VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHHE #0455/01 3381455
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 041455Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY HELSINKI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5306
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS HELSINKI 000455 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AF FI MOPS PGOV PREL
SUBJECT: AFGHANISTAN: FINLAND TOPPING UP OMLT, EUPOL, 
ANATF, BUT NOT CONSIDERING UPPING ITS COMMITMENTS 
 
REF: A. HELSINKI 447 
     ¶B. HELSINKI 441 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: President Obama's December 1 speech and the 
request for more support in Afghanistan from NATO Secretary 
General Rasmussen have triggered an extensive public 
discussion in Finland's political and media circles.  There 
is a broad consensus behind the current level of commitment 
of resources and on the goal of helping Afghanistan's 
security forces take responsibility for their own country, 
but no indications that Finland is yet ready to make any 
major increase in troop or civilian commitments.  The GOF is 
working to fill out its OMLT and EUPOL contingents to levels 
already set in the summer and is pointing to its doubling of 
support to the ANA trust fund, all of which it hopes are seen 
as indications that it is doing its part.  END SUMMARY. 
 
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PUBLIC COMMENTS FOCUS ON INCREASED TRAINING 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Since the POTUS December 1 Afghanistan speech, the 
debate on whether Finland can provide additional support to 
Afghanistan has begun in earnest.  Speaking to national 
broadcaster YLE on December 2, Foreign Minister Stubb 
suggested that Finland might be able to send about 15 
additional trainers, though he pointed out the difficulties 
in recruiting them (Note: Finland has not yet filled some 15 
of its OMLT positions, and MFA officials have previously 
mentioned the possibility of raising the number of Finns in 
EUPOL from 24 to 30.  End Note).  Also speaking to YLE on 
December 3, Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Chair 
Pertti Salolainen (NCP) echoed both the idea of sending 
additional trainers (police and/or military) and the 
difficulties in recruiting them.  When asked whether there 
should be a date for Finnish troops to start coming home 
since the U.S. was going to start withdrawing in July 2011, 
Salolainen explained that President Obama probably was 
influenced by the U.S. political calendar in setting this 
date and that he did not see a need for a specific date for a 
Finnish withdrawal. 
 
------------------------------------ 
NO SURPRISES IN PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU) On December 3 Parliament held a hastily scheduled 
plenary session focusing on Afghanistan (the last being only 
two months ago).  Some 36 MPs from all parties as well as the 
Prime Minister, Foreign, Defense, Development, and 
Immigration ministers took part.  FM Stubb delivered the 
government's opening statement in which he expressed 
Finland's support for President Karzai's goal of taking 
security responsibility within five years and echoed 
President Obama's reminder that the threat of extremism in 
Afghanistan and Pakistan is a threat to all nations.  Stubb 
went on to emphasize that strengthening both ISAF and 
civilian crisis management was key, and that soldiers are 
necessary to protect the civilian presence.  Noting the 
requests of the NATO Secretary General and the U.S. for 
additional troops and trainers, Stubb closed by stating that 
Finland had doubled its civilian support in the last year, 
becoming the third largest participant in EUPOL with some 25 
police trainers on the ground.  Stubb declared that the GOF 
would not make any new commitments at the ISAF foreign 
ministerial he was attending the next day. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Statements by governing party lawmakers were 
strongly supportive of Finland's participation in both 
military and civilian crisis management in Afghanistan, often 
focusing on the importance of building a just society there 
in which women's and children's rights were respected.  Other 
supporting voices emphasized that a greater effort in 
training Afghan security forces would allow international 
forces to hand over security responsibility, some referring 
to the 2011 date mentioned in President Obama's speech. 
Opposition SDP Leader Jutta Urpilainen noted that Finland's 
policy was well-founded and should continue, especially with 
regard to police training, and area in which Finland was 
well-suited to provide help.  Urpilainen and other opposition 
MPs then took the opportunity to grill the government over 
its recurring failure (in their view) to share information 
both within the government, with the President, and with 
parliament, about foreign and security policy.  The PM 
responded by denying that there was any systemic problem. 
(NOTE: The government has provided ample ammunition for these 
rhetorical attacks.  Earlier this week the PM publicly stated 
that he first heard about the NATO SYG request for more 
support in the press while in October both the President and 
Foreign Minister misstated the departure time frame for 
Finnish Election Support Forces in Afghanistan.  In September 
 
the PM claimed that he heard about the Security Police (SUPO) 
plan to post personnel abroad from the press. END NOTE.) 
 
¶5. (SBU) Neither the government nor did any MPs suggest that 
Finland provide additional soldiers to ISAF, with several 
explicitly noting that no military solution was possible. 
There was a general consensus that, to the extent possible, 
Finland should put more emphasis on training Afghans. 
Recruiting trainers, however, was recognized as increasingly 
difficult due to the danger and lack of sufficient 
compensation or career incentives.  Defense Minister Hakamies 
acknowledged the difficulty of recruiting trainers, but 
indicated that currently Kosovo posed a more difficult 
challenge in this regard than Afghanistan.  Green Party MP 
Pekka Haavisto focused on the weak credibility of the Karzai 
government and called for a political process to include 
dialogue with unspecified opponents of the government.  NOTE: 
 In the past, including at the previous parliamentary plenary 
on Afghanistan in October, there was substantially more 
discussion of the need for political solutions including 
negotiation or dialogue with "moderate Taliban."  In sharp 
contrast, Haavisto was the only speaker who addressed this 
issue in the December 3 debate.  END NOTE. 
 
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GOF WORKING ON FILLING OMLT AND EUPOL SLOTS 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) The ISAF team leader in MFA's Security Policy unit 
told poloff December 4 that for now the most likely tangible 
increases in support from the GOF would be completely filling 
those positions in its OMLT and within EUPOL which were 
currently vacant and increasing its contributions to the ANA 
trust fund.  While the GOF had approved providing an OMLT of 
30 personnel, only eight are currently on the ground. 
Finland will also try to increase its EUPOL complement from 
24 to 30.  Its contribution to the ANA trust fund will double 
this year to 600,000 euros and the same amount is committed 
for 2010. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
EDITORIALS SKEPTICAL OF OBAMA STRATEGY 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Editorials in the aftermath of President Obama's 
December 1 speech largely focused on Obama's "ownership" of 
the war and the 2011 "deadline" for U.S. troops to begin 
withdrawing.  Tabloid Aamulehti (circ. 139,165) opined that 
Afghanistan was "ever more clearly Obama's war, branding his 
entire presidency" while citing favorably Senator McCain's 
criticism of the 2011 pullout date.  Daily Keskisuomalainen 
(circ. 75,000) asserted that "it is increasingly apparent 
that the fundamental problems, like the corruption of 
Afghanistan's tribal- and clan-based government . . . will 
not be solved by raising the number of troops."  While 
stating that Finland must stay in Afghanistan, daily Kaleva 
(circ. 81,000) asserted that it was "not absolutely 
necessary" to increase Finnish contributions, which in any 
case would not be done "in accordance with a policy speech by 
the president of the United States." 
 
------------------------------------------- 
MOST FINNS COMMITTED TO HELPING AFGHANISTAN 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) The annual (conducted since 1964) government-sponsored 
Advisory Board for Defense Information (ABDI) poll of the 
Finnish public regarding attitudes towards national defense 
included a series of questions about Afghanistan for the 
first time.  Carried out by Gallup in September and October 
2009 and published December 4, the poll indicates that while 
67 percent of Finns do not want to "pull out" of Afghanistan, 
over 70 percent felt that the international community had not 
been successful in its objectives of improving the status of 
women, combating terrorism, or creating democratic 
governance.  Finnish participation in providing assistance to 
local government and in developing education and the local 
economy garnered over 80 percent support, while participation 
in activities to eliminate extremist groups using deadly 
force was supported by only 20 percent with 72 percent 
opposing such efforts. 
ORECK