ARMENIA TO DEPLOY PEACKEEPERS TO AFGHANISTAN IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000889

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/17/2019
TAGS: MARR MASS MOPS PGOV PREL AF GM AM
SUBJECT: ARMENIA TO DEPLOY PEACKEEPERS TO AFGHANISTAN IN
2010

Classified By: CDA Joseph Pennington, reason 1.4 (b,d)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) After only one day of debate, on December 8
Armenia's National Assembly (parliament) approved in
overwhelming fashion the February 2010 deployment of up to
80 Armenian peacekeepers to the NATO-led International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
Parliament's swift approval of the deployment
contrasted dramatically with the lengthy and difficult 2004
parliamentary debate which preceded the deployment of
Armenian peacekeepers to Iraq. Hrayr Karapetian, chairman
of the parliament's Defense and National Security
Committee, told the DATT and PolOffs that the decision to
deploy peacekeepers to Afghanistan was an easy one, and one
partly explained by the GOAM's on-going efforts to improve
relations with emerging democracies in Armenia's
neighborhood. END SUMMARY.

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SHORT DEBATE, SWIFT APPROVAL OF ISAF DEPLOYMENT
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2. (C) On December 8, Armenia's parliament overwhelming
ratified the agreement signed by Armenian Defense Minister
Seyran Ohanian and NATO officials in November 2009
committing Armenia to deploy between 35-80 peacekeepers to
ISAF as part of the German contingent serving in Kunduz.
(Comment: Although open source press reporting cites an
upper number of 80 troops, the Armenian MoD has repeatedly
told us that the contingent will not exceed 40 troops. The
deployment will consist of three six-month rotations of
Armenian peacekeepers, so in total approximately 120
peacekeepers will be involved. End Comment.) The
overwhelming approval came after a one-day debate, in
stark contrast with the lengthy and arduous debate in 2004
that preceded Armenia's deployment of peacekeepers to
Iraq.


3. (U) During his address to parliament on December 7,
Defense Minster Ohanian announced that, if approved,
Armenia would dispatch a 40-person strong contingent
comprised of an army platoon with three staff officers and
one military medic. "The main mission of the Armenian
contingent," Ohanian told lawmakers, "will be to protect
the runway and other airport facilities in the northern
city of Kunduz." Ohanian said the peacekeepers would complete
a
three-week training course in Germany prior to their February
2010
deployment alongside the German contingent in Kunduz.


4. (U) The deployment was backed not only by the
pro-government ruling coalition majority in parliament, but
also by the majority of opposition MPs from the Heritage
party and the nationalist Armenian Revolutionary Federation
- Dashnaktsutiun (Dashnaks). But some in the
opposition who supported the deployment could not resist the
chance to take a swipe at the Armenian authorities. Vahan
Hovannisian, the
leader of the Dashnak parliamentary faction, sarcastically
noted that "the situation with democracy (in Armenia) is
so brilliant ... that we are now going to help establish
democracy in Afghanistan." (Note: Hovannisian voted for
the deployment. End Note.)

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BENEFITS/RATIONALE OF CONTRIBUTING TO ISAF
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5. (U) During his address to parliament, Defense Minister
Ohanian stated that "this mission will contribute to the
accomplishments of our national objectives. We will gain a
stake in the formation of an international security
system." Ohanian also noted that neighboring Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Turkey already have troops on the ground in
Afghanistan.


6. (C) On December 15, the DATT and PolOffs met with the
Dashnak Hrayr Karapetian, the chairperson of the
parliament's Defense, National Security, and Internal
Affairs Committee -- and former deputy speaker of the
parliament -- to get his take on the swift approval of the
deployment. Karapetian noted up front that the Dashnaks
had vociferously opposed the 2004 deployment to Iraq,
largely because of the Diaspora-based party's fears of
Muslim extremist reprisals against Christian Armenians
living in the Middle East. He said the party had no such

YEREVAN 00000889 002 OF 002


fear this time around, with no significant Armenian
population in Afghanistan, and that this was one of the
reasons they lent their unanimous support to the ISAF
deployment, and why the deployment was an easy one to
approve for the parliament.


7. (C) Karapetian said another factor behind the Dashnaks'
support of the ISAF deployment was the success of
Armenian peacekeepers in both Iraq and NATO-led peacekeeping
operations in Kosovo, and Armenia's increased confidence in
its peacekeeping capabilities. Most
importantly, he said, the political situation in Armenia's
neighborhood has changed, with the emergence of nations
with evolving democratic traditions. Karapetian asserted
that Armenia must comes to terms with these changes, and
improve its relations and practices with such countries.
"We know everything from the Soviet Army," Karapetian
stated, and "we need the experience of Western countries
and Western structures, including, for example, the
tradition of civilian control of the military." Karapetian
stressed that "this is what we are pursuing in our
relationship with NATO and our work with Western-inspired
organizations such as the OSCE."

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COMMENT
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8. (C) Since asuming his post in April 2009, Defense
Minister Ohanian has repeatedly and publicly stated that
"Armenia must no longer be viewed only as a consumer of
international security, but as a contributor as well."
Under his watch, Armenia has doubled its contingent of
peacekeepers to Kosovo and now committed to ISAF. While
Ohanian has played a constructive role in these
developments, the initiators of Armenia's first
peacekeeping contribution to Iraq and the subsequent
contributions to Kosovo were then-Defense Minister Serzh
Sargsian and Artur Aghabekian, Karapetian's predecessor as
Defense Committee chairperson. As the ISAF deployment
illustrates, President Sargsian continues to support such
deployments, calibrating their modest size with the need to
preserve manpower at home in the event of renewed
hostilities over Nagorno-Karabakh.


PENNINGTON
PENNINGTON