PRT-SHARANA COMMUNICATIONS MEANS SECURITY -

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001974 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS RELEASABLE TO NATO/AUST/NZ/ISAF STATE FOR SA/FO (AMB MQUINN),SA/A, S/CR, SA/PAB, S/CT, EUR/RPM, EB/CIP STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG NSC FOR AHARRIMAN, KAMEND OSD FOR BREZINSKI CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A, CG CJTF-76, POLAD E.O. 12958 N/A TAGS: PREL ECPS PGOV PTER TINT AF SUBJECT: PRT-SHARANA COMMUNICATIONS MEANS SECURITY - PAKTIKAS PLANNED COMMS BLITZ KABUL 00001974 001.2 OF 002 1.(SBU) SUMMARY: The Afghan government has begun un supplying telecom and Internet communications systems to all of its provinces and districts. This fielding of Chinese and Indian made equipment, funded by the World Bank and USAID, is slowly coming to Paktika Province with the arrival last year of the Provincial Communications Network (PCN) in Sharana and District Communications Networks (DCNs) in Orgun-e, Yaya Khel and Khair Khot Districts in March 2006. Although only in operation since the middle of March, the DCNs are proving to be very popular with a public who, until now, have had little to no access to reliable telecommunications or the internet. In order to speed this much needed but slow to field program, PRT- Sharana is funding and supervising the construction of eight more district communications network buildings in Paktika in 2006. This will speed the fielding of telephone and internet communications to remote districts across Paktika Province. The stabilization and security benefits of having solid telecommunications and internet systems throughout this frontier province, as soon as late summer 2006, are expected to be significant. END SUMMARY. 2.(SBU) A SMALL INVESTMENT MAY YIELD BIG SECURITY RESULTS: Paktikas PRT Civil Affairs project team has identified eight district communications network buildings as projects to be funded in their spring and summer 2006 building season. The communications buildings, constructed to Afghan government specifications, are simple, relatively inexpensive affairs consisting of two small buildings. One building is for the telecom and internet equipment, and the other will house two small generators and fuel. The districts that will receive PRT-built communications centers are War Mamay, Tarwa, Gomal, Dila, Kushamond, Yousef Khel, Omna and Waza Kwah. These districts are all remote, and Tarwa, War Mamay and Gomal border the active tribal areas of Pakistan. 3.(SBU) EQUIPMENT ON HAND, BUILDINGS NEEDED: The he equipment for the DCNs was purchased and received in Kabul last year. With the communications equipment on hand and ready for fielding, the delay in getting this much needed communications to the public and, perhaps more significantly, to the Afghan Security Forces has been the ability of the Afghan government to fund and supervise the building of DCN buildings in the districts. Afghan government plans called for the establishment of only three DCNs in Paktika in 2006. PRT-Sharana, recognizing the security as well as stability benefits of connecting Afghanistans remote and often volatile districts to the rest of Afghanistan and thus the rest of the world, has now agreed to build an additional eight DCN buildings in 2006. 4.(SBU) COMMENT: In the remote and underdeveloped province of Paktika, government and public access to reliable phone and internet service is a huge step forward. While the Afghan security forces are expected to significantly benefit from the reliable communications that t will come to the districts with the District Communications Networks, the reach of the Afghan government is also expected to be extended by these communication systems. If the heavy use and popularity of the DCNs demonstrated in KABUL 00001974 002.2 OF 002 the new center in Orgun-e is any indicator, the DCNs will prove popular with the public and will help to demonstrate the strength and reach of the Karzai government even into the most remote of Paktikas districts. The PRTs assistance with DCN buildings will speed, by a matter of years, the fielding of DCNs throughout Paktika. This is an idea that may be worth looking into in other areas of Afghanistan with significant security concerns and communications difficulties. END COMMENT. 5.(U) Dushanbe minimize considered. NEUMANN NN