POLAND LIKELY TO INCREASE CONTRIBUTION TO AFGHAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 000116 SIPDIS DEPT FOR S/SRAP AND EUR/CE (GLANTZ) E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2020 TAGS: MASS MCAP NATO PREL AF PL SUBJECT: POLAND LIKELY TO INCREASE CONTRIBUTION TO AFGHAN TRAINING EFFORT REF: STATE 14366 Classified By: Political Counselor F. Daniel Sainz for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Warsaw plans to step up its contribution for training Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) but has not cleared with the interagency an announcement for the February 23 extraordinary force generation conference at SHAPE. Ambassador Jerzy Wieclaw of the MFA Asia-Pacific Department said a final decision had not yet been made, but the increase would likely be "significant." Wieclaw said Foreign Minister Sikorski hoped the increased emphasis on training ANSF would allow the ISAF mission to transition from combat to training within two years. Jacek Januchowski of the Ministry's Security Policy Department told us that Warsaw was looking at an increase of two Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (OMLTs),each consisting of 34 soldiers (15 instructors, 19 security personnel) and up to ten additional Police Operational Mentoring and Liaison Teams (POMLTs),consisting of 22 personnel each (nine instructors, 13 security). ¶2. (C) Wieclaw said the prospective increase in ISAF military and police trainers was part of Poland's emphasis on developing Afghan capabilities, in line with RC-East Commander operational plans. Warsaw is seeking qualified civilian personnel to accompany the seventh rotation of Polish troops to Afghanistan in April. Despite the recruiting challenges, Wieclaw said plans call for 5-6 civilian development experts to deploy to Ghazni Province to work at the provincial and sub-provincial levels. In addition, the GoP planned to deploy a good governance/corruption expert either to Kabul, where he might have more influence, or to Ghazni Province, where Polish troops could better protect him. ¶3. (C) Defense Ministry contacts have told DAO that the number of POMLTs may not increase as much as MFA has proposed. The overall cap of 2,600 on the number of Polish troops in the seventh rotation could complicate the intended increase in police trainers. FEINSTEIN