US embassy cable - 04MANAMA1858

S E C R E T MANAMA 001858 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2014 
TAGS: BA, MARR, MOPS, PREL 
SUBJECT: BAHRAIN SETS TIMETABLE FOR DEPLOYMENT TO 
AFGHANISTAN 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe.  Reasons 1.5 (B) and (D). 
 
 1.  (S) SUMMARY: Minister of Defense al-Khalifa outlined for 
the Ambassador the timeline for the proposed deployment of 
Special Forces troops to Afghanistan.  Training for the 
deployment will begin in the UAE in January 2005.   Both 
Bahrain and UAE want the deployment to be low profile.  After 
meeting with the Iraqi President, Bahrain will now focus on 
training of Iraqi civil defense personnel and has withdrawn 
its offer to send its ships to patrol Iraqi coastal waters. 
END SUMMARY 
 
2. (S) In an 8 December meeting with Ambassador Monroe, the 
Minister of Defense, General Shaikh Khalifa al-Khalifa, 
discussed the timeline for Bahrain's planned deployment of a 
Special Operations Company to Afghanistan in cooperation with 
the UAE contingent there.  Before going into details, the 
Minister emphasized both Bahrain and UAE want to keep this 
deployment low profile and would not go public.  The Bahrain 
Defense Force will send four officers and 28-30 enlisted 
personnel from their Special Forces to UAE on 18 January 2005 
for a four-month training period with UAE forces.  At the 
conclusion of the training, the troops will deploy with their 
UAE counterparts to Afghanistan for a six-month rotation for 
participation in Operation Enduring Freedom. 
 
3. (C) After discussion on the deployment, the Ambassador 
strongly urged the Minister to send a liaison officer to 
CENTCOM MacDill when the Bahraini troops deploy.  He also 
reemphasized that Bahrain has a standing invitation from 
CENTCOM to send a liaison officer regardless of any deployed 
Bahraini personnel.  The Minister said he will strongly 
consider sending a liaison officer but did not commit. 
 
4. (S) The Minister said the offer for a Bahraini ship to 
assist with protection of Iraqi coastal waters had been 
pulled after discussions with Iraqi President, Ghazi 
al-Yawar.  During President Yawar,s visit to Bahrain last 
month, Yawar decided to focus on civil defense training at 
this time.  To this end, Bahrain is now engaged with the 
training of 4000 Iraqi firefighters over the next few years. 
(Comment:  The training of the Iraqi firefighters will be 
hosted by Bahrain, conducted by US contractors, and funded by 
the IIG.) 
 
5. (U) Baghdad minimize considered. 
MONROE 
MONROE