GREEK VIEWS ON LONDON CONFERENCE

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