US embassy cable - 04ANKARA4554

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANKARA 004554 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/09/2014 
TAGS: PREL, MOPS, AF, TU 
SUBJECT: AFGHANISTAN: TURKS PLANNING FOR FEBRUARY 
ASSUMPTION OF ISAF COMMAND, SEEK NATO FUNDING FOR DEPLOYMENT 
 
REF: ANKARA 3618 
 
Classified By: DCM Robert S. Deutsch for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (C) On Aug. 10, PolMilOff called on Col. Halit Yilmaz, 
Chief of TGS's NATO Branch office, to discuss NATO issues, 
including Turkey's planning for the Istanbul High Readiness 
Force (HRF) to assume command of ISAF in February 2005. 
Yilmaz said that even absent a final NATO decision on the 
future of ISAF and thus also absent "political direction" 
from the Turkish civilian leadership, the Turkish military 
was proceeding with planning for the Turkish Army deployment 
as the HRF in February.  Yilmaz added that Turkey wanted its 
successor in August 2005 to be formally lined up in advance, 
recalling that Turkey was pressed into two extra months as 
ISAF commander in 2002 while a replacement had to be found. 
 
2. (C) Given that Afghanistan's parliamentary elections are 
scheduled during Turkey's likely command, PolMilOff urged the 
GOT to consider deploying a "robust" presence, and inquired 
as to Turkey's plans thus far.  Yilmaz responded that TGS had 
not yet decided whether to offer a Corps HQ, a Corps HQ plus 
one battalion, or a Corps HQ plus two battalions.  He added 
that Turkey expected NATO collectively to pay Turkey's 
deployment costs, which he estimated to be US$ 17 million for 
the HQ alone. 
 
3. (C) Comment: We had heard earlier from MFA that the NATO 
budget committee was considering Alliance policy on using 
NATO common funds to defray ISAF deployment costs.  With 
Turkey just beginning to explore a new three-year IMF 
stand-by, the defense budget is likely to be as tight next 
year as it was this year, when the deployment of three 
Turkish helicopters to ISAF was held up for months as we 
searched for someone to pay for their transportation.  We 
could easily go down this road again unless a funding source 
for the transportation cost of the Turkish deployment is 
found well in advance of Feb. 2005.  If that is to be the 
GOT, we need to start working on Ankara soon.  End comment. 
 
4. (U) Kabul minimize considered. 
EDELMAN