VZCZCXRO6020
OO RUEHPW
DE RUEHNO #0354/01 2751258
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 011258Z OCT 08
FM USMISSION USNATO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2302
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 0606
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 1029
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 USNATO 000354 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2018 
TAGS: MARR NATO PGOV PREL SNAR UN AF
SUBJECT: A/S BOUCHER NATO VISIT, 17 SEP 08 
 
REF: USNATO 00339 
 
Classified By: A/DCM 
Walter S. Reid for Reasons 1.4(B) AND (D). 
 
 ¶1. (U)  SUMMARY:  During September 14 meetings at NATO, 
Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs 
Richard Boucher told NATO Perm Reps that NATO and the Afghans 
need to be more effective in holding territory, particularly 
with strengthened Afghan police, provincial and local 
governments, and Provincial Reconstruction Teams.  He also 
urged Allies to fund the costs of sustaining the increased 
size of the Afghan National Army.  The Deputy Chairman of the 
Military Committee told Boucher that highway security was an 
increasingly high priority for NATO and the right balance of 
local and national police forces needed to be found.  The 
Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus 
and Central Asia Bob Simmons said that while Pakistan is 
seeking a broader relationship with NATO, the Alliance was 
sticking to military-to-military contacts and top-level 
political dialogue for now.  Boucher told NATO Secretary 
General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that NATO should help reinforce 
the growing sense in Pakistan that the fight against 
terrorism was one they needed to fight for their own reasons 
and that NATO could help the Pakistani army recognize the 
need to transform into a force capable of fighting in the 
tribal areas.  NATO could also serve as an important conduit 
for Pakistan to have relations with the West.  The Sectretary 
General made a strong plea for NATO to be included in the 
planned &Friends of Pakistan8 group. END SUMMARY. 
NATO PERM REPS CURIOUS ABOUT PAKISTAN 
 
¶2. (U)  During a September 14 visit to NATO, Assistant 
Secretary Boucher told NATO PermReps at an informal coffee 
meeting that there had been significant progress in 
Afghanistan in areas such as expanding the reach of the 
Afghan government into new areas, improved coordination with 
the Afghans, and improved electricity generation.  At the 
same time, the enemy's use of asymmetric attacks, such as the 
bombing of hotels and lightning attacks such as the Kandahar 
prison break, is creating a sense of public insecurity.  He 
noted that in the counterinsurgency strategy of &clear, 
hold, build8, we were successful in clearing and fairly 
successful in building, but the &hold8 portion of the 
strategy is where there are problems, and where we need to 
work jointly with the Afghans to improve.  He outlined three 
priority areas for improvement: 
     - Police: Though there were many false starts, the 
Focused District Development program is progressing well. 
There needs to be a focus on the size and mix of national 
versus local police and further reforms are needed to 
increase the independence of the police. 
     - Provincial Government: The main issues are the need to 
get rid of the corrupting influence of poppy cultivation and 
drug-related crime, distribute money from the central 
government to local levels, and enlist the support of the 
tribes. 
     - Provisional Reconstruction Teams: Rather than be the 
presence of the country they represent, they need to increase 
their support to local governance and provide an effective 
interface to the governors. These teams need to build 
government's capacities at a local level. 
 
¶3. (C/NF)  Assistant Secretary Boucher discussed the recent 
approval to enlarge the Afghan National Army (ANA) to 134,000 
soldiers (122,000 active soldiers and a 12,000-man training 
float).  He noted this would be a large increase requiring a 
lot of money.  He stressed the need to set up a funding 
stream via a Trust Fund or other means to sustain the 
enlarged Army.  He said the U.S. would foot the bill for 
training and equipping the additional troops, at 
approximately $4-5 billion, but that the sustainment funds 
needed to come from worldwide sources. 
 
¶4. (C/NF)  Boucher noted the need to build capacity on both 
sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border.  He also noted that the 
new Pakistan government was working more actively to stem the 
flow of fighters and support from the tribal areas in 
Pakistan.  In a sign that the Pakistanis increasingly 
recognize the need for cross-border cooperation, they had 
recently requested assistance from the 101st to stop 
insurgents from returning from Afghanistan into Pakistan to 
engage Pakistani security forces conducting a sweep in the 
tribal areas. 
 
AFGHAN "AWAKENING COUNCILS" NOT LIKELY 
 
USNATO 00000354  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶5. (C/NF)  In a meeting with Boucher, Deputy Chairman of the 
Military Committee Lt Gen Karl Eikenberry (USA) said that his 
oft-repeated quote that "where the highway ends, the 
insurgency begins" was not really valid any longer due to the 
recent attacks on the road system in Afghanistan.  With 
highway security a high priority for NATO, Eikenberry stated 
he has thought a lot about the delineation of police and 
military tasks and how to build a balanced local and national 
police force.  He stated that community policing was 
difficult due to a lack of accountability, which army troops 
provided in the Iraq model.  He also commented that the 
Allies have shown more commitment than many &nay-sayers8 
expected.  He reported that at their September 12-14 meeting, 
NATO Chiefs of Defense had discussed NATO taking on a greater 
role in police training.  Finally, Eikenberry relayed that 
France, Germany, Italy and Spain were currently the 
"blockers" of General Craddock's request for new ISAF 
counter-narcotic authorities.  Most of their concerns 
centered on President Karzai's erratic performance over the 
last few months, and a concern about civilian casualties 
related to any ISAF counter-narcotic operations. 
 
¶6. (C/NF)  Boucher cautioned against trying to reinvent the 
"Anbar Awakening" model in Afghanistan.  He stated that a 
more decentralized approach was needed due to the more 
complex ethnic and tribal mix in Afghanistan, and added that 
it would be several years before the police would be able to 
provide comprehensive security throughout Afghanistan.  He 
also felt it was important to get a NATO dialogue going with 
Pakistan, for which the Secretary General's visit to 
Islamabad in late October could be a good catalyst. 
 
PAKISTAN WANTS MORE RELATIONS WITH NATO 
 
¶7. (C/NF) In a meeting with the Secretary General's Special 
Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Bob Simmons, 
Assistant Secretary Boucher was assured that the Russians 
were holding firm on their offer to allow ISAF logistical 
transit through Russia despite the deterioration of NATO,s 
relations with Russia after the fighting in Georgia. 
However, Simmons said that some issues remain in negotiating 
corresponding transit arrangements through Uzbekistan and 
Kazakhstan.  Turkmenistan also offers a potential route, 
though the Turkmen would need some signal from Russia that 
this would be acceptable. 
 
¶8. (C/NF)  In regards to Pakistan, Simmons noted the ongoing 
discussions of a balance of Presidential and Prime 
Ministerial powers in Pakistan.  He stated that Prime 
Minister Gillani saw himself more in the UK model of a Prime 
Minister.  Simmons said his impression was that the U.S. was 
not warm to the idea of making Pakistan a NATO global 
partner. Boucher noted that there was no real U.S. position 
on this issue, but that NATO could usefully help build the 
Pakistani military through courses on counterinsurgency 
doctrine and military transformation.  Simmons related that 
Pakistan desires a wider relationship with NATO, but for now 
NATO was sticking to military-to-military contacts and 
top-level political dialogue. (NOTE: In subsequent 
conversations with Charge, Simmons clarified that a potential 
"global partner" posture for Pakistan would not envisage a 
NATO diplomatic presence in Pakistan.  Simmons was not sure 
whether some Allies would seek a corresponding status for 
India as a book-end to a Pakistan relationship. END NOTE.) 
 
NATO SECGEN DISCUSSES UPCOMING PAKISTAN VISIT 
 
¶9. (C/NF):  During his meeting with Boucher, the NATO 
Secretary General noted he would travel to Pakistan at the 
end of October and asked what Boucher thought NATO's role 
should be in Pakistan.  Boucher said that both President 
Zardari and Prime Minister Gillani were personally committed 
to fighting terrorism and it was important to help build the 
notion that this is was a Pakistani fight with which the West 
is assisting.  It is also important to instill in the 
military the recognition that while India may be the 
existential threat to Pakistan, the Taliban is the urgent 
threat.  The military needed to transform away from the army 
of the Punjab plain aimed at defending against an Indian 
invasion, to an "army of the FATA" capable of conducting 
counter-insurgency operations.  Cooperation with NATO was 
more palatable to most Pakistanis that with the U.S., and 
cooperating through NATO made it easier for Pakistan to 
cooperate with the West. The Secretary General agreed and 
said he would carry much of that message with him to 
 
USNATO 00000354  003 OF 003 
 
 
Pakistan.  He said NATO's contribution could be through 
training, such as by bringing Pakistani officers to NATO 
training schools, and through sharing its own experience in 
transforming from a force designed to defeat a Soviet 
invasion to one conducting operations in Afghanistan. 
 
¶10.  (S/NF)  In response the Secretary General's question 
about the prospects for a regional approach, Boucher said it 
was difficult to see where regional approaches were headed. 
There had been cross-border Jirgas, the Canadians have been 
bringing Pakistan and Afghanistan together to discuss border 
issues, and Turkey had arranged a series of meeting between 
the Heads of State.  Boucher mentioned the U.S. and UK were 
discussing forming a Friends of Pakistan group that would 
include major countries in the region and regional 
organizations.  When he learned they were not planning to 
include NATO, the Secretary General objected strongly and 
wondered how the EU could be included but not NATO (reftel). 
He urged the U.S. and UK to reconsider and said he was 
worried about a tendency by others to see NATO as "a kind of 
black sheep" even while its soldiers were fighting and dying 
in Afghanistan. De Hoop Scheffer also noted with approval the 
announced increase in U.S. forces in Afghanistan and said he 
hoped the troops would go to fill gaps in the Combined Joint 
Statement of Requirements rather than simply placed under 
COMISAF command without specifically counting against the 
Statement of Requirements, an arrangement that he felt took 
pressure off other Allies to meet deficits. 
 
¶11.  (S/NF)  COMMENT: The timing of Boucher's visit amidst 
quickly rising sensitivity toward Afghanistan reactions to 
civilian casualties was quite helpful.  His consultative, 
collegial style played very well with Allies, who are groping 
for a way to feel they are players on core issues in 
Afghanistan and the broader regional agenda. END COMMENT. 
VOLKER