VZCZCXRO6841
PP RUEHIK RUEHPOD RUEHYG
DE RUEHRO #0017 0081324
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 081324Z JAN 08 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9625
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0388
RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN PRIORITY 9183
RUEHFL/AMCONSUL FLORENCE PRIORITY 2844
RUEHNP/AMCONSUL NAPLES PRIORITY 2989
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY 4591
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0829
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 2910
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS ROME 000017 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
SCA/A FOR MEGHAN BRADLEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IO PREL AF NATO EU IT
SUBJECT: ITALY BRIEFED ON TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR UN SENIOR 
CIVILIAN FOR AFGHANISTAN 
 
REF: STATE 1001 
 
¶1. (SBU) Poloff delivered reftel demarche to Italian MFA 
Coordinator for Afghanistan Sergio Mercuri on January 7. 
Mercuri appreciated the opportunity to review the latest 
version of the terms of reference/job description and was 
pleased to find that the Senior Civilian Representative would 
have the explicit authority to engage, not just with major 
donors, but also with Afghanistan's neighbors in the region. 
He agreed that Lord Ashdown has the personal authority and 
energy needed to tackle the important task of donor 
coordination. 
 
¶2. (SBU) With regard to point 3 of the terms of reference 
(lead authority for the Afghanistan Compact/co-chair JCMB), 
Mercuri hoped that this function would allow donors and the 
Afghan government to conduct a review of the Compact which 
Italy believes is overdue.  He also reiterated the Italian 
position that the next donor conference on Afghanistan should 
include a review of the benchmarks and time frames of the 
Compact with a view toward focusing the energies of the donor 
community and the Afghan government.  Contrary to public 
intimations made by FM D'Alema in the past, Mercuri said that 
Italy is not interested in hosting such a conference, but 
would welcome the opportunity to collaborate on setting the 
conference agenda. 
BORG