VZCZCXRO5798
RR RUEHLA
DE RUEHMD #0924/01 2581050
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151050Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY MADRID
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1218
INFO RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 4124
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RHMFIUU/COMUSNAVEUR NAPLES IT
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEWMFD/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 000924 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR EUR/WE STACIE ZERDECKI AND ALEXANDRA MCKNIGHT 
FOR EUR/RMP AARON COPE 
PLEASE PASS TO OSD MAGGIE SADOWSKA 
PLEASE PASS TO NATO COLLECTIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID AF SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN COMMITS ADDITIONAL TROOPS TO AFGHANISTAN 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  Spain's Council of Ministers approved September 
11 an additional contingent of 220 military personnel who will join 
the permanent contingent Spain has in Afghanistan, bringing the 
total to 998 military personnel.  Minister of Defense Carme Chacon 
must now ask for Congressional authorization of the deployment. 
Though no date for her testimony has been set, MOD staff are 
clearing her calendar for the week of September 21,and approval of 
the deployment is expected.  This cable offers a snapshot of present 
and promised Spanish commitments to Afghanistan and the current 
domestic political debate about Spain's mission. Opposition 
politicians who otherwise support Spanish participation in 
Afghanistan have been quick to remind the Spanish public that 
Zapatero said in December 2008 he would not authorize the 
participation of Spanish troops in offensive actions in Afghanistan, 
even if President-elect Obama asked for it.  End Summary. 
 
//Spanish Casualties and Numbers of Troops in Afghanistan// 
 
¶2. (SBU) Spain, a major NATO ally, has suffered proportionately 
higher casualties than many other troop-contributing countries. 
Spain has lost 87 troops in Afghanistan since the beginning of the 
ISAF operation.  Most of these casualties came in two aviation 
accidents, rather than offensive operations against the Taliban. 
Following is the information available to Post from media and 
Ministry of Defense sources about Spanish troops, pledges and 
commitments.  See additional assistance provided by the GOS 
beginning at para 6. 
 
- Permanent contingent: 778 
      - 508 in Herat 
      - 218 in Qala-i-Naw 
 - 52 in Camp Stone instruction camp 
- Electoral battalion: 450 (They will return to Spain when the 
elections, including subsequent rounds, are declared over.) 
- Kabul Airport: 66 military personnel and four Civil Guards from 
October 2009 to May 2010 
- Engineering Unit: 180(They will return to Spain when the new Base 
of Qala-i-Naw is finished.) 
- New Monitors: 12 military personnel and 30 Civil Guards for the 
training of the Afghan Army to be sent at the end of 2009.  (NOTE: 
President Zapatero announced at the April 3-4 NATO Summit that 40 
Civil Guards would be sent to training the Afghan Police.  This 
deployment has not yet been approved by the Council of Ministers, 
but Guardia Civil representatives are discussing the matter with 
NATO authorities.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Council of Ministers approved September 11 sending 220 
more troops to Afghanistan.  Post has learned that the troop 
increase, a maneuver group, would come out of the 450-man election 
support force in place now.  Minister Chacon has portrayed the 
Council's decision as the appropriate response to recommendations 
contained in a report presented by the Defense Chief of Staff 
General Rodriguez, who requested more troops to reinforce the 
security of Spanish troops already there.  Minister Chacon will now 
have to ask the Congress for permission to send the troops, 
something that she will likely do in a special session of the 
Congressional Commission on Defense.  The authorization will 
doubtless be granted, although minority parties such as the United 
Left (IU) and BNG will vote against it, asking the GOS for the 
withdrawal of all Spanish troops. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Although most parties support increasing the number of 
troops and have been asking for some time for better training and 
equipment, they may use Chacon's appearance as an opportunity to 
accuse the Government of not telling the truth about the real nature 
of the mission.  The Popular Party is already publicly and loudly 
demanding the President appear in Congress to admit that Spanish 
soldiers are participating in an actual war, where Spain is 
defending freedom, democracy and human rights, rather than in a 
peace-keeping operation as GOS officials have long asserted. 
 
¶5. (SBU) President Zapatero is aware that Spanish public support for 
sending additional combat troops to Afghanistan is low (26 per cent 
according to Transatlantic Trends 2009).  The President's decision 
to send additional troops, instead of increasing Spanish economic 
assistance in Afghanistan as 68 per cent of Spaniards would 
reportedly prefer (Transatlantic Trends 2009), will open him to 
criticism from some minority leftist parties.  These smaller parties 
could accuse Zapatero of increasing the Spanish deployment just to 
please President Obama. 
 
 
MADRID 00000924  002 OF 003 
 
 
//Economic Assistance Commitments/Pledges// 
 
¶6. (U) Following is the information available to Post from media and 
Ministry sources about other Spanish assistance, pledges, and past 
commitments. 
 
- Pledge of one billion dollars through 2016 to back the new Afghan 
government's eventual adopted development strategy.  The aid would 
concentrate on management, education (especially women and girls), 
and development of Afghan economic infrastructure, especially 
communications and agriculture. (Source:  August 13, 2009 - 
Zapatero's letter to President Obama)  NOTE:  Zapatero referenced a 
conversation between Bernardino Leon and NSA Jones.  This promised 
aid has been portrayed as above and beyond existing Spanish 
commitments, pursuant to Afghan government programming, but it 
remains to be seen whether the GOS will apply current pledges to 
this total and how fast such aid is likely to be disbursed.  End 
note. 
 
- Four million euros to the Fiduciary Fund of the Afghan National 
Army (announced by Zapatero at the April 3-4, 2009, NATO Summit) 
 
- Five million euros to the Afghan Electoral Fund (announced by 
Zapatero at the April 3-4, 2009 NATO Summit) 
 
- Five million euros in 2009 to the UNDP to be allocated to the 
construction of a "Centro de Capacitacion Agricola y Desarrollo 
Rural" (announced by Soraya Rodrguez, Secretary for International 
Cooperation and Development on February 19) 
 
- 1.5 million euros for Afghan elections (approved in the November 
14, 2008, Council of Ministers) 
 
- Eight million euros to fund colleges of agriculture in Kabul and 
in Badghis (announced by Moratinos at the June 2008 Paris 
Conference) 
 
- One million euros in May 2008 to prevent a food crisis in Badghis, 
in response to a WFP appeal. 
 
- 250,000 euros to the UNDP-managed Afghan Counter Narcotics Trust 
Fund given in 2007. 
 
- 150 million euros, over five years, pledged at the January 2006 
London Conference.  By February 2009 the media report that Spain had 
already disbursed 112.7 million euros (49 million were managed by 
international organizations, 37.5 million by the AECID, and 6.2 
million in de-centralized cooperation). 
 
- 110 million euros from 2001 to 2005 in aid to Afghanistan, through 
both bilateral and multilateral contributions (commitment made at 
the Tokyo Conference) 
 
¶7. (U) Other assistance: 
 
- Training of the Afghan Police - In February 2009 Civil Guard 
Officers finished the training of 130 members of an Afghan Police 
Unit in the PRT in Qala-i-Naw. 
 
- On July 28, 2008, the Spanish Ministry of Defense signed with its 
Afghan counterpart an agreement whereby Spain would build a Forward 
Support Base in Qala-i-Now, for ANA use at a cost of 14.5 million 
euros, as well as train, equip, and monitor a 150-strong ANA unit. 
Estimated total: 20 million euros. 
 
- As of June 2008, Spain had committed 12 experts to the EU police 
training mission (EUPOL-Afghanistan), of which eleven were on the 
ground at that time. 
 
- In October 2007, two Spanish Instruction Teams (52 trainers) left 
for Herat to train two units of the Afghan Army, under ISAF command. 
 The mission, according to the media, was supposed to last at twelve 
months, with a cost of 200,000 euros a month, plus an initial cost 
of another 200,000 euros in infrastructure. 
 
- According to then-Minister of Defense, Jos Antonio Alonso, the 
cost of the military deployment in Afghanistan from January 2002 to 
early 2007, was between 600 and 700 million euros. 
 
¶8. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Spain remains committed to Afghanistan.  Though 
the 220-man plus-up is being presented as an operational requirement 
 
MADRID 00000924  003 OF 003 
 
 
(and no doubt it is), there is also a political calculation here -- 
the GOS is sending a clear message of support to the U.S.  There 
will be a price for this among Zapatero's socialist base and with 
the far left parties whose votes in Congress he needs. 
Nevertheless, the GOS appears determined to press ahead. 
 
CHACON