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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 BERLIN 000215 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D   C O P Y  (ADDRESSEES ADDED) 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/A, SCA/FO (A/S BOUCHER, GASTRIGHT, DEUTSCH) 
STATE PASS USTDA FOR DSTEIN/SGREENIP 
STATE PASS OPIC FOR MOSBACHER AND ZAHNISER 
MANILA PLEASE PASS ADB/USED 
MSC FOR AHARRIMAN 
USAID/AA/ANE FOR JKUNDER 
TREASURY FOR ABAUKOL, VELTRI 
CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON PREL PGOV ENRG AF
SUBJECT: JOINT COORDINATION AND MONITORING BOARD: ENHANCED 
STATURE, NEW IMPETIS FOR COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH 
 
 
SUMMARY 
 
¶1.  At the high-level session of the Afghanistan Joint 
Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) in Berlin January 
30-31, donor Government representatives and Afghan partners 
renewed their commitment to realize the political vision 
outlined in the January 2006 Afghanistan Compact.  In the 
opening session discussions with key Afghan ministers, 
Political Directors and senior diplomats from capitals, 
together with Ambassadors from Kabul, took stock of key 
challenges and issues facing Afghanistan and reaffirmed the 
JCMB as the mechanism of choice for international 
coordination.  Most donors were in agreement that similar 
high-level gatherings of the Joint Coordination and 
Monitoring Board, held in a foreign capital outside of Kabul, 
should become an annual event to keep Afghan reconstruction 
in the spotlight.  The U.S. won repeated kudos from the 
assorted speakers for its announcement of $10.6 billion in 
newly requested assistance. Assistant Secretary Boucher urged 
donors to prepare for a year of testing in 2007 as insurgent 
activity picked up, and called on other donors to consider 
new commitments.  Following Boucher,s lead, other donors 
lent unprecedented support for the comprehensive approach 
outlined by the U.S. at the January 26 NATO Ministerial. 
Other key themes echoed by Political Directors included the 
importance of: 
 
     Finding ways to strengthen Afghan ownership of the 
reform process, as well as communicating the Government,s 
political vision and delivering basic services to Afghan 
citizens, especially beyond Kabul. 
     Accelerating security sector and judicial reform and 
identifying funding for Afghan Government costs required for 
stepped up Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police 
recruitment. 
     Intensifying government anti-narcotics efforts. 
     Strengthening assistance coordination, particularly in 
building Afghan government capacity and enhancing aid 
effectiveness. 
 
¶2.  The second-day session, on January 31, took the form of a 
regular Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board quarterly 
business session.  The agenda opened with a formal decision 
to admit Spain to the Board, along with agreement to a pause 
in considering additional new members until 2008.   Reviewing 
the government,s budget, Afghan Finance Minister Ahadi 
signaled that requirements for additional security spending 
would require additional budget support from donors, as well 
as a greater degree of flexibility from the International 
Monetary Fund.  To address the security threat, Ambassador 
Neumann called on partner countries to help cover the 
additional salary costs of accelerated Afghan National Army 
recruitment.  Afghan National Security Adviser Rassoul 
highlighted efforts on the civilian side, including progress 
on police reform and plans for increased police recruitment. 
The EU Special Representative announced EU progress towards a 
final decision (probably in February) to send an EU Police 
Mission to Kabul, and signaled interest in close coordination 
with the well-established U.S. program for police training 
and mentoring.  Finally, a U.S. non-paper generated a strong 
consensus that the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan needs 
to engage the Afghan Government on early planning for the 
2009 elections in order to sort through a multitude of 
sensitive political and financial issues, including creating 
a national voter registry, and completion of a national 
census.  Donors will need to consider additional funding for 
new election expenses and back bills.  Donors welcomed a 
position paper circulated by the Afghans to frame the two-day 
discussion, but there was minimal reference to an 
accompanying Afghan list of priority projects requiring 
additional funding support from donors.  The regular 
Monitoring Board meeting took decisions: 
 
     to establish a Ministry of Interior taskforce with key 
donors to revisit the Afghan Compact,s target force levels 
for the Afghan National Police; 
     that the Finance Ministry establish a more effective 
donor assistance reporting system, and design a framework to 
assess development outcomes; 
     that the Ministry of Counter-Narcotics prepare an 
action plan for donor support of its National Drugs Control 
Strategy; and 
     to extend three Afghan Compact benchmarks for drafting 
Minerals Law regulations, completing a Skills Development 
Labor Market Study, and liquidating state-owned banks that 
have not been re-licensed. 
 
There was a recurring theme of the Afghan Government,s need 
to address corruption.  The Government pledged in day one to 
undertake an active eradication program and requested an 
international review of the counter-narcotics strategy on day 
 
BERLIN 00000215  002 OF 006 
 
 
two.  Several delegations noted their opposition to spraying. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
FRAMING THE POLITICAL DIRECTORS MEETING ) DAY ONE 
 
¶3.  On January 30 in Berlin, German Foreign Minister 
Steinmeier and Afghan Foreign Minister Spanta convened the 
first Political Director-level gathering of the Joint 
Coordination and Monitoring Board.  In his welcoming remarks, 
Foreign Minister Spanta thanked the international community 
for making possible the many positive achievements in 
Afghanistan, while making clear that the Afghan Government 
viewed the Board as its preferred entity for international 
aid coordination.  Spanta recounted progress on key Afghan 
Compact benchmarks, and announced that the next Regional 
Economic Coordination Conference on Afghan reconstruction 
would be held in Islamabad, a significant development in 
light of the recently strained relations between Afghanistan 
and Pakistan.  Spanta also called on Board members to 
proportionately change the way aid was distributed, with a 
focus on the important task of building Afghan capacity and 
channeling more international aid directly through the Afghan 
Government, a plea that was echoed throughout the session by 
subsequent Afghan speakers -- Finance Minister Ahadi and 
Minister of Education Atmar.  He challenged donors to take a 
hard look at their technical assistance expenditures, 
alleging the international community had received less than 
full value from the $1.6 billion spent since 2001 on foreign 
consultants.  Minister of Economy Shams detailed a greater 
need to coordinate technical assistance with the Government 
of Afghanistan. 
 
¶4.  On counter-narcotics, Spanta and Afghan Coordination and 
Monitoring Board Co-Chair Ishaq Nadiri soundly rejected 
ground or aerial-based spray initiatives during the coming 
growing season. Afghan Education Minister Atmar subsequently 
made an impassioned appeal for donor support in combating 
narcotics trade.  Atmar said that &narcotics are the enemy 
of everything Afghanistan stands for, and are a matter of 
life and death.8  He said that government has taken a 
decision to step up its eradication efforts, seeing this as 
its &only option at this point,8 given the record poppy 
acreage planted to farmers.  (Comment ) the Embassy had 
reacted to an advance draft of an Afghan scope paper intended 
to frame the Board,s discussion,  by pointing out that the 
draft emphasized the importance of developing alternative 
livelihood incentives for farmers, without adequately 
addressing the need for strong deterrence measures, including 
interdiction and eradication.  Atmar,s comments appeared to 
be not only a reaction to the U.S. input but also a strong 
reaffirmation of the need to eradicate.  The Afghans had 
immediately revised their scope paper to emphasize that 
deterrent measures are a key component of their 
counter-narcotics strategy.  End Comment). 
 
¶5.  UN Special Representative and Board Co-chair Tom Koenigs 
injected a sense of urgency, underscoring that it is a 
critical moment for Afghanistan, and that the significant 
progress in creating a new democracy could be undone should 
international support be seen to waver.  Koenigs 
characterized Afghanistan as a &post-devastation8 
situation, whereby long-term international commitment to the 
country,s transformation will be critical to success.  He 
noted the need for increased government outreach and presence 
beyond Kabul, and reported that the UN Assistance Mission in 
Afghanistan is setting up new regional offices ) 4 opened 
already in 2006 and another 5 are planned in 2007.  Koenigs 
also emphasized the importance of regional cooperation.  In 
this context, he specifically condemned reports that Pakistan 
is proposing to mine its border with Afghanistan. 
 
DAY ONE SPEECHES AND ATMOSPHERICS 
 
¶6.  The first-day meeting, which lasted over five hours, 
yielded a steady chorus of speeches, with some familiar as 
well also some new, constructive themes.  A common thread 
from all corners was the universal endorsement of the need 
for a comprehensive approach combining military action with 
civilian reconstruction.  This sentiment represents a marked 
evolution from the predominant debate of five years ago, when 
the U.S. endured significant criticism for its introduction 
of the Provincial Reconstruction Team concept and allegations 
of how this model dangerously blurred the lines between 
civil-military affairs.  Other less useful interventions by 
Board member delegations were a combination of donors 
monotonously touting their own development achievements, 
outlining challenges ahead, and offering generic suggestions 
for improving aid coordination.  France forcefully lamented 
the proliferation of Afghanistan,s narcotics trade as a 
threat to its own national security, but offered no new 
proposals or initiatives to alleviate the problem.  Italy 
 
BERLIN 00000215  003 OF 006 
 
 
unilaterally promoted its idea to host up to three future 
events on Afghanistan ) a high-level international 
conference, a Rule of Law event in Rome, and a February 
roundtable in Rome with prominent Afghan women.  However, 
privately Italian delegate Anna de la Croce told Ambassador 
Neumann that the idea of a broad strategic conference was for 
domestic Italian consumption, and she did not expect her 
government to push the issue.  No new financial pledges were 
made during the course of the Political Directors session, 
though Norway did indicate it would double its annual 
commitment to Afghan reconstruction from 30 million to 60 
million euro. 
 
¶7.  Assistant Secretary Boucher outlined the new U.S. 
assistance request of $10.6 billion as the culmination of a 
detailed strategy review to pursue a comprehensive assistance 
strategy combining security and reconstruction.  But he 
framed expectations by cautioning that the aid would not 
materialize immediately; it would take at least 12 months for 
this aid to turn into real projects on the ground.  Boucher 
urged donors to prepare for a year of testing in 2007 as 
insurgent activity picked up, but not to lose focus on the 
need to keep up political and economic support for 
Afghanistan.  Afghanistan had overcome a lot over the last 
quarter century, but still faced a long road of challenges 
ahead and the success or failure of international efforts 
would have serious international ramifications.  Combined 
Forces Command-Afghanistan (CFC-A) Commanding Officer Lt. 
General Karl Eikenberry lent his voice to outline broadly the 
rationale and modalities behind U.S. efforts to build and 
equip the Afghan National Army, consistent with the recent 
Afghan Government decision to accelerate the pace of 
recruitment. 
 
8.(SBU)  The political directors, discussion was also 
flavored from time to time with subtle regional posturing, 
but the dialogue remained constructive overall.  India 
proudly highlighted its recent announcement of an additional 
$100 million assistance pledge (in addition to $750 million 
already pledged since 2001), but also posited that &the 
source of Afghanistan,s instability8 should be more 
explicitly reflected in the quarterly Coordination and 
Monitoring Board reports.  During its turn to speak, Pakistan 
was surprisingly restrained, pledging that a stable 
Afghanistan was in the entire region,s interest and that a 
holistic approach combining security and reconstruction was 
needed to move forward.  The Pakistani representative also 
directly addressed the issue of mining its border with 
Afghanistan (which Koenigs had earlier criticized in his 
comments) by stating that its primary intent was border 
stability but no final decisions had been made. Islamabad, he 
commented, would be quite willing to consider any 
alternatives that the international community could 
recommend.  Iran, in turn, highlighted its friendship with 
Afghanistan and condemned the Taliban and other radical 
elements while wondering aloud why the plethora of foreign 
troops in the country was unable to stem the narcotics tide. 
It called for accelerating the &Afghanization8 of the 
national security forces in order to speed the departure of 
foreign forces.  China and Russia both highlighted 
Afghanistan,s narcotics trade as a regional threat. 
 
DAY TWO ) REGULAR JCMB IV 
 
¶9.  Board Membership:   The January 31 session took the form 
of a regular Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board 
quarterly business session with delegations led for the most 
part by Ambassadors and other Kabul-based member country 
diplomatic and development agency representatives.  This 
day-two session opened with a formal decision to admit Spain 
to the body.  Co-chair Koenigs indicated that agreement on 
specific criteria for membership had proved difficult in the 
past, and he was not eager to resume that effort.  In lieu of 
this, he proposed agreement on a pause in taking in new 
members, extracting consensus from those present that any 
additional membership requests that may arise should be 
deferred until 2008.  In response to a UK inquiry suggesting 
that members encourage the International Monetary Fund to 
seek membership, Koenigs recalled that the Fund had passed on 
membership earlier when the Board was being formed.  He 
ventured that any Fund interest at this point could be most 
easily addressed through permitting it to participate in 
future sessions upon request, but as a non-member.   Should 
the International Monetary Fund desire full membership, that 
could be addressed in 2008. 
 
 
¶10.  Afghan Budget Pressures:  Afghan Finance Minister Ahadi 
then took the floor to present a Government of Afghanistan 
report on Public Finances (a copy is being transmitted to the 
SCA Afghanistan desk).  Ahadi reported satisfaction over 
 
BERLIN 00000215  004 OF 006 
 
 
Government progress meeting revenue targets, and more 
recently improving its performance on execution of its 
development budget.  For the current Afghan year 1385, he 
reported a steady rise in expenditure of development funds 
through the Afghan budget, which he expected to reach 60 
percent of the budgeted figure, which would represent a 
substantial improvement from the previous year.  Ahadi 
signaled, however, that achieving fiscal sustainability from 
the government,s own resources, in connection with its 
Afghan Compact benchmark, is proving to be a much bigger 
challenge.  According to Ahadi, the Government,s ability to 
reach these targets has been seriously complicated by the 
very strong and legitimate need for additional security 
spending.  He concluded that Afghanistan will need a 
&significant increase in foreign assistance to both its 
development and recurrent budget in this area,8 as well as 
additional flexibility from the International Monetary Fund 
to take into account these increased budgetary requirements. 
To produce the required results, Ahadi added that a 
significant increase in aid effectiveness is also a critical 
ingredient. 
 
¶11.   Strengthening the Army and Police:  Ambassador Neumann 
called on partner countries to join in providing budget 
support to help cover some of the additional salary cost 
resulting from accelerated Afghan National Army recruitment. 
Afghan National Security Adviser Rassoul then highlighted 
parallel efforts needed on the police side, as the Government 
moves to complete the third phase of its police reforms.  The 
EU Special Representative described EU progress towards 
sending an EU Police Mission to Kabul.  A decision is 
expected in mid-February.  This will be followed by the 
development of a detailed concept.  The mission might arrive 
in Afghanistan by April or May.  He cited the goals of 
putting 160 police trainers and mentors in place in the 
coming year.  The German Ambassador then commended the latest 
conclusions of Afghan probationary boards for senior police 
appointments, and endorsed the need for a Joint Coordination 
and Monitoring Board Task Force to look at increasing total 
force requirements for the Afghan National Police from the 
62,000 target that had been agreed within the Afghan Compact. 
The Afghan Government is currently exploring the need for 
force increases up to as much as 82,000 police, and a working 
group will present a specific recommendation at the next 
Board meeting to formally revise the London benchmark. 
Ambassador Neumann endorsed the call to review Afghan 
National Police force levels, welcomed the proposed EU police 
mission, and indicated U.S. interest in developing effective 
coordination between our efforts and those of the EU.  Norway 
and Canada expressed interest in cooperating with the EU 
mission, and Canada described a shortfall of police forces in 
the South as damaging to military efforts there. Finance 
Minister Ahadi concluded that getting firm international 
commitments for the Afghan Government,s Law and Order Trust 
Fund for the police (known as &LOTFA8) was critical to the 
budget he is finalizing for Afghan year 1386 (which begins 
March 21).  Ahadi plans to submit his budget on February 6, 
and reported that it assumes commitments of $123 million 
dollars by donors to the Trust Fund. 
¶12.  Election Issues:   A productive discussion on the need 
to prepare for Afghanistan,s next round of presidential and 
parliamentary elections (scheduled for 2009) centered on a 
U.S. non-paper that was circulated prior to the Board 
meeting.  Ambassador Neumann lamented the absence of any 
meaningful discourse related to planning for the next 
election cycle.  He pushed the Afghan Government to take 
ownership of the process and begin making difficult 
decisions, including the establishment of a rational 
elections calendar.  Ambassador Neumann also urged the 
international community to factor in requisite financial 
support as governments prepared their out-year assistance 
packages to Afghanistan. 
¶13.  The U.S. intervention was well received.  Germany, 
Canada, India, Netherlands, Norway, and the EU voiced strong 
support for early elections planning, and called for the UN 
Assistance Mission to initiate meetings with the Afghans in 
Kabul to sort through the multitude of sensitive political 
and financial issues facing Afghanistan, not the least of 
which includes the completion of a national census.  India 
advocated against another expensive set of elections, and 
implored planners to rationalize the cost structure of the 
next elections in order to promote Afghan ownership and 
decrease donor dependence.  The UN remained mostly silent 
during the discussion, except to note that the budget 
shortfall resulting from the 2005 parliamentary elections had 
still not been reconciled.  Finance Minister Ahadi defended 
the cost of the previous elections as justifiable when 
considering what Afghanistan was emerging from and the value 
of steering the fragile country on the path to a genuine 
democratic future.  Ahadi did acknowledge, however, that it 
was time for the Afghan Government to step up and begin 
 
BERLIN 00000215  005 OF 006 
 
 
preparing for the next election cycle, as well as to rein in 
costs, which were not sustainable. 
¶14.  Afghan capacity building:  The World Bank drew attention 
to a paper it had circulated (stimulated by a USAID draft) on 
how to improve coordination of donor capacity building 
efforts, and called for this to be a major focus for the next 
meeting of the Afghan Development Forum (an annual Afghan 
Government meeting with its development agency partners), 
which is expected to coincide with the next Monitoring Board 
meeting, now slated for late April.  In response, Afghan 
Minister of Economy Shams outlined Afghan plans to finalize a 
national Strategy for Human Resource Development in time for 
the Development Forum meeting.  According to Shams, key 
tenets will focus on vocational training, on-the-job 
training, and civil service reform.  Ambassador Neumann and 
USAID Director Waskin highlighted our initiatives to enhance 
Afghan capacity, and several delegations called for 
consideration of a new Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund 
window to permit donors to designate additional funds for 
this purpose.  Ahadi opposed the opening of an additional 
window as complicating the Government,s budget management. 
 
¶15.  The World Bank representative additionally called 
attention to the issues of Afghanistan,s eligibility in the 
future for the bank,s International Development Agency soft 
credit facility, which is due to be phased out for 
Afghanistan over a 4-year period beginning with the bank,s 
FY08 budget.  According to the bank,s representative, the 
phase-out is scheduled in accordance with current limits on 
assistance for post-conflict countries, even though it is not 
clear that Afghanistan accurately fits the definition of a 
post-conflict state. (COMMENT:  Embassy Kabul will follow up 
on this issue and report on its implications to Washington). 
 The World Bank also drew attention to the significant work 
that will be required to finalize the draft Afghanistan 
National Development Strategy, which has a completion 
deadline of March 2008. 
 
¶16.  Afghan Justice Minister Danish submitted a report on 
capacity gaps in the legislative process, which included a 
list of 20 prioritized pieces of legislation identified for 
submission to parliament over the next year.  He asked donors 
to consider strengthening assistance to his ministry as well 
as the Afghan parliament to help accelerate drafting and 
coordination of new legislation.  The EU Representative drew 
particular attention to the draft media law as critical to 
establishment of Afghanistan as a pluralist, democratic 
state, and urged the government to ensure that the Parliament 
does not undermine the freedoms laid out in the government,s 
current draft bill. 
 
¶17.  The JCMB IV regular meeting concluded with a request 
from Board Co-Chair Koenigs for endorsement of several 
actions proposed by Afghan National Development Strategy 
Working Groups that had coordinated input for the meeting. 
Pursuant to his motion, it was decided that: 
 
     The Ministry of Interior will form a taskforce with key 
donors to revisit the target force levels for the Afghan 
National Police set in the Afghan Compact, and report its 
recommendations to the next quarterly Board meeting; 
     The Finance Ministry should work with donors to 
establish a more effective reporting system on assistance, 
and design a framework to assess development outcomes, in 
time for the next Board meeting; 
     The Government of Afghanistan should complete it 
strategy for building Afghan Capacity in time for the next 
Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board meeting; and 
     The Ministry of Counter-Narcotics should prepare an 
action plan for better coordination of donor efforts to 
support its National Drugs Control Strategy; and 
     Three Afghan Compact benchmarks should be extended 
because completion by the original target dates is no longer 
realistic, specifically: 
o     A 9-month extension for drafting Minerals Law 
regulations. 
o     A 4- month extension for completing the Skills 
Development Labor Market Study, and 
o     A 6-month extension for liquidation of state-owned 
banks that have not been re-licensed. 
 
17.(SBU)  COMMENT:  Revisiting the benchmarks set in London a 
year ago and reaffirming the international community,s 
commitment to Afghan security and reconstruction was an 
important purpose well served by the Berlin meeting.  Unlike 
London, however, the Berlin meeting is likely to have little 
resonance among average Afghans, whose focus is on delivery 
of results now.  The Joint Coordination and Monitoring 
Board,s Afghan and international members will return to 
Kabul determined to renew their effort to get the job done. 
The Board remains the prime instrument for coordinating 
 
BERLIN 00000215  006 OF 006 
 
 
Afghan reconstruction; donors agreed that while minor 
adjustment of the mechanism may be useful, there is no need 
to look for new actors (e.g. NATO or the EU) to play a lead 
coordinating role.  The Afghan Compact remains the accepted 
comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶18.  Assistant Secretary Richard A. Boucher has cleared on 
this cable. 
TIMKEN JR