POLAND STEPS UP IN AFGHANISTAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WARSAW 000388 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2019 TAGS: PREL NATO MCAP MOPS AF PL SUBJECT: POLAND STEPS UP IN AFGHANISTAN REF: A. STATE 31102 ¶B. WARSAW 372 Classified By: CDA Quanrud for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Deputy Foreign Minister Jacek Najder April 9 confirmed GoP plans to increase Poland's contribution to ISAF and noted: -- Polish President Lech Kaczynski had good meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other senior leaders during a visit to Afghanistan April 8. -- Kaczynski was expected to approve formally April 9 an increase of 400 troops for the Polish contingent in Ghazni Province, as well as a reserve force of 200 (now confirmed). -- In response to specific requests from the U.S., Poland will provide helicopters and additional police trainers and is seeking financial support from Japan and Gulf Arab countries for the airfield expansion and power projects in Ghazni Province. -- The Tusk government is aware of the need to boost Polish public support for the Afghan mission, but feels it would be better at this time not to pursue this aggressively in the press, as the opposition, while broad, is not active. END SUMMARY. -------------- POSITIVE KACZYNSKI VISIT TO AFGHANISTAN -------------- ¶2. (C) Najder described in positive terms President Kaczynski's visit to Afghanistan the previous day, in which Najder had taken part. The Polish delegation met with President Karzai and other senior Afghan officials. In a 90-minute breakfast discussion, Najder said Karzai was most interested in Kaczynski's impressions of the NATO Summit, since this was the first visit to Kabul of a NATO head of state since the April 3-4 conclave. Kaczynski expressed concern about reports that Afghanistan might soon enact controversial gender-related legislation that, among other things, would appear to legalize marital rape. According to Najder, Kaczysnki observed that this would send the wrong signal to supporting countries and complicate Polish efforts to maintain public support for its mission in Afghanistan. Karzai took the point and said he had asked the Justice Ministry to review the bill to ensure that it complied with Afghan constitutional standards. ¶3. (C) The Polish delegation did not have time to meet with the Governor of Ghazni Province, but Najder said relations between the Governor and the Polish military contingent had improved in recent months despite the Governor's objections to Polish outreach efforts at the local level (which he said threatened the Governor). Najder added that the commander of Poland's military task force in Ghazni had just been extended an additional six months and would remain for the next troop rotation. -------------- "YES" TO U.S. REQUESTS FOR ASSISTANCE -------------- ¶4. (C) Najder noted that President Kaczynski was scheduled to approve an increase of 400 troops for the Polish contingent in Ghazni Province, as well as a reserve force of ¶200. (NOTE: Media reported today that the President issued his approval April 9; the measure now goes back to the Prime Minister for a mandatory counter-signature.) ¶5. (C) Najder confirmed that his March 31 discussion with Deputy Secretary Lew at The Hague (Ref B) resulted in the Poles' decision to provide two additional helicopters (fitted with medevac capability) and increase the number of police trainers to 40, divided into two teams. He added that a GoP interagency working group had decided earlier that day to consider deployment of a third police training team. No final decision was made, however, because the GoP still needed to review staffing options, such as drawing on retired police. ¶6. (C) On financial support for the airfield and additional resources for power projects in Ghazni Province, Najder said WARSAW 00000388 002 OF 002 the GoP was exploring cooperation with the Japanese and Gulf States like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Poland recognized the dangers of facilitating unwelcome Wahhabi influence in Ghazni and elsewhere in Afghanistan, but said that Afghans would appreciate Poland's cooperation with Arab partner countries. Najder observed that Ghazni was scheduled to become a Capital of Islamic Culture in 2013, a designation that the Poles thought they could use to their advantage in gaining Arab financial support for non-sensitive projects like the airstrip or power sector improvements. With respect to the Japanese, Najder pointed out that Warsaw hoped to capitalize on previous visits to Tokyo by FM Sikorski and PM Tusk in October and December of last year. -------------- PARTIES UNIFIED IN SUPPORT OF MISSION -------------- ¶7. (C) We raised the question of low public support in Poland for the deployment in Afghanistan, citing figures from a recent survey. It seems that the majority of Poles (61%) are not familiar with the ISAF mission, and that more Poles would support the mission if they had a better idea of Poland's role and ISAF's effectiveness. The U.S. would be willing to look into sending a local television crew to Afghanistan to report on the situation there in a way that was more relevant to Poles. ¶8. (C) Najder acknowledged the low level of public support and replied that media contingency planning was an ongoing subject of discussion within the GoP, including at the Prime Minister level. However, he distinguished between Poland and other allies engaged in Afghanistan -- support for ISAF operations enjoyed broad, strong support from the major political parties here, and thus was not a topic for inter-party argument. Because of this, officials perceived no "clear and present danger" -- and no need to engage in extensive media efforts aimed at boosting public support. He implied that this could change in the future but, for the time being, it was not a burning issue and too active an approach at this time might do more harm than good. QUANRUD