PRT/PATKICA FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF A

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E.O. 12958 N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER AF
SUBJECT: PRT/PATKICA FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF A
FRONTIER PROVINCE

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(SBU) SUMMARY: : Paktika, one of the southeasts
largest provinces and the one with the longest
t
border with Pakistan, has a reputation for
remoteness, backwardness and anti-government
activity. While well-earned in the past, this
reputation is not wholly true today. Paktikas
stability and security have improved significantly
in the last year, due in great measure to the
activities of the U.S. military, as well as the
activism of Governor Mangal and the Afghan National
Army. There are lessons to be learned from
Paktikas recent experience. Instead of an example
of an ungovernable province, it might well prove to
be a model of how to extend governance to a tough,
undeveloped border region. END SUMMARY.

Paktika an Emerging Province


2. (SBU) Paktikas rugged remoteness, its lack of
development, and its extensive - often troublesome
- border with Pakistan have in the past defined the
province. Today, much of that is changing, as
Paktika emerges from the shadows and in some
respects even shows the way ahead for other
developing provinces. Extending the reach of Afghan
an
central authority into the traditional Pashtun
heartland has been a recurring problem over the
years. The Karzai government is just the latest in
a series of governments which have competed with
traditional and outside interests for influence over
the people of Paktika. An enlightened alliance of
Afghan and U.S. military assets has helped set the
stage for the appearance of a new Paktika, a Paktika
which today is moving closer to the Karzai
government.

A Simple Formula - Construct Roads and Develop
District Centers


3. (SBU) Paktika, left behind by other provinces
in development, was fortunate in 2005. Elements of
three Army battalions - one infantry and two
engineer - worked for the people of Paktika
building roads and government infrastructure, and
providing security. The key to security and
stability in Paktika seems to be the development of
government district center infrastructure: a police
headquarters, a district commissioners office, a
district communications center, a cobblestone main
street, and - in this province without electricity -
solar street lights in each district capital.
Partner these developed district centers with the
first improved roads in Paktikas history and the
equation is complete. Government presence and
capacity in each district center and all-weather,
high-speed vehicular access to the rest of
Afghanistan equate to security and stability, as
well as a noticeable increase in commercial and
economic activity.

ANA Embedded Trainers, the Right Stuff


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4. (SBU) The Afghan National Army (ANA) has a
high profile in Paktika. With two Kandaks
(battalion sized units) now operating throughout the
province, the Afghan face of security is clearly
apparent. Relatively well staffed and equipped, and
mounted on new four-wheel-drive trucks, the ANA,
with its embedded U.S. Army and USMC training teams
(ETTs),are a very visible sign that the Afghan
government is in charge of the province. The
embedded trainers are key to turning this newly
minted army into a professional fighting force.
Living, working, training, mentoring, patrolling,
and conducting combat operations together with the
ANA, the ETTs, some 17 soldiers or Marines in each
Kandak, are daily providing the role model that the
ANA needs to become a professional military force.
The embedded trainers simply have it right and are
the right stuff for this mission.

ANP and Mentors, Still a Long Way to Go


5. (SBU) The Afghan National Police (ANP),while
deployed to every district in Paktika, do not enjoy
the same success as the ANA. Short on training,
personnel, communications systems, transportation,
uniforms, boots, and training ammunition, the ANP in
Paktika need a lot of help. The mentors in Paktika
are not providing the professional image that is
required for this environment. There are only seven
police mentors in a province the size of the state
of Vermont; the mentors find themselves hampered by
contractual rules and guidelines that interfere with
their devoting the kind time to shoulder to
shoulder mentoring and training that can instill a
discipline of personal conduct that influences and
improves performance.


6. (SBU) Comment: Over the last year, Governor
Mangals leadership and close partnership with the
U.S. military commanders in Paktika have helped to
tie the province ever closer to the Karzai
government. Although State and USAID have had
limited presence in the province in the four years
since the fall of the Taliban, Paktika has
nonetheless made substantial and obvious progress.
In particular, the coordination of road building and
district center projects has been a great success,
and may prove to be a model for other undeveloped
provinces. However, Paktika has had a slow start and
has missed out on many of the projects which have
benefited other, less contentious and more
accessible provinces. The first wave of post-Taliban
an
clinic and school construction has to a great extent
passed by Paktika, a province with arguably the
greatest need for both. The military has done, and
continues to do, yeoman work in Paktika, but the
time has now come, with an improved security
situation, for USAID and the NGO community to become
much more engaged. There is also clearly a great
deal of room for improvement in the ANP. OSC-A and
the Afghan Ministry of Interior should work together
to expand training and supply the equipment needed
to create a viable civil police force in the

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province.

7.(U) Dushanbe minimize considered.

NEUMANN