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Viewing cable 06WARSAW207, POLAND: 2005/2006 ALLIED CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06WARSAW207 2006-02-09 12:54 2011-08-24 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Warsaw
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 WARSAW 000207 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR PM/SNA AND EUR/RPM 
DOD FOR OSD/PA&E, OASD/ISA/EUR, OASD/ISA/NP, OASD/ISA/AP, 
OASD/ISA/NESA, OASD/ISA/BTF 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL MCAP PM KS KU QA SA US PL TC NATO
SUBJECT: POLAND: 2005/2006 ALLIED CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 
COMMON DEFENSE 
 
REF: A. 2005 SECSTATE 223383 
 
     B. 2001 WARSAW 03661 
     C. 2001 WARSAW 03734 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY: Over the last two years, Poland has been a 
staunch ally of the United States.  According to the General 
Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, Poland spent about 
1,213,151,800 Zloty ($370,994,434) and committed 4,122 troops 
to Iraq-coalition and NATO operations in 2005.  In 2004, 
Poland spent about 1,075,707,300 Zloty ($328,962,477) and 
committed 5,883 troops.  According to the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, Poland also contributed to the common defense 
through Tsunami relief, by preventing bloodshed during 
Ukraine's Orange Revolution and via building 
counterproliferation competence through the Proliferation 
Security Initiative.  Finally, Poland's defense 
transformation process, underway since October 2004, 
continues to enhance common defense by stressing development 
of expeditionary capabilities within the Polish Armed Forces. 
 END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Critical Notes on Sources and Methods 
------------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) The General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces provided 
all cost figures not attributed to another source.  As per 
ref A paragraph 9, costs appear in local currency, Polish 
Zloty (PLN).  On December 31, 2005 the exchange rate for PLN 
to U.S. Dollars was 3.27 to 1 according to the Polish 
National Bank.  The General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces 
cautioned that data from 2005 is preliminary.  Final figures 
will appear in March 2006.  The Polish fiscal year runs from 
January 1 to December 31 and serves as the timeframe for all 
cost calculations.   As per ref A, the report for a given 
year is composed of data from the preceding year.  Hence, the 
2005 report contains data from 2004, while the 2006 report 
includes 2005 data. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
General Assessment on December 31, 2005 
--------------------------------------- 
 
3. (U) Poland shoulders significant NATO and Iraq-Coalition 
responsibilities.  In Iraq, Poland leads the Multinational 
Division Center South (MND-CS) with 1,450 troops.  Since 
2004, the MND-CS has focused on Military Transition Teams 
(MiTT) to support training the Iraqi Army at the division, 
brigade and battalion level.  MND-CS covers two provinces, Al 
Quadisyah and Wasit.  In Afghanistan, 120 Polish troops 
support Operation Enduring Freedom and the International 
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) as Poland prepares to take 
over command of ISAF for 6 months in 2007.  Poland provides 
270 troops to NATO's KFOR mission in Kosovo.  About 138 
Polish troops are now supporting NATO relief operations in 
Pakistan.  Poland will patrol NATO airspace over the Baltic 
States from January 1 to March 31, 2006. 
 
4. (U) In September 2005, Poland elected a new government 
(refs B and C) which decided to remain in Iraq through 2006 
but reduce the number of Polish troops there from 1,450 to 
900 by March 2006 and change mission posture from 
training-and-security to training-and-advisory.  Poland 
started a Strategic Defense Review (SDR) in October 2004 
which should finish in March 2006.  This is part of an 
ongoing defense transformation effort in Poland that will 
include the delivery of 48 F-16s starting in November 2006. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Contributions to NATO and Iraq-Coalition Operations 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
5. (U) In this portion of the report, troop counts include 
the total number of troops rotated through an operation in a 
given year.  Thus, the total troop strength at any given 
point in time was probably less than the "total" reported 
here. 
 
6. (U) 2005 Report (data from 2004) 
 
Operation                             Troops     Funds(PLN) 
---------                             ------     ---------- 
International Security Assist. Force      22        200,000 
Prague Capabilities Commitment             0    191,664,000 
NATO Response Force                       52    190,000,000 
NATO "Distinguished Games" Greece         52    300,300,000 
NATO "Joint Guardian" KFOR               298     27,600,000 
NATO SFOR                                286     20,500,000 
NATO training mission Iraq                 6        600,000 
Coalition "Iraqi Freedom" Kuwait         146        700,000 
Coalition "Iraqi Freedom" Iraq         4,853    306,300,000 
Coalition "Enduring Freedom"             168     10,300,000 
Cost sharing in KFOR                       0     27,543,300 
 
TOTALS                                 5,883  1,075,707,300 
 
 
Note, in addition to the totals above, the NATO Response 
Force had 132 Polish troops on standby while the NATO 
training mission in Iraq had 36 Polish troops on standby in 
2004 
 
 
7. (U) 2006 Report (data from 2005) 
 
Operation                             Troops     Funds(PLN) 
---------                             ------    ----------- 
International Security Assist. Force       4        300,000 
Prague Capabilities Commitment             0    678,716,000 
NATO Response Force                      138    190,000,000 
NATO "Joint Guardian" KFOR               520     40,700,000 
NATO "Active Endeavor" 2005               27        700,000 
NATO training mission Iraq                 8        800,000 
NATO Pakistan earthquake relief          138     32,000,000 
Coalition "Iraqi Freedom" Iraq         3,081    216,900,000 
Coalition "Enduring Freedom"             206     17,000,000 
Cost sharing in KFOR                       0     21,537,400 
Cost sharing in Pak. earthquake            0     14,498,400 
 
TOTALS                                 4,122  1,213,151,800 
 
 
In addition to the total above, the NATO response force also 
had 400 Polish troops on standby in 2005. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
Contributions to Humanitarian Operations 
---------------------------------------- 
 
8. (U) According to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs 
(MFA), Poland funded various humanitarian operations.  In 
2004, the Polish government gave 1,000,000 PLN to South Asian 
countries for Tsunami relief.  This covered the purchase, 
transportation and distribution of humanitarian assistance. 
Poland also sent two experts to the region to help identify 
remains.  In 2005, Poland's MFA gave another 2,000,000 PLN to 
Tsunami affected regions.  In Afghanistan, the government of 
 
SIPDIS 
Poland provided NGOs with 500,000 PLN in 2004 and 750,000 in 
2005.  Poland donated 150,000 Zloty to UNICEF, to help 
Pakistan recover from the October 2005 quake. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Contributions to Capacity Building 
---------------------------------- 
 
9. (U) MFA also provided data describing Polish contributions 
to governance capacity in Ukraine, Iraq and Albania.  During 
Ukraine's Orange Revolution of 2004, Polish diplomats lobbied 
hard for military restraint and civil control of the military 
in that country.  Poland also provided about 170,000 Zloty 
worth of transportation for NATO delegates who visited Kiev, 
Ukraine in October 2005.  To support law enforcement in Iraq, 
the Poles provided 10 instructors to the Jordan International 
Police Training Center throughout 2004.  In 2004 and 2005, 
Poland served as the NATO point of contact in Albania at a 
cost of 65,000 Zloty per year. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Contributions to Counterproliferation 
------------------------------------- 
 
10. (U) Poland provides skilled professionals to allied 
counterproliferation efforts.  In support of the 
Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), Poland played a 
critical role in planning and executing "Bohemian Guard," an 
arms interdiction exercise along the Czech border in June of 
2005.  In September 2005, Poland advanced the 
counterproliferation agenda by launching the Polish-U.S. 
nonproliferation working group.  This forum for information 
sharing has since inspired a Ukraine-U.S. nonproliferation 
working group to start in February 2006. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Defense Transformation: More Teeth Less Tail 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
11. (U) In October 2004, the Polish Ministry of National 
Defense (MOD) commenced its Strategic Defense Review (SDR), a 
comprehensive assessment of the structures and capabilities 
that the Polish Armed Forces will require to meet projected 
challenges to 2020, focusing on critical links required with 
partners and allies toward Poland's effective participation 
in joint multinational operations.  The SDR, which will 
submit its final report in mid-March 06, has sought to ensure 
that its recommendations are cost effective and financially 
viable, based on projected MOD budgets for the next 15 years. 
 Interim SDR findings have emphasized: acquisition and 
integration of NATO-interoperable C4ISR capabilities; 
responsive logistics systems; and air/ground transport 
platforms to enhance self-deployability and sustainability 
for Polish forces.  In the interim, the Polish MOD continues 
to actively develop expeditionary capabilities by dedicating 
almost 20% of the defense budget to procurement of modern 
military equipment, ranging from wheeled armored personnel 
carriers and medium transport aircraft to communications gear 
and unmanned aerial vehicles.  A considerable part of the 
investment is directed toward expanding the capabilities of 
Polish Special Operations Forces, which participated in NATO 
Response Force rotations in 2005. 
 
12. (U) For further follow-up or clarification, please 
contact Pol-Mil officer John Gorkowski at 
GorkowskiJ@state.gov.  Tel: (48) (22) 504-2671. 
HILLAS