RECONCILIATION PROGRAM HOLDS CONFERENCE WITH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 002552

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SA/FO GASTRIGHT, SA/CT AND SA/A
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN
STATE PASS USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG
CENTCOM FOR POLAD, CG CFA-A, CG CJTF-76

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV EAID PTER AF
SUBJECT: RECONCILIATION PROGRAM HOLDS CONFERENCE WITH
PRT'S; COORDINATED FUTURE FUNDING RECOMMENDED

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SUMMARY:


1. (SBU) The Independent Commission for the Program for
Strengthening Peace (PTS) - the Afghan-led reconciliation
process - held a conference on May 15 with representatives of
Coalition and ISAF PRTs in order to familiarize them with the
PTS process and to give the heads of the six regional PTS
offices a chance to speak with their PRT counterparts in
small group discussions. What emerged was that there was no
coordinated policy on assisting the regional field offices,
most of which are without significant resources - either
financial or in terms of basic equipment. In the year since
its establishment, the PTS has "reconciled" around 1,500
former Taliban and HiG (Hizb-i Islami (Gulbuddin)) fighters,
most of them mid- or low-level. While there are some
questions about the capability of the PTS staff and concerns
about their accountability for equipment/funds, as well as
monitoring of "reconcilees", the amount of money needed to
keep the program running is quite small in terms of our
overall assistance budget, and it has removed many potential
combatants from the battlefield, especially in the eastern
border regions. We are working to advance a coordinated
approach among the Coalition/ISAF PRTs to assist the regional
offices. End Summary


2. (SBU) Marking the first anniversary of its establishment
by Presidential decree, the Independent Commission of the
Program for Strengthening Peace (PTS) held a conference at
the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul on May 15 to inform the
commanders/personnel of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams
(PRTs) about the program and its accomplishments, and ask for
financial and technical support, in particular for its six
regional offices (in Herat, Kunduz, Paktia, Konar, Kandahar,
and Nangarhar provinces). Representatives of CFC-A (Captain
Kalb),NATO (Senior Civilian Representative Hekmet Cetin),
and ISAF (Major General Chris Brown) gave strong opening
statements supporting the work of the Commission. The
President of the PTS Commission, Professor Sigbatullah
Mujaddidi (also the speaker of the upper house of Parliament)
addressed the group of about 80 people, initially in Dari,
but making his closing remarks in English. "We defend your
lives, not only our lives. My enemies, especially the ISI of
Pakistan are behind me to assassinate me - I hear reports (of
death threats against me) every week" from Pakistanis who
don't like the program's success or the fact that he
(Mujaddidi) supports the Karzai government. Lamenting that
the USG spends "$7,000 for every Afghan" while the PTS
receives only $100,000, he appealed for more generosity from
the international community.


3. (SBU) The PTS Chief of Staff Haji Akram noted that six
regional offices had opened during the past year. The
Commission would like to open an additional four offices, but
doesn't have the money to do so at the present time. The PTS
staff also appealed for funding for holding more conferences
within and outside of Afghanistan to explain their program,
as well as for visiting Europe and the U.S. to educate the
international community, and money to establish a monthly
magazine.


4. (SBU) The attendees then broke up into small groups,
based on regional PTS office locations. Group members
discussed how to improve cooperation between the PTS offices
and the PRTs, and shared results with the entire audience.
In the Paktia group, the head of the Gardez regional office,
Habibullah Mangal, presented a list of equipment which the
regional headquarters needed - office furniture, furniture
for their guesthouse, two vehicles, one motorcycle,

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walkie-talkies, mobile phones, a medium sized generator, and
video and digital cameras. The Gardez office covered four
provinces (Logar, Paktika, Paktia and Khost) and three PRTs,
but had varying degrees of contact with each of them -
ranging from weekly meetings in Paktia, to almost no contact
with the Khost PRT. Mangal said that the Gardez office, in
the nine months since it opened, had reconciled 360 Taliban
and HiG fighters, about equal numbers from each of the
provinces, which was an excellent result for a small outlay
of money (these figures were confirmed by the former PRToff
in Gardez, who had worked with Mangal to start the program).
PRToff noted that the type of equipment requested by the PTS
office was not that expensive in the overall scheme of things
and that, unlike other money spent, it had the advantage of
reaping quick results - by bringing fighters off the
battlefield immediately.


5. (SBU) Professor Musa Maroufi, a consultant to the PTS
Commission, summarized the conclusions of the conference. Two
major themes emerged: the need for additional logistic and
financial resources, and the importance of coordination among
all components of the PTS and the PRTs. While cooperation
between the central and regional PTS offices and the PRTs
appeared to be good, the Herat and Kandahar PRTs provided
significant material support in the form of vehicles,
computers, and furniture, while the others had not, giving
rise to a certain amount of resentment about this disparity,
and requests that similar resources be provided to all
offices. The second point was that financial assistance
should be increased and provided directly to the PTS program
and not via the GoA, as is currently the case. The group
requested the establishment of an ad-hoc committee consisting
of representatives from ISAF, NATO, and Coalition Forces to
deal specifically with the needs of the Commission in
provinces where there is an ISAF/CFC-A presence, but no PRT.
The group also requested help to publish a monthly magazine
to explain the program to people in their regions. All
participants felt the conference was a worthwhile exchange,
allowing many PRT and regional officials to establish contact
for the first time, and recommended that it be held on a
regular basis.


6. (SBU) In order to facilitate cooperation among PTS
offices, the local government and the PRT, it was suggested
that regional PTS officials attend the weekly security
meetings which include ANP. ANA, NDS, and PRT
representatives. In addition, they would benefit from
participating in the monthly provincial coordination meetings
which normally include the governor, as well as provincial
representatives from GoA ministries, the UN, NGO's and the
PRT.


7. COMMENT: It has been difficult to obtain clarity on the
amount and sources of funding for the PTS program. CFC-A
contributed USD 325,000 in 2005 to help establish the PTS
Commission's Kabul headquarters and the six regional offices,
providing them with vehicles, computers and training. They
have requested additional money for further support, but this
has not yet been approved. Money to pay salaries and
recurring expenses appears to come entirely from U.S. and
U.K. sources, and is passed to the PTS Commission through the
Office of the National Security Council; NSC staff was not
sure where the funds came from, but said that they totaled
around USD 70,000 per month. Members of the PTS Commission
have complained that the payments are often late, forcing
them to dip into their own resources to keep the program
going. It is also not clear how long this funding will
continue - there was some talk at the May 20 weekly meeting

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between the Commission, the NSC and CFC-A and ISAF that money
had only been promised for the program's first year, which
has just drawn to a close. What does seem clear is that the
regional offices see very little of this money, and that they
are the most effective means, especially when they work
closely with activist governors and PRTs, to bring in
disaffected Taliban and HiG fighters. At the May 20
coordination meeting, the ISAF representative said that there
was no single ISAF policy on supporting the PTS program -
each PRT supporting country, and indeed all NATO members,
would develop their own. Also at this meeting, CFC-A said
that it would work with the Commission to start a monthly
informational magazine.


8. COMMENT (CONT'D) While post is aware that there are some
accounting difficulties regarding the Commission's
expenditures, we believe that the PTS program is worth our
continued support, particularly at the regional level, and
that more funding should be considered to open the four
additional regional offices which the Commission has asked
for. Using CERP funds to provide regional offices with
needed equipment would cost relatively little and could bear
potentially large dividends. In the meantime, this is
another area where Coalition and ISAF PRTs need to establish
closer liaison, although ISAF and CFC-A have initiated a
weekly meeting to discuss better coordination.
NEUMANN