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UNCLAS STATE 105096 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL UNSC UNAMA UNGA KDEM EAID MARR MASS MOPS UN
AF 
SUBJECT: FRIENDS OF AFGHANISTAN MEETING AT THE UN 
 
¶1. This message is sensitive but unclassified: please protect 
accordingly. 
 
¶2. (U) Participants: 
 
U.S. 
A/S Richard Boucher, SCA 
 
AFGHANISTAN 
Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta 
 
AUSTRALIA 
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith 
 
CANADA 
Ambassador John McNee, Permanent Representative to the UN 
 
DENMARK 
Ambassador Carsten Damsgaard, Political Director 
 
FRANCE 
Ambassador Gerard Araud, Political Director 
Ambassador Pierre Duquesne 
 
GERMANY 
Ambassador Volker Stanzel, Political Director 
 
ITALY 
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini 
 
JAPAN 
Ambassador Yukio Takasu, Permanent Representative to the UN 
 
NETHERLANDS 
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen 
 
NORWAY 
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store 
 
UNITED KINGDOM 
Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, Political Director 
 
UNITED NATIONS 
Under-Secretary-General Alain Le Roy, Department of 
Peacekeeping operations (DPKO) 
Special representative Kai Eide (UNAMA) 
 
¶3. (SBU) SUMMARY: This message contains an action request for 
USUN, please see paragraph 4.  Norway hosted a meeting of the 
informal group of the friends of Afghanistan on the margins 
of UNGA on September 24. The meeting provided an opportunity 
to follow-up the implementation of the Afghan National 
Development Strategy endorsed at the June international 
conference in Paris in support of Afghanistan. UN Special 
Representative Kai Eide called on Friends to work together to 
reverse negative trends in Afghanistan by March 2009, by 
focusing on the following priorities: security (particularly 
police), local governance, anti-corruption, aid-effectiveness 
and increased civil-military cooperation. Friends of 
Afghanistan expressed support for Eide,s recommendations. 
 
¶4. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: During the meeting, newly-appointed 
UN Under-Secretary-General Le Roy for peacekeeping confirmed 
UNSYG approval of budget requests to expand the UN Assistance 
Mission to Afghanistan. However, the formal budget approval 
in the UN requires that the proposal is reviewed by the 
Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions 
(ACABQ) and put to a vote in the UN General Assembly 5th 
Committee (Administrative and Budgetary). This review and 
vote would likely take place in December. As expansion is a 
U.S. priority, the Department requests that USUN work with 
the Friends of Afghanistan on ways to accelerate 
consideration and approval of the budget. END OF SUMMARY AND 
ACTION REQUEST. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Afghan Foreign Minister Spanta first reported on the 
worsening security situation in Afghanistan, mentioning the 
increase in the number of &Kashmiri jihadists8 in 
Afghanistan and the lack of control of the central government 
(3 out of 13 districts in Helmand are under government 
control). Despite this situation, Spanta underlined the steps 
taken to implement the national development strategy, 
including the appointment of the anti-corruption commission 
by President Karzai and the effort to reduce poppy 
production, which is down 19 percent this year. Mentioning 
civilian casualties, Foreign Minister Spanta pointed to the 
lack of coordination and to &wrong intelligence sources.8 
He feared that further loss of civilian life would put the 
support of the Afghan population for the Coalition at risk. 
 
¶6. (SBU) UN Under Secretary General Le Roy stressed that 
Afghanistan would remain a priority for the UN in the coming 
years and confirmed that the UN Secretary General had 
approved the expansion of the UN budget and personnel in 
Afghanistan. The UN had accepted a higher degree of 
responsibility over the situation without having the full 
control of the military or financial tools.  It relied on the 
willingness of Friends to be coordinated and pledged the UN 
would make every effort to be convincing.  He noted the UN 
was now a target of the insurgency, as three UN staff were 
killed in Southern Afghanistan last week.  The international 
community and the Afghan government had to reverse the 
security situation as time was running out.  He mentioned 
civil-military cooperation, aid-effectiveness and a fair 
electoral process as key to this effort. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Special Representative Eide gave a frank assessment 
of the situation.  After the Paris conference, he said, the 
international community had been distracted by the 
deteriorating security situation.  Attacks were now happening 
in and around Kabul, not only in Southern and Eastern 
Afghanistan. He reiterated Le Roy,s comment that the UN had 
now become a direct target of the insurgency. Civilian 
casualties, as highlighted by the Shindand incident, have 
also created additional tensions.  The Coalition had to do 
its best to avoid this situation, but it was &time to move 
forward8 and to &come back to the Paris agenda.8 
 
¶8. (SBU) Eide welcomed the decision by the Afghan government 
to create new structures for implementation of the national 
development strategy.  He outlined the following challenges: 
 
-- Elections: given less-than-perfect security conditions, 
the Afghans had to strike a balance between security 
requirements and the need to see the process move forward. 
 
-- Humanitarian assistance: the UN had made an appeal for USD 
400 million, of which only 40 percent has been received. A 
failure in meeting the target would result in possible famine 
and new displacements of population.  (Comment: the United 
States is committed to providing half of the 200,000 metric 
tons of food requested, and has already shipped 50,000 metric 
tons). 
 
-- Afghan National Army expansion: Eide welcomed the 
decision, but expressed concern that the Afghan National 
Police might be forgotten as a result of an increased focus 
on the army. The police were &in a miserable state8 and 
durable security would only be achieved through a stronger 
police, which would combat the insurgency, fight crime, and 
protect borders. 
 
-- Governance: he stressed that subnational entities needed 
to be strengthened. While the creation of the independent 
directorate for local governance was welcomed with 
enthusiasm, implementation of the &Afghanistan Social 
Outreach Program,8 however was still pending, mainly due to 
a lack of coordination among donors. Eide vigorously called 
on Friends to stop negotiating separate agreements with the 
Directorate on the basis of their respective provincial 
interests and to adopt standardized procedures. 
 
-- Corruption: the new mechanism was not enough and needed to 
be strengthened, but the trend was right. We need to support 
the new office and then see what more can be done.  Eide also 
welcomed the creation of a &National Institute for Public 
Management,8 but noted that it is under-resourced. 
 
--Aid effectiveness: The UN was working on establishing 
criteria for increased transparency among donors, and Eide 
announced he would soon reach out to donors with proposals. 
(Comment: towards this effort, State will ask Embassies to 
approach governments in donor capitals, show them how our 
Paris pledge aligns to Afghan national strategy sectors, and 
encourage them to report similar information to the Afghan 
Ministry of Finance). He stressed the need for an equitable 
distribution of resources, as more and more countries were 
&entrenched in a province-based approach.8 Donors were 
losing the &nation-wide perspective8 of developing 
Afghanistan, which would diminish the impact of international 
aid and make the strategy unimplementable. 
 
-- Civil-military coordination: Eide pointed to the 
difference of concept between the military and civilians. 
Rather than just considering civil-military coordination as a 
process of &clear, hold and build,8 he wanted to sit down 
with General McKiernan to balance overall resource 
allocations of both civilian and military resources, based on 
an assessment of the political situation. 
 
-- UNAMA: Eide described his mission as &small and fragile8 
and conveyed to the group his frustration that despite 
decisions that had been made in June in Paris, he would only 
be able to deliver a full response by spring 2009, due to UN 
procedures.  He regretted the delay in achieving the 
&surge8 of the UN in Afghanistan. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Friends offered unanimous support to Eide,s 
assessment and expressed their commitment to the strategy 
endorsed in Paris in June. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Netherlands and Italy committed additional 
police training resources, notably through the European 
Police mission. Germany wondered whether the decrease in 
poppy production might be the result of a move by producers 
to keep the prices high. In a critical comment on slow 
improvements on the ground, the United Kingdom urged the 
Afghan government to accelerate implementation of the 
national strategy and the UN to move &beyond rhetoric8 on 
coordination of foreign assistance. France expressed its 
concern that commitments made in Paris in June were 
&fulfilled partly and slowly.8 Political Director Araud 
called on all parties to accelerate implementing the strategy. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Boucher reiterated the call on Friends to implement 
the strategy and supported Eide,s recommendations on police 
(more trainers and better structures) and local governance. 
Governors had to be empowered to exert real authority. 
Boucher agreed with Eide, Norway, Australia and Canada that 
the deterioration of the humanitarian situation needed to be 
addressed and recalled the figures of U.S. humanitarian 
assistance to Afghanistan (USD 170,000 in food aid and 
100,000 metric tons of wheat). 
 
¶12. (SBU)  UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Australia 
mentioned improved Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship as a 
positive step. FM Spanta confirmed that he would travel to 
Islamabad on the first week of October to work on a &common 
strategy8 to fight against terrorism and on the wider 
bilateral relationship. He also informed the group that a 
Regional Peace Jirga would be held on October 28-29. 
 
¶13. (SBU) At Germany and UK,s request, UN 
Under-Secretary-General Le Roy gave further details on the 
proposed increase in the Mission'sbudget and the expansion of 
the number of personnel. Now that the UN Secretary General 
and the UN controller have formally proposed the expansion of 
the UN Mission, the budget increase will have to be approved 
by the UN General Assembly 5th Committee (Administrative and 
Budgetary) after the review by the Advisory Committee on 
Administrative and Budgetary Questions.  The review by the 
Committee and vote by the Fifth Committee would likely take 
place in December. Le Roy informed the group that he had 
authorized UNAMA to hire a higher percentage of staff on the 
current budget, but any pressure by Friends in the 5th 
Committee to expedite consideration of this matter might 
help. UK and U.S. called on Friends to urge countries in the 
5th Committee to accelerate budget approval. 
RICE