UPDATE ON TURKEY'S CONTRIBUTION TO AFGHANISTAN

UNCLAS ANKARA 008150 SIPDIS EB/IFD/ODF, SA/AR, SA/PAB AND EUR/SE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EFIN EAID PREL AF TU SUBJECT: UPDATE ON TURKEY'S CONTRIBUTION TO AFGHANISTAN RECONSTRUCTION REF: A. ANKARA 7410 ¶B. SECSTATE 200660 ¶1. EmbOffs met with MFA's Afghan Reconstruction Coordinator Ambassador Refat Okcun 11/12 for an update on Turkey's reconstruction efforts. ¶2. Okcun confirmed that Turkey's completed reconstruction efforts now total $1.8 million, up from $1.6 reported Ref A. By year's end, that figure should reach $2.5 million, well ahead of Turkey's pledge of $5 million over five years. Okcun holds another $4.5 million aside, should he be unable to drum up outside sources that keep Turkey apace or ahead of its projected giving schedule. ¶3. A number of projects are in Healthcare. Turkey is about to build its fourth hospital in Afghanistan (including Kabul's Children's Hospital, which Turkey built in 1980) and is seeking approval for a clinic in Bamiyan. The Bamiyan clinic will increase the number of Turkish healthcare facilities to nine, including ones in Herat, Jalalabad and Kandahar. The Turks also continue to train medical professionals (another 41 doctors just trained in Turkey) and will send three teams of three Turkish physicians each (a surgeon, an internal medicine specialist, an ob/gyn) to Afghanistan soon. ¶4. Turkey is considering diverting one of its two satellites towards Afghanistan to provide a television signal that can bring information, news, educational and other programming to Afghans. No decision has been made yet on how to transmit the signal on the ground -- via local transmitting stations or through the purchase of individual dishes. In any case, television programming will have to wait until electrical power becomes more universally available. PEARSON