be halved. But Foreign Minister Usackas has tasked two Under Secretaries, Zygimantis Pavilionis and Asta Skaisgiryte Liauskiene, with finding partner countries that will fund at least 3 million (dollars or euros - Leskevicius noted that it didn't really matter which) in development programs by July. Lithuania also will keep its other commitments to Afghanistan (ref C). ¶3. (C) Leskevicius said the French Charge had already demarched him on ideas for gendarmerie training in Afghanistan. He noted that Lithuania's public security forces were trained by both French Gendarmerie and Italian Carabinieri. Leskevicius said there was Interior Ministry support for Lithuanian participation in such a mission, but that money was lacking. Asked to speculate on how many people Lithuania might contribute, if a source of funding could be found, he estimated ten to fifteen. CLOUD