REQUESTING ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN - NEW

S E C R E T WELLINGTON 000307 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/11/27 TAGS: NATO PREL MOPS MARR AF SUBJECT: REQUESTING ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS IN AFGHANISTAN - NEW ZEALAND REF: 09 STATE 120807 DERIVED FROM: Derived from previous message. ¶1. (S) On November 27, the Charge delivered reftel demarche to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs (Under Secretary equivalent) for the Middle East and Africa Peter Hamilton. Drawing heavily on points provided in reftel, the Charge noted that President Obama would be making an announcement sometime close to the December 3-4 NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting in Brussels on U.S. plans for the way forward in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that the USG hoped that the Government of New Zealand (GNZ) would be able to provide strong public support in the days following the announcement and additional troop and training contributions in the longer term. ¶2. (S) Hamilton said the GNZ had been "expecting something like this (the U.S. request)" for some time and would prepare a statement of support for public release immediately after it had a chance to hear and analyze the President's announcement. Hamilton stressed, however, that a substantive response to the request for additional contributions would "take a little longer" because "in our system such a request must be the subject of a joint cabinet meeting." He noted that there was only one more joint cabinet meeting scheduled to take place before the holiday recess begins on December 22. ¶3. (S) Hamilton said that he would forward our talking points to Foreign Minister Murray McCully for his review within 24 hours. McCully is currently in Trinidad attending a Commonwealth conference and is scheduled to travel from there to Vienna and then onward to Brussels for the December 3-4 NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting. Hamilton added that he would brief the NZ Ministry of Defense on our meeting and the request for additional contributions. ¶4. (SBU) Stephen Harris, Deputy Director, Middle East and Africa Division, and Eamonn O'Shaughnessy, Senior Policy Officer, Security and Disarmament Division also participated in the meeting, while the Charge was accompanied by the Political/Economic Counselor and the Economic Officer. CLARKE