DISSATISFACTION IN THE PROVINCES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 003135

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/FO DAS GASTRIGHT, SCA/A, S/CRS, SCA/PAB,
S/CT, EUR/RPM
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN
OSD FOR BREZINSKI
CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A, CG CJTF-76 POLAD
TREASURY FOR D/S KIMMITT, APARAMESWARAN, AJEWELL
REL NATO/ISAF/AS/NZ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER AF
SUBJECT: DISSATISFACTION IN THE PROVINCES

REF: KABUL 3088

KABUL 00003135 001.2 OF 003


Classified By: POL COUNSELOR ANGUS SIMMONS FOR REASONS
1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: : On 10 July, Poloff met with Arif Khan, a
member of the Paktika Provincial Council who has been in
Kabul trying to meet with GOA officials to express his
concerns over poor governance, corruption and deteriorating
security in Paktika. His efforts to have government meetings
had been unsuccessful, and he finally turned to the Embassy
in order to try to get his message to the GOA. Arif Khan,s
message is an increasingly common one, and merits attention
insofar as it illustrates the difficulties that Afghans have
in accessing the bureaucracy and decision makers in the
capital. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Poloff was approached by Arif Khan, an elected Pashtun
member of the Paktika Provincial Council who had become
totally frustrated over his unsuccessful attempts to meet
with Afghan policy makers and/or almost anyone in the Palace
in order to present a report on conditions in Paktika
Province. Arif Khan gives every impression of being a
serious and concerned council member, and has the political
distinction of having been elected from Paktika to represent
the province in both the Emergency (2002) and Constitutional
(2003-4) Loya Jirgas held in Kabul. Arif Khan claimed to be
representing a large number of Paktika local leaders in his
complaints about the deteriorating situation, and was visibly
unhappy that he had not been able to gain access to any Kabul
officials to state their case. His main requests of Poloff
were to listen to his story, and to try to bring a letter he
presented to Poloff to the attention of officials at the
Palace.


3. (C) Arif Khan,s presentation was dignified and succinct.
He claimed that the new governor of Paktika (Gov. Khpelwak)
was young, inexperienced and corrupt, and was misusing the
province,s meager 8 million Afghani operational budget. The
former Director of Customs of Paktika, Haji Mohammad, had
ostensibly been removed from office, but in reality had been
unofficially allowed to set up a number of toll stations to
collect fees, despite his former affiliation with Gulbeddin
Hekmetyar, his murder record (he had allegedly killed 13
people, including his own wife),and an ongoing investigation
being conducted against him by the Afghan Independent Human
Rights Commission. The Police Commander and the Border
Police Commander were new and inexperienced, and according to
Arif Khan, the Police Commander was turning over weapons to
Taliban and Hekmetyar-affiliated groups. The people feel cut
off from Kabul and the central government. Since his
accession to power in late 2001, President Karzai has
apparently made only one brief visit to Paktika.


4. (C) Arif Khan,s request was a simple one. He asked
Poloff to transmit his letter ) signed by several members of
the Paktika leadership ) to the National Security Council at
the Palace and to any member of the Karzai family who might
be able to bring it to the President,s attention. He said
that he hoped the National Security Council would be
embarrassed by the fact that while they had no time to see
him, busy officers from the American Embassy had received him
and given him their valuable time. The text of the letter
(translated from Pashtu) is as follows:

Begin text:

To the high-ranking officials and armed forces officials of
the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

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- Paktika Province is one of the poorest and most unfortunate
provinces in Afghanistan. The people of this province are not
only the victims of poverty,terrorism and extremism, but also
victims of the person from whom they have great expectations
to be saved. He himself deteriorates the situation and
creates tensions in the province. This person is the
Governor of Paktika, Mr. Khpelwak, who has started a movement
that will put the province more in isolation from the
government and will cause the people to lose trust and
confidence more and more. The governor doesn't know how to
communicate well with the local people to understand their
needs. He gives no value to what people tell him. The only
thing he values is money. He has carelessly and skillfully
started to collect money from the people.

- He has started the general money collecting campaign under
the name of reconstruction and does it under the leadership
of a person by the name of Mohammad, who is the symbol of
being a warlord, a murderer and a thief in the province.
Using his gun power and influence, Mohammad was previously
the head of customs in the province. He was fired from his
position by a verbal order from the President. Currently
Mohammad is leading the mentioned reconstruction campaign and
takes large sums of money unofficially from poor drivers who
cannot afford it. He takes money from drivers using gun power
and then he shares the money with the governor.

- Thousands of people launched demonstrations in Paktika
Province against him and his actions, but no one heard their
voices. The illegal checkpoints/tolls still exist in the
province, causing people a lot of trouble.

- The governor was not satisfied with what he was making and
has created a new trap in order to collect money under the
name of a so called "Master Plan" (reconstruction program)
which completely violates the laws, principles and government
regulations. The governor changed the initial rate of the
land which was determined by the Cabinet at 50 Afghanis to
120 Afghanis. This happened based on the governor's dealing
with this issue. The governor doesn't have the authority to
do so. He has also distributed pieces of land which are
possessed by the government called "Salami 100" to a few of
his associates, those who have shared interests with him.

- After the governor's arrival, he started illegal and
negative appointments and switching jobs from one person to
another. He is changing the district governors and police
chiefs. As a result of his recent actions, one after the
other the districts may/will fall under the control of the
enemy. The district managers and police chiefs run away from
their offices and leave the districts without any resistance
to the Taliban. They are making obvious deals with the
Taliban, and in some places it looks like Taliban territory.
For example, Doncky district,s police chief left the
district to the enemy. The reason for losing government
control over these districts is the result of appointing bad
and defamed people who are good friends with the enemy.
Insulting and scolding the elders is an ordinary occurence.
The Governor doubts the consultation and advice of the elders
in the province.

- Therefore, we request the officials to pay serious
attention to these cases,prevent Paktika Province from being
defeated by the enemy and save it from its current crisis.

Note: Signatures and fingerprints of local elders are affixed
to the letter, and it is noted that Zafar Khan Selaiman
Kheil, Acting Head of the Paktika Provincial Council, clears

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on the text.

End text

COMMENT
--------------


5. (C) Comment: Although it is impossible to judge the truth
of his claims in this particular case, Arif Khan,s general
description of security problems, government incompetence,
official corruption, and the gap (illustrated all too well by
his travails in Kabul) between government and &the people8
are repeated over and over in conversations and meetings with
Afghans in Kabul, from street level to the offices of even
high-ranking government officials. Security and corruption
issues were the main complaint voiced in both Loya Jirgas,
and are a growing daily refrain in the halls of today,s
Parliament, the media and in homes all over Kabul.


6. (C) In traditional Afghan culture, the concept of making
appointments to see officials is an alien one, and tribal
representatives are accustomed to simply walk into meetings,
sit down, sip tea and voice their concerns directly, so one
can sympathize with harried Palace bureaucrats who are faced
with incessant demands on their and the President,s time and
attention. The level of complaint about the gap between the
government and people like Arif Khan seems to be increasing
day by day, however, and erodes popular confidence in the
government,s ability or even willingness to address popular
concerns. This is especially true when governors and police
chiefs are simply appointed by the Palace and/or Ministry of
Interior without reference to provincial wishes, thus forcing
local residents to try to make their complaints heard in
Kabul if they want to effect a change.


7. (C) Any trip from distant towns to Kabul entails great
expense, the necessity of bribery, weeks of wasted time and
an increase in frustration. It is extraordinarily difficult
for people from the provinces to make themselves heard in
Kabul, and dissatisfaction over the ensuing gap in
communication is being noted more and more frequently by
officials, parliamentarians, advisors and provincial
emissaries who feel they are being ignored or frozen out by
the Palace in Kabul. Per Reftel, it appears President Karzai
now realizes that outreach and strategic communications need
to play a greater part in GOA efforts to restore public
confidence and defeat the insurgency; moving urgently to put
effective mechanisms in place is the immediate order of
business. End comment.

NORLAND