PRT/QALAH-E NAW: MP BIOS: BADGHIS PROVINCE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 000257

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SA/FO, SA/A, S/CT, EUR/RPM
NSC FOR AMEND AND HARRIMAN
OSD FOR BREZINSKI
REL NATO/AUST/NZ/ISAF
CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A, CG CJTF-76
USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG

E.O. 12958:N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PINR EAID PHUM KJUS AF KFEM
SUBJECT: PRT/QALAH-E NAW: MP BIOS: BADGHIS PROVINCE

Ref: 05 Kabul 5180


1. Summary: This cable provides biographic
information on three members of the Afghan National
Assembly from Badghis province. Azita Rafat is a
young female activist focused on development for her
province and with a particular concern about the
Badghis custom of selling girls. Yaqub Khan is a
pharmacist and former mayor of Qalah-e Naw. Haji
Mullah Abdullah is a former commander and farmer from
Qhormach district. End Summary.

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Azita Rafat: Views on Parliament
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2. Azita Rafat ranked third among all candidates in
votes for National Assembly candidates from Badghis.
In a meeting in December 2005, she told PRToff she
considers herself an independent and is working with
others to form a non-aligned block of about 90
representatives. Unlike the more well-known Malalai
Joya from Farah province, who has sharply criticized
the presence of mujahadeen and drug lords in the
National Assembly, Rafat believes it is important to
work with fellow representatives, regardless of their
pasts. She is sharply critical of Joya, whom she
regards as a grandstander with no positive agenda.
She has met frequently with the other three
representatives from Badghis and hopes to lobby the
central government to pay more attention to Badghis.
In her view, provincial priorities are potable water,
electricity, and roads.


3. Rafat is supportive of the Spanish PRT, installed
in Badghis in June. She believes, however, that it
has not sufficiently solicited the opinions of people
in Badghis as to development priorities. She also
feels that the PRT has not hired the economically
neediest people to work on its projects. Although she
is aware the Spanish are planning a road from Qalah-e
Naw (the provincial capital) to the Herat border (to
connect with a road to be constructed by Iran from
Herat to the Badghis border),she has seen no
progress. She would like to see roads built within
the province linking the districts.


4. Rafat discussed the prevalent sale of girls in
Badghis for marriage. She said the going price is
between USD four and ten thousand. She stated that
the price has gone up recently because people are
poorer after several years of drought and fathers are
therefore demanding more money and because commanders
and drug lords are willing to spend more. The sale of
girls has become a common practice, according to
Rafat, and it will be difficult to end since people
are uneducated and the judicial system is undeveloped
and corrupt.


5. Comment. Azita Rafat is bright, assertive, and a
committed democrat, unusual in a province where women
are as oppressed as anywhere in Afghanistan. Like
many Afghans, she is impatient with the pace of
reconstruction; this translates into criticism of the
Spanish PRT and international assistance in general.
She will be a positive force in the National Assembly,
but her effectiveness will likely be impeded by her
relative youth and gender. End Comment.

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Bio-Azita Rafat
--------------


6. Azita Rafat, a Tajik, was born in Qalah-e Naw and
graduated from high school there after studying in
Kabul. She is married with four daughters, including
six-year-old twins. Her husband is unemployed. Her
father is an academic who has taught at the University
of Kabul; he presently works as a businessman.


7. After graduating from high school, Rafat became a
teacher. During the Taliban years she worked in
health, assisting women and children in villages.
After the fall of the Taliban, she worked for a German
NGO in the health field, and then with UNAMA in voter
registration. She is a member of the Afghan Red
Crescent and a member of the Afghan Independent
Commission for Human Rights. Before being elected to
the National Assembly, she was Director of Women?s
Affairs in Badghis; in this capacity she started a
computer learning center in Qalah-e Naw. Rafat speaks
Dari, Pashtu, Urdu, Russian, and conversational
English.

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Bio-Yaqub Khan
--------------


8. Yaqub Khan was the leading vote getter in
parliamentary elections in Badghis. An Uzbek, he is
50 years old and is married with eight children. His
two oldest sons run an English language and computer
center in Herat.


9. Yaqub Khan attended secondary school in Qalah-e
Naw and teacher training schools in Herat and Kabul.
He taught school in Badghis from 1985-1995. After
1995, teaching became difficult as Badghis became a
fault line of conflict between Ismail Khan and Junbesh
and the Taliban and Junbesh. Yaqub Khan then opened
up a pharmacy. After Karzai became president, Yaqub
Khan became mayor of Qalah-e Naw but resigned a year
later because he perceived the then-governor and chief
of police to be corrupt. He subsequently managed his
pharmacy and worked for an NGO.


10. Yaqub Khan describes himself as an independent.
He is supportive of the current governor, but noted
that the governor is not present enough in Badghis and
does not travel sufficiently in the province to
develop his authority. According to Yaqub Khan,
Ismail Khan still has influence in Badghis, but it is
diminished.

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Bio-Haji Mullah Abdullah
--------------


11. A Pashtun, Haji Mullah Abdullah is 58 years old
and has lived his entire life in Ghormach district
which borders on Turkmenistan and Faryab province. He
has two wives and no children. He considers himself a
political independent.


12. Abdullah has no formal education but studied
religion as a youth. He worked on his family?s land
until leaving his village and becoming a commander to
fight the Soviets. He returned to his home after the
Soviets left Afghanistan and resumed his agricultural
livelihood. He did not engage in organized resistance
against the Taliban.


13. According to Abdullah, the Badghis governor is
well-intentioned, but has paid only one visit to
Ghormach. In his opinion, many other provincial
officials are corrupt. He has no opinion about the
PRT; it has been inactive in Ghormach.


14. Abdullah believes that one of the biggest
security threats in Badghis is the Gulian, a group of
Pashtun families in Gormach. About 60 of the 300
families are engaged in animal rustling and common
thievery. Although Abdullah claims to have kept them
in check during his days as a commander, he said the
current corrupt police force has allowed their
criminal pursuits.

NORLAND