US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE578

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000578 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/08/2014 
TAGS: PREL, MARR, AF, NL, NATO 
SUBJECT: NATO-AFGHANISTAN:  THE NETHERLANDS ON ISAF 
EXPANSION 
 
REF: A. STATE 50477 
     B. THE HAGUE 477 (NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY POLITICAL COUNSELOR MARY DALY FOR REASONS 
1.5 (B AND D) 
 
1. (C)  PolMilOff made ref A demarche to Dutch MFA Security 
Policy Bureau Operations Director Rob Gabrielse on March 8. 
DATT addressed these points with MOD International Policy 
Director BG Ton van Osch on March 9.  Amb. Sobel also raised 
this issue as part of a March 9 discussion with FM Bot 
preparatory to PM Balkenenende's upcoming trip to Washington 
(septel).  The Dutch government is looking favorably at 
taking over leadership of a PRT, and has taken some concrete 
steps to prepare for a Cabinet decision.  A joint MOD-MFA 
reconnaissance team was due to depart for Afghanistan on 
March 9.  The team, led by MOD Operations Director Air 
Commodore Pieter Cobelens, will be in Afghanistan for ten 
days investigating possible locations for a Dutch-led PRT. 
 
2. (C) While the Dutch Development Ministry will also be 
represented on the interagency recce team, Gabrielse said 
that he expected the focus of a Dutch PRT would be on 
providing security in a specific area, as opposed to 
development aid work.  Gabrielse reiterated previous MFA 
comments (ref B) that the Dutch are looking to partner with 
countries they are used to working with such as Canada, 
Belgium or Germany.  Minister of Defense Kamp has taken the 
first step in the lengthy GONL consultative process 
preparatory to military deployments by sending a letter to 
parliament on March 3 stating that in a response to a request 
from the NATO SYG, the Dutch Cabinet "will investigate the 
desirability and opportunity of a Dutch contribution to a 
PRT." 
 
3. (C) Comment:  Gabrielse expects that upon its return the 
recce team will likely recommend that the Dutch lead a PRT, 
and if so, a Cabinet decision could take place within a 
month.  The GONL will want to ensure there is broad 
parliamentary support for such a decision (though strictly 
speaking, a parliamentary vote in support of the deployment 
is not necessary in the Dutch system).  Post has detected 
cross-party support within parliament for expanding ISAF's 
role, if some nervousness about the risk to Dutch forces, 
especially from MPs who have traveled to Afghanistan in 
recent months.  We expect the GONL to engage in extensive 
preparations to answer inevitable parliamentary questions 
about scope of mission, potential danger to Dutch forces and 
provisions for in extremis extraction.  We note the Dutch 
recce team is being led by MOD Operations Director Cobelens 
who has been previously skeptical of the PRT mission.  We 
judge his presence to be a clear indication that the defense 
staff is now serious about supporting PRTs.  End Comment. 
SOBEL