US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI7797

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 007797 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PTER, IN, SY, IZ, India-Iraq 
SUBJECT: GOI: NO BASHAR VISIT PLANNED, BUT SYRIA MUST DO 
MORE 
 
REF: A. STATE 185426 
     B. DAMASCUS 5248 
     C. NEW DELHI 6841 
 
Classified By: DCM Robert Blake, Jr. for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary: India's West Asia Envoy C Gharekhan told us 
he is unaware of plans for Syrian President Bashar al-Asad to 
visit New Delhi, but agreed that Damascus is eager to exploit 
any opportunity for high-level visits to dispel its deep 
isolation.  Syria must do more for its own sake and Iraq's 
sake to stop insurgent traffic across its border, he 
stressed.  Gharekhan plans to visit the Middle East in 
November, and believes that India can support US-led efforts 
for Israeli-Palestinian peace.  End Summary. 
 
Asad's Isolation 
---------------- 
 
2.  (C) DCM and Poloff called on India's West Asia Special 
Envoy C Gharekhan on October 6 to deliver Ref A demarche 
regarding a possible visit to New Delhi of Syrian President 
Bashar al-Asad, emphasizing US concerns that Asad not be 
allowed to exploit high-level meetings to dispel Syria's 
international isolation.  Gharekhan commented that Syria, 
while "very isolated" even from its Arab neighbors, will 
exploit any visit, including Indian Minister of State for 
External Affair E Ahamed's recent "pro-forma" trip to 
Damascus (Ref B), to appear more acceptable to the 
international community.  However, he stated that he had 
heard of no plans for Bashar to visit New Delhi. 
 
Damascus at a Crossroads 
------------------------ 
 
3.  (C) Gharekhan observed that Syria is at a crossroads, and 
Damascus must decide in which direction to turn.  While 
Bashar may have started out with reformist intents, he is 
unable to "disentangle himself" from Syria's old guard.  In 
the meantime, Gharekhan said, Syria's policies have estranged 
it from Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, and Bashar has found that 
Egypt's Mubarak is too preoccupied with domestic concerns to 
assist Syria. 
 
4.  (C) Agreeing that Syria has not been helpful in Iraq, 
Gharekhan recounted that during his June visit to Damascus 
(Ref C) he emphasized to Foreign Minister Shara that Syria 
has a stake in Iraq's stability and must prevent transit of 
fighters and weapons across its borders into Iraq.  When 
Shara pushed back, saying Syria was doing its "best," 
Gharekhan told him that "those who matter," meaning the 
Iraqis, do not accept that, and Syria needs to do better for 
the sake of its own relations with its neighbors.  Gharekhan 
added that during his visit to Iraq in May, Iraqi officials 
had told him that they knew the meeting places and times 
where Syrian intelligence agents briefed foreign fighters en 
route to Iraq.  He said he urged Shara to ask the Iraqis for 
this information if Shara was interested in stopping 
insurgents from using Syrian territory. 
 
Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process 
--------------------------------- 
 
5.  (SBU) Gharekhan stated that he has no plans for travel to 
Damascus, but will make a trip to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Cairo, 
and possibly Amman in early November, with the goal of giving 
impetus to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.  India is 
not looking for a "big role" in the peace process, he said, 
but believes that it could play a supporting role in 
American-led efforts for peace. 
6.  (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website: 
(http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/sa/newdelhi/) 
Mulford