VZCZCXRO7676
PP RUEHLA
DE RUEHMD #1494/01 2130702
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 010702Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3119
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0119
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 0249
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 1486
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 2957

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 001494 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/31/2017 
TAGS: PREL MARR SP LE AF
SUBJECT: SPANISH DEFENSE POLDIR ON LEBANON, AFGHANISTAN, 
KOSOVO 
 
REF: A. MADRID 1202 
 
     ¶B. STATE 102187 
 
Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 b & d. 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  MOD Secretary General for Defense Policy 
Luis Cuesta told DCM on July 26 that Spain believes that the 
UNIFIL mission in Lebanon is helping.  He rejected press 
reports that Spanish troops in Lebanon had been working with 
Hizballah. Cuesta said that MOD would be working throughout 
August to prepare for the deployment of its two military 
training teams, which would be in Afghanistan in September. 
He said that Spain had talked to Kyrgyzstan about the 
importance of the continuing use of Manas air base.  Cuesta 
said that politically and legally it would be very hard for 
Spanish troops to remain in Kosovo after a declaration of 
independence in the absence of a UNSCR, but accepted DCM's 
request to examine the details of the existing UNSCR. 
Finally, Cuesta said that Spain is considering nominating 
CHOD GEN Felix Sanz for chairman of the NATO Military 
Committee. END SUMMARY. 
 
-- LEBANON: UNIFIL IS WORKING -- 
 
¶2. (C) Cuesta said that Spain believes that UNIFIL is 
achieving its mandate by helping the Lebanese army; reducing 
movement of weapons; and preventing attacks from Lebanon into 
Israel and vice versa.  He said that Spain currently sees no 
signs of an impending return to violence, noting that (1) 
Hizballah generally prefers calm at the moment as it tries to 
build electoral support; (2) UNIFIL is taking care of 
security, allowing political efforts to move forward; and (3) 
international attention to the Israel/Palestine problem often 
lowers the temperature in Lebanon.  Cuesta said that as long 
as the political and security conditions remain as they are 
now, Spain will keep its troops in UNIFIL. 
 
¶3. (C) Cuesta denied press reports that Spanish troops had 
been operating with Hizballah in Lebanon, saying that Spain 
had no/no contact with the armed parts of Hizballah.  He said 
that there was some coordination at the political level by 
their embassy in Beirut, but not in the field.  Cuesta said 
that Hizballah sees the Spanish presence as competition for 
the hearts and minds of the local people.  Furthermore, he 
said that while he didn't directly blame Hizballah for the 
car bombing that killed six Spanish soldiers, which he said 
was the work of foreigners on behalf of the international 
jihad, he found it unlikely that such an attack could have 
happened in a Hizballah-controlled zone without at least the 
acquiescence of the group. 
 
-- AFGHANISTAN: SPANISH OMLTs ALMOST ON THEIR WAY -- 
 
¶4. (C) DCM told Cuesta that Spain should be pleased by the 
high marks that it gets for the civ-mil cooperation at its 
Spanish Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Afghanistan. 
He said that the US recognizes that countries bring different 
assets and attributes to a mission like ISAF, and does not 
seek to force countries to do things that they cannot do. 
That said, it is time for Spain to fulfill its own commitment 
by deploying its military training teams (OMLT) as soon as 
possible. The DCM noted that we were disappointed that the 
Spanish OMLTs had not been deployed as scheduled in early 
June.  DCM said that the sort of institution-strengthening 
represented by the Afghan national security force training 
mission is exactly the role that Spain sees for itself. 
 
¶5. (C) Cuesta said that the OMLTs would go in September.  He 
said that Defense Minister Alonso had planned to get 
Parliamentary approval for the mission in late June, but had 
to change his plans after a car bomb killed six Spanish 
soldiers in Lebanon.  Cuesta said that while Alonso would 
have to wait till early September to go to Parliament, MOD 
was already laying the groundwork to ensure quick deployment 
once Parliament approved.  He said that MOD teams had met 
with the Afghan MOD in Kabul, were examining a few key 
updates that would be needed in the NATO OPLAN, and would be 
at Camp Stone advancing the OMLTs arrival by mid-August. 
 
¶6. (C) Regarding signs of Taliban activity (including two 
recent attacks against Spanish patrols) in the area of the 
Spanish PRT in Badghis province, Cuesta said that Spain is 
not overly concerned.  He said that their numbers are small 
and they are mostly "part-time Taliban" who are not 
 
MADRID 00001494  002 OF 003 
 
 
well-trained.  Cuesta said that Spain appreciates being able 
to patrol with the Afghan National Army (ANA) troops that 
recently came to Badghis, and that as other ANA troops are 
trained and available, they will be able both to push back 
the Taliban and to expand development and reconstruction 
efforts outside the province's capital. 
 
¶7. (C) Cuesta also mentioned Spain's appreciation of the 
recent dialogue at NATO regarding coordination between ISAF 
and OEF.  He said that Spain believed that such discussions 
should be held away from the public eye, but are important in 
making the mission successful and ensuring adequate political 
supervision over military operations.  DCM agreed that no one 
wants to see civilians killed and that coordination can 
always be improved, but noted that ISAF and OEF must continue 
to carry out tough missions that ultimately reduce the 
Taliban threat. 
 
-- SPAIN PUSHES CONTINUED USE OF MANAS -- 
 
¶8. (C) Following up on a previous conversation (ref A), 
Cuesta told DCM that Spain had talked to Kyrgyzstan about 
maintaining use of Manas air base and keeping the topic off 
the agenda for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting. 
 He said that Spain had approached Kyrgyzstan both in the 
capital and in Brussels.  In both places, the GOK had 
promised that Manas would not be on the agenda for the SCO 
meeting and had said that GOK would continue to permit use of 
the base consonant with its international counterterrorism 
commitments. Cuesta said that Spain feels strongly about the 
importance of continued use of the base. 
 
-- KOSOVO: TOUGH TO STAY WITHOUT UNSCR -- 
 
¶9. (C) Drawing on ref B points, DCM made the case that a 
decision on Kosovo independence cannot be avoided forever; 
that further delay endangers KFOR; that the US and allies 
have bent over backwards to propose creative solutions; and 
that Spain needs to stay committed to the EU position rather 
than taking action that could break the international 
consensus.  He asked Cuesta to take a close look at UNSCR 
1244, which we believe authorizes a continuing presence in 
Kosovo even if Kosovo were to declare independence after the 
120 day negotiating period. 
 
¶10. (C) Cuesta replied that while he does not expect security 
problems during a transition period, it would be important 
from the MOD perspective to keep a robust international 
presence.  However, he said that both legally and 
politically, Spain needs a UNSCR to keep troops deployed in 
Kosovo.  Promising to take another look at 1244, Cuesta said 
that Spanish participation could depend on whether Kosovo's 
neighbors might recognize it, but that the political lead 
would belong to MFA policy director Dezcallar, not to him. 
 
-- GOOD DEFENSE INDUSTRIAL COOPERATION -- 
 
¶11. (C) DCM said that while procurement issues don't belong 
to Cuesta, they are an important aspect of the bilateral 
defense relationship.  Cuesta thanked the Embassy for 
recently helping Spain to resolve a licensing paperwork issue 
that was threatening to hold up the delivery of Spanish built 
frigates to Norway.  DCM noted that Raytheon (which had 
teamed with Spanish company EADS-CASA) is appealing the 
Pentagon's decision to award the Joint Cargo Aircraft 
contract to an Italian consortium, underlining that the 
process was being carried out with complete transparency. He 
said that, while Spanish companies don't win every contract 
on which they bid, they are successful in the US market, 
increasingly teaming with US firms and winning subcontracts. 
DCM also mentioned the recent briefing that Spanish air force 
and navy chiefs had received on the Joint Strike Fighter 
program.  He said that in the future, many allies will take 
advantage of the JSF's fifth generation technology. 
 
-- SANZ FOR NATO MILITARY COMMITTEE CHAIR?? -- 
 
¶12. (C) Cuesta said that one of the US's best friends in 
Spain, Chief of Defense GEN Felix Sanz, was likely to be 
Spain's nominee for chairman of the NATO military committee. 
Emphasizing that Defense Minister Alonso had not yet cleared 
the nomination with President Zapatero, Cuesta said that MOD 
is convinced that Sanz would be a superb candidate because of 
his significant international experience and skills as a 
 
MADRID 00001494  003 OF 003 
 
 
conciliator.  He argued that as one of only three "core" 
countries not to have held the post, it is Spain's turn, and 
said that naming a chairman from a southern European country 
would be a good sign to the Med Dialogue countries that NATO 
is attentive to its southern flank. 
AGUIRRE