JORDAN: PREVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN SUPPORT OFFER IN

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 000219

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2020
TAGS: PREL PINS MASS KISL JO AF
SUBJECT: JORDAN: PREVIEW OF AFGHANISTAN SUPPORT OFFER IN
UPCOMING WASHINGTON MEETINGS

REF: A. AMMAN 0200

B. AMMAN 0091

Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (S/NF) SUMMARY: Jordan's top military advisor and
brother of the King, Lieutenant General (LTG) Prince Faisal
bin Al Hussein, and Minister of Planning Jafar Hassan will
travel to Washington during the week of January 25. Their
itineraries include meetings with senior U.S. officials in
the Department of Defense, the Air Force, the Department of
StaQrQQ^,ON2}g5Congress. In the meetings, the
Jordanians are expected to offer significant increases to
Jordan's security support in Afghanistan in exchange for
additional economic assistance through an anticipated
Afghanistan supplemental appropriation. Contributions that
support U.S. goals can likely be obtained for reimbursement
at cost if we want to hold the line and not include Jordan in
the supplemental. END SUMMARY.

Afghanistan Issues
--------------


2. (S/NF) Jordan has already made a significant
contribution of forces in Afghanistan (ref B),currently
numbered at 850 troops, which includes an infantry battalion,
a special operations company, and a field hospital. Prince
Faisal and Minister Hasan will likely make a number of offers
for increased participation in Afghanistan. Specifically, we
expect them to offer:


3. (S/NF) Training for Afghan Clerics -- Minister Hasan has
indicated an interest in offering a one-year training program
for Afghan clerics and religious leaders in moderate Islam to
counter extremist ideologies. The program would be hosted at
Al Albayt University in Mafraq, Jordan, and has been approved
by Prince Ghazi bin Muhammed, the King's special advisor on
religious affairs. (Note: Prince Ghazi is also the author
of the Amman Message on moderate Islam and the Common Word on
outreach to Christians. End Note.)


4. (S/NF) Police Training -- Prince Faisal and Minister
Hasan will offer to train Afghan National Police (ANP) at
training facilities in Jordan or by sending Mobile Training
Teams (MTT) to Afghanistan.

-- Background: Jordan has established a record of effective
training of regional police and para-military forces at the
Jordan International Police Training Center (JIPTC). In
2005-2007, the Jordanian Public Security Directorate (PSD)
trained over 53,000 Iraqi National Police. Since 2008,
Jordan has trained over 3,500 members of the Palestinian
Authority's gendarmerie-like National Security Forces (NSF)
and Presidential Guard, resulting in partial withdrawal of
Israeli security from four key West Bank cities.


5. (S/NF) Additional Field Hospital -- Prince Faisal and
Minister Hasan will offer to send an additional military
field hospital to Afghanistan. Jordan already operates one
hospital in Qalat, Afghanistan which has treated over 750,000
patients since 2003. Jordan also maintains field hospitals
in Fallujah, Iraq and in Gaza, and will soon open one in
Haiti (ref A).


6. (S/NF) Additional Ground Forces -- Senior Jordanian
military officials have in the past mentioned their interest
in making sizeable increases in their contribution of ground
forces in Afghanistan, and recently reaffirmed their interest
to the U.K. and NATO officials. Prince Faisal may make such
an offer in Washington.

-- Background: Feedback from the field indicates that
Jordanian forces already deployed have been highly effective
at key leader engagement in Afghan villages, forging valuable
relationships that give these leaders a promising alternative
to Taliban affiliation. At the same time, a Jordanian legal
requirement that soldiers deployed overseas must receive
approximately 1600 USD per month in combat pay has been
pushing the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) deeper into deficit.
The GOJ has repeatedly requested assistance from us to meet

AMMAN 00000219 002 OF 002


this obligation, a request the USG cannot fulfill. CENTCOM
has had preliminary discussions with the U.A.E. to explore it
as a potential source of donor funding, but so far funds have
not been forthcoming.


7. (S/NF) Special Operations Training -- Prince Faisal may
offer to train Afghan counter-terrorism (CT) or special
operations forces (SOF).

-- Background: Jordan has developed strong SOF and CT skills
within its security forces and currently has a SOF unit
deployed in Afghanistan (TF111). In May 2009 Jordan opened
the King Abdullah Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC)
as an intended center of excellence for SOF training.
Although KASOTC has hosted regional joint exercises, it has
yet to host a full-length regional training course.


8. (S/NF) Fighter Jets and Helicopters -- In previous
meetings, Prince Faisal has offered to send F-16 fighter jets
and UH-60 helicopters with pilots to conduct combat missions.

-- Background: Air Force Central Command (AFCENT) Commander
LTG Hostage met Prince Faisal in Amman on January 19 and
indicated to him that such a contribution would not be
helpful at this time. He assessed that Jordanian F-16 and
UH-60 pilots do not have sufficient combat flight experience.
In addition, the fleet would require point-to-point support
from the U.S. for maintenance, repair, and in missions.

Iraq Issues
--------------


9. (S/NF) Prince Faisal may also raise the following issues
related to Iraq:


10. (S/NF) Sale of Fighter Jets -- Prince Faisal has
previously indicated his interest in selling Jordan's Peace
Falcon I (PF-I) F-16 Fighter Jets to Iraq. The sale is
intended to make way for an acquisition of fourteen new F-16
jets from European partners with increased avionics
capabilities. A recent assessment by the Air Force
International Affairs Division indicated that the
acquisition, and an accompanying mid-life upgrade to the
remainder of its F-16 fleet, would cost Jordan well over $1
billion, including training and maintenance support.


11. (S/NF) Training Iraqi Pilots -- As Iraq establishes its
Air Force capabilities, Jordan has indicated interest in
training Iraqi pilots. In his January 19 meeting LTG Hostage
indicated that the U.S. was exploring conduct that training
itself.


12. (S/NF) Fighter Weapons School -- Jordan plans to
establish a center of excellence for fighter pilot training
and may seek U.S. assistance with the project. However, the
USG already supports such a facility in the region, the Gulf
Air War Center in the U.A.E.

Comment
--------------


13. (S/NF) Through their deployments in Afghanistan and
their assistance to other countries in the region, Jordan has
shown itself to be a willing and capable partner in support
of U.S. security goals. Despite the recent suicide bombing
in Khost, Afghanistan, the resulting press reporting
regarding Jordan's role in Afghanistan, and domestic public
pressures on Jordan to end its security cooperation with the
U.S., the Jordanians will make significant offers to increase
their assistance during the Washington visit. Forefront in
their minds, however, is an equally significant reward in the
form of economic assistance through an Afghanistan or other
supplemental appropriation. Although they would be
disappointed not to receive supplemental assistance, the
Jordanians would likely accept reimbursement at cost for any
additional contributions we do want, especially if we can
identify a third-country donor to assist with Jordan's combat
pay problem.
Beecroft