US embassy cable - 05MADRID1751

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 001751 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/09/2015 
TAGS: PREL, MARR, AF, SP, NATO, Defense and Political 
SUBJECT: SPAIN: RESPONSE ON CIVILIAN COMPONENTS OF 
AFGHANISTAN PRTS 
 
REF: STATE 82968 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Kathy Fitzpatrick for reasons 1.4(B) 
 and (D) 
 
1.(C) On May 9, Poloff delivered reftel points on civilian 
components of Provisional Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) in 
Afghanistan to Carlos Morales Sanchez, Subdirector General 
for Continental Asia at the Spanish MFA.  Morales said that 
the Spanish government is continuing to study various options 
in regard to the civilian component of the Spanish PRT. 
According to Morales, the Spanish government is leaning 
toward implementation of the "German model", wherein the 
military and civilian components utilize separate command 
structures.  Under this model, the civilian component would 
be supervised by the Spanish Ambassador in Kabul, would 
occupy separate quarters from the military and would receive 
tasking from the Spanish version of USAID (Agencia Espanola 
de Cooperacion Internacional).  Morales said that Spain was 
also considering the "British model", wherein the military 
and civilian components report to the same commander, but 
that he believed Spain would opt for the German model. 
 
2.(C) Morales said that this demarche was the first time that 
he had heard of the idea of centralized reporting in regard 
to civilian PRT activities and that the GOS would need time 
to consider it.  He further said that the Spanish government 
would "of course" share information collected by its civilian 
PRT members with NATO, but that it would probably be done 
through Madrid.  Finally, Morales said that the Spanish 
government would consider the proposal that regular reporting 
by civilian PRT members be submitted to NATO's Senior 
Civilian Representative. 
 
COMMENT 
3.(C) Decisions about the composition and activities of the 
civilian component of the Spanish PRT are primarily being 
made by Spanish aid agency, Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion 
Internacional.  Given public skepticism towards Spanish 
military deployments in general, Spain wants to ensure that 
its mission projects an NGO/humanitarian appearance.  As a 
result, they appear to be leaning towards almost total 
separation of the military and civilian components of the 
PRT.  Spanish officials may view direct reporting about the 
activities of the civilian component to NATO as the first 
steps toward direct NATO control over civilians.  Several 
times during the meeting, Morales said that reporting and 
information sharing would be done via Madrid, indirectly 
indicating this concern.  It is likely that Spain will agree 
to regular reporting on civilian PRT activities, but also 
likely that reporting will be done via the central government 
in Madrid, not directly by the civilian PRT components. 
MANZANARES