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S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BUCHAREST 000714 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CE ASCHIEBE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/22/2034 
TAGS: PREL ENRG CONS XH XD RO
SUBJECT: ROMANIA: VP BIDEN MEETING WITH PRESIDENT BASESCU 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Mark A. Gitenstein for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d 
). 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  Vice President Biden met with President 
Basescu on October 22, 2009.  The Romanian President and Vice 
President Biden discussed the motivations for Biden's trip to 
Europe; the U.S. and Romanian relationships with Russia; 
missile defense; and the coalition strategy in Afghanistan 
and Pakistan.  They also touched on energy security, the visa 
waiver program, and international adoptions.  Biden thanked 
Basescu for Romania's continued presence in Afghanistan, 
calling Romania's troops there "warriors" who had earned the 
respect of the U.S. military.  End Summary 
 
¶2. (C) Biden opened by affirming that the United States has 
no better partner in Europe than Romania.  On this trip, 
which was planned in response to both the recent controversy 
surrounding missile defense and the July 16th open letter 
questioning U.S. policy in the region, Biden affirmed that he 
wanted to come where things are going right, not only where 
there are problems.  Assuring Basescu that the "reset" in 
U.S. relations with Russia did not mean "erase memory," Biden 
went on to say that the U.S. would not tolerate either 
"spheres of influence" or a Russian veto over the aspirations 
of any state to join whatever alliance- political, economic, 
or military- of which that state wished to be a part.  The 
U.S. wants a strong relationship with Russia and hopes to 
continue to turn Russia towards the West, but not at the 
expense of a Europe whole, free, and at peace.  It is for 
this reason that the U.S. is supportive of the continued 
expansion of both NATO and the EU.  Saying that the Obama 
Administration was fully behind the NATO alliance, Biden 
underscored that one of the fundamental building blocks of 
U.S. national security is its status as a European power, 
which is only possible through NATO. 
 
¶3. (S) Basescu raised Afghanistan as our biggest shared 
foreign policy problem. He referred to the McChrystal report 
and expressed Romania's view that more troops will be needed 
there, adding that Romania would contribute additional 
resources to the best of its ability.  From the Romanian 
point of view, failure in Afghanistan would allow Taliban and 
international terrorists to move more easily throughout 
central Asia, directly threatening Europe.  Basescu stated 
his belief that the U.S. must honestly answer the request 
from the military commanders on the ground for additional 
troops, if that is what is needed to confine the conflict to 
Afghanistan and keep it from moving into the Caspian Sea 
region.  Failure in Afghanistan, according to Basescu, would 
not only hurt Europe, it would also harm the future 
credibility of NATO.  One element of this strategy should 
include solving the drug problem, which provides a source of 
funding for the international jihadi effort.  Basescu said 
that the Afghanistan drug trade occurs with the full 
complicity of President Karzai and that combating it might 
require the direct purchase of poppies to sap the resources 
that the Taliban needs to continue fighting coalition troops 
in Afghanistan.  If such a strategy were adopted, Romania 
would be willing to provide agriculture specialists to 
encourage alternative cultivation efforts. 
 
¶4. (S) Addressing U.S. policy in Afghanistan, Biden 
emphasized that under no proposal being discussed was the 
U.S. planning to retreat or draw down troops.  The debate, 
according to Biden, is whether or not the counter-insurgency 
"COIN" strategy being deployed at present was working in 
Afghanistan, given the lack of a credible indigenous 
government.  Of the Taliban, Biden said that they numbered 
about 25,000 fighters, 20,000 of whom were indigenous Pashtun 
upset about the large footprint left by coalition operations 
in Afghanistan.  Calling the current government in 
Afghanistan "thoroughly corrupt" and penetrated by the drug 
trade, Biden said that until there is a government with the 
popular support of the Afghan people no counter-insurgency 
strategy is going to work, no matter how many troops are 
sent. Turning to Basescu's suggestion that the coalition 
partners purchase the poppy crop to keep proceeds out of the 
hands of the Taliban, Biden said that it was a good topic for 
further discussion, but noted that a similar strategy had 
been tried without success by the U.S. in Latin America.  A 
better suggestion would be to try a variation on what proved 
to work in Iraq with the Sons of Iraq program, to pay 
potential insurgents to provide neighborhood security. 
Expressing appreciation for Romania's continued presence in 
Afghanistan, Biden said that the Romanian troops there had 
distinguished themselves in combat and that the U.S. greatly 
appreciated Romania's willingness to deploy with no 
restrictions or caveats. 
 
 
BUCHAREST 00000714  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶5. (S) Biden added that the Administration's current review 
is designed to evaluate a resource allocation which deploys 
30 USD in Afghanistan for every dollar spent in Pakistan, 
despite the fact that the current Al Qaida threat is in 
Pakistan. Biden said that the coalition should now consider 
re-focusing efforts on Pakistan to confront the current 
threat.  Noting that the U.S. would profit little from a 
stable Afghanistan if nuclear-armed Pakistan is destabilized 
by Al Qaida, Biden argued forcefully for stepped up U.S. 
engagement on issues involving Pakistan, saying that he 
believes that the current Al Qaida threat has finally 
mobilized Pakistan's political and security establishments to 
engage.  Both principles agreed that engagement with Pakistan 
needed to be packaged with efforts to deescalate tensions 
between Pakistan and India, as this lingering conflict 
presented a genuine possibility of escalating into a nuclear 
holocaust. 
 
¶6. (C) On missile defense, Biden said that the recent U.S. 
decision had nothing to do with Russia, but rather had to do 
with a desire to better protect Europe.  Saying that the 
original Bush Administration plan had been designed to 
protect the U.S., not necessarily Europe, the current 
Administration's plan would provide better protection against 
the emergent threat of nuclear-tipped Iranian short and 
medium range missiles.  This new proposal based on the 
Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) architecture, would provide a real, 
proven capability to shoot down multiple incoming missiles, 
providing better defense for all of NATO.  Basescu welcomed 
the new U.S. proposal, adding that Romania had never been 
fully satisfied with the previously proposed system, which 
would have done little to broadly protect NATO.  If 
necessary, Romania would be willing to contribute to the 
costs of running a missile defense system. 
 
¶7. (S) Russia and Moldova are ongoing areas of special 
concern for Romania.  This concern was exacerbated by the 
2008 Russian invasion of Georgia and continued occupation of 
Abkhazia.  While saying that the technology used by Russia in 
the Abkhaz military excursion was outdated and presented no 
direct threat to NATO, Basescu believes that Russia's 
intervention in former Eastern Bloc countries is a real and 
widespread problem.  While Romania is always careful to keep 
Moscow from unduly influencing local politics, Basescu said, 
Romania is concerned about Russian influence in neighboring 
states.  Highlighting Russian President Medvedev's proposed 
security strategy, Basescu firmly stated that Russian efforts 
to "get back what they lost" should be resisted.  This 
concern manifests itself in Moldova, where a very fragile 
coalition government needs international support.  Likening 
the current situation in Moldova to Romania in 1996, Basescu 
said bringing Moldova into the EU as part of the group of 
western Balkan nations remains a core goal of Romanian 
foreign policy.  (Note:  Basescu means linking Moldova,s 
accession to the EU to the notional timetable for western 
Balkan countries, versus thinking of Moldova as closer to 
Ukraine and Belarus, whose EU aspirations are a longer term 
goal.  End note) This support should include, according to 
Basescu, a U.S. commitment to help Moldova obtain financial 
assistance from the IMF.  Without this help Basescu believes 
that the current Moldovan unity government will collapse, 
restoring the communist party to power.  Addressing the 
oft-repeated criticism that Romania has designs on Moldova, 
Basescu articulated Romania's goal as one of uniting all 
(ethnic) Romanians, both those in Romania and in Moldova, 
under the same umbrella of EU membership. 
 
¶8. (C) Raising energy security, Basescu specifically thanked 
Biden for the U.S. support of a feasibility study for a 
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility in Constanta, saying 
that Romania had held discussions with Qatar, Azerbaijan, and 
Turkmenistan on the possibility of supplying a facility if it 
is built.  Noting that Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are 
determined to be energy partners with the EU, Basescu argued 
for continued U.S. engagement in the Caspian region. 
Together with LNG and Nabucco, Basescu asked Biden to 
consider support for the Constanta-Trieste crude oil 
pipeline, saying that this pipeline would provide an 
alternate outlet for Caspian Sea oil.  In Basescu's view, 
Constanta-Trieste would provide a "European solution" to 
crude oil supply routes currently controlled by Turkey and 
Russia.  Biden agreed with Basescu that Europe needed to work 
on diversifying oil and gas supply routes, but added that the 
U.S. was not really in a position to dictate to the EU which 
particular routes to use.  Adding that supply lines which 
don't involve Russia would remove Russia's sole real 
bargaining chip with Europe, Biden postulated that this would 
"change the equation," forcing Russia to act in a more 
neutral manner.  Turning to Turkey, Biden and Basescu agreed 
 
BUCHAREST 00000714  003 OF 003 
 
 
that the Turkish Government was doing a poor job recognizing 
that their long-term interests of closer cooperation with the 
EU would best be served by facilitating energy projects such 
as Nabucco. 
 
¶9. (C) In concluding the meeting, Biden implored Basescu to 
consider international adoptions, especially the "pipeline" 
cases, which he said remain a major irritant in the bilateral 
relationship.  Basescu countered by saying that visa waiver 
remains a priority for Romania, with Biden responding that 
the Administration would support accession, but that Romania 
needs to work to significantly lower the visa refusal rate 
first.  Basescu closed by saying that the Romanian 
Presidential elections next month would not alter the U.S. 
orientation of Romania's foreign policy, saying that there 
was a common consensus among all the candidates that the 
Romania-U.S. partnership was an important guarantor of 
Romania's national security. 
 
¶10. (U) The Vice President did not have the opportunity to 
clear this cable. 
GITENSTEIN