C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000035

SIPDIS
S/SRAP FOR JARRETT BLANC
SCA/A FOR TOM GRAMAGLIA AND CAROLYN COBERLY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/01/25
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON EFIN AF GR
SUBJECT: GREEK VIEWS ON LONDON CONFERENCE

REF: A.) State 6355; B.) Athens 23

CLASSIFIED BY: Deborah A. McCarthy, Deputy Chief of Mission; REASON:
1.4(B), (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY. Greece supports U.S. goals at the upcoming London
Conference, and is looking at a potential contribution to the
reintegration trust fund in 2010. The Greek MFA is pushing to send
three police trainers to EUPOL, but needs interagency buy-in,
particularly from the ministry that controls the police, the
Ministry of Citizen Protection. Noting the importance of
development and governance, the MFA pointed to Afghan performance
as the big unknown, but agreed with London Conference plans.
Greece fully supports enhancing international civilian
coordination. Post also double-tracked the demarche with the MOD's
Diplomatic Advisor, who noted Greece is working with SHAPE to
integrate its Kabul-based engineering battalion into NATO Training
Mission - Afghanistan (NTM-A). END SUMMARY.




2. (C) Greek MFA A10 (Asia and Pacific) Director Haris Dafaranos
welcomed the opportunity to share views with the U.S., and told us
in a January 22 meeting that Greece would be represented in London
by Alternate Foreign Minister Droutsas, and was hoping for good
results. Hailing the important U.S. role in Afghanistan as
"catalytic," he offered the following views on U.S. desired
outcomes for London:



-- Reintegration: Alt/FM Droutsas was aware of this issue and
interested in it, Dafaranos stated, as UK FM Miliband had called
all his European counterparts to sensitize them. Dafaranos said
that despite the Greek government's current economic and budgetary
problems, his division had recommended a Greek contribution to the
reintegration trust fund later this year, and it was being
considered within the MFA.



-- Transition/ANSF: Dafaranos supported the transition plans in
development at NATO (ref B). He stated that the MFA is trying to
get Greece to send three trainers to the European Union's EUPOL
training mission in Afghanistan, but that interagency buy-in,
particularly from the Ministry of Citizen Protection (which
controls the police) is needed. On ANSF, Dafaranos said that it
was important the London Conference approve JCMB recommendation on
ANA and ANP growth.



-- Development and governance: Dafaranos supported governance and
anti-corruption plans for the London Conference. He urged a
continued strong message of accountability to the Afghan
government, while recognizing the need for European governments to
work on European public opinion so that citizens better understood
the dangers of simply disengaging from Afghanistan at this moment.
He acknowledged that Afghanistan was "very far away" in the mind of
the average Greek citizen.



-- International Civilian Coordination: UNAMA had accomplished
some remarkable achievements, Dafaranos noted, while endorsing the
need for strengthened international civilian coordination across
the board.




3. (C) We also delivered reftel A points to MOD Diplomatic Advisor
Dimitris Chronopoulos on January 25, who stated that he would
review the U.S. views as he prepared Defense Minister Venizelos for
the NATO Defense Ministerial February 4-5 in Istanbul.
Chronopoulos said that Greece is working with SHAPE on integrating
its Kabul-based engineering battalion into NTM-A, and highlighted
Greek financial contributions to Afghanistan in 2009, including
700,000 euros for the Law and Order Trust Fund (LOTFA) to pay
police salaries, and 1.8 million euros in joint PRT projects with
Spain, Estonia, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic (paper emailed to
EUR/SE).
Speckhard