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OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHPW RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHSM #0749 3341413
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O 301413Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4953
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0757
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L STOCKHOLM 000749 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2019 
TAGS: PREL EAID AF SW
SUBJECT: CORRECTED COPY: SWEDISH FM CARL BILDT ON 
AFGHANISTAN 
 
REF: STATE 120807 
 
Classified By: AMB Matthew Barzun for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
Corrected copy adding reftel, addressees. 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: On November 24, Swedish FM Carl Bildt told 
the Ambassador that if EU development efforts were better 
coordinated, "we could have twice the effect for half the 
cost."  The EU "will be as supportive as we can" when the 
results of the U.S. Af/Pak strategy review are made public in 
December.  On the idea of international conferences, Bildt 
thinks foreign ministers should first convene in Kabul to map 
out a political strategy with Afghan leaders.  Only after 
that should there be a larger international conference to 
generate support, such as the one being offered by UK PM 
Brown.  EU election monitors will issue a report with 
recommendations in the near future.  Bildt said it is 
essential that these be implemented before next year's 
parliamentary elections.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) The Ambassador asked Bildt if he was happy with the 
new EU Blue Book for Afghanistan.  Bildt replied that he was 
mainly happy that the report had finally come out, because 
previously, there had been no "database" of all that EU 
Member States are doing in the region.  Bildt noted the EU 
spends roughly one billion Euros in development assistance to 
Afghanistan annually.  "But do we spend it wisely?  No, 
because it's totally uncoordinated.  We could have twice the 
effect for half the cost," Bildt said.  He added that one 
possible reason for the lack of EU donor coordination to date 
may relate to the focus until now on a "political strategy." 
 
 
¶3. (C) Bildt said he thought it was "wise" for the United 
States to wait until the inauguration of President Karzai 
before publicizing the results of the ongoing AfPak strategy 
review.  "There must be an Afghan partner" for any successful 
political strategy, he added.  Bildt said that once the 
strategy review is unveiled, "we will be as supportive as we 
can."  On the issue troop levels, Bildt stated that it was a 
"very localized war, with very different situations in the 
South and East."  He said, "More forces probably are needed 
in the South and East, but not necessarily in the North where 
we are." (Note: the Swedish PRT based in Mazar-e Sharif has 
just under 500 troops.) 
 
¶4. (C) On the issue of an international conference for 
Afghanistan, Bildt said that there is an ongoing debate in 
Europe.  "I'd prefer a small conference of foreign ministers 
in Kabul after Karzai forms his government," he stated, 
adding that it would be important for a first conference to 
be in Afghanistan.  "We want to dictate to Karzai, but we do 
not want to be perceived as dictating to him by the Afghan 
people."  The focus of the Kabul conference should be to 
agree on a political strategy with Afghan political players, 
Bildt added.  Only after that should there be a "big 
international conference to mobilize support," such as the 
January conference UK PM Brown has proposed. 
 
¶5. (C) Bildt bemoaned the inability of the international 
community to follow up on its own recommendations for 
Afghanistan.  For example, EU election monitors in 2005 
drafted a detailed report filled with recommendations -- none 
of which were implemented.  Saying that a new report from EU 
election monitors was expected in "the next few days," Bildt 
emphasized that it would be essential that any 
recommendations be implemented before next year's 
parliamentary elections.  "If we don't put the changes in 
place, that will kill us," Bildt stated, clarifying that 
international confidence would be more affected than that of 
the Afghans themselves.  "They expect a high level of fraud," 
he said. 
BARZUN