PRT KUNAR: SOVIET-STYLE SALE OF EAST AFGHAN TIMBER

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 003570 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A NSC FOR AHARRIMAN CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SENV ECON AF SUBJECT: PRT KUNAR: SOVIET-STYLE SALE OF EAST AFGHAN TIMBER STOCKPILE Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Cracking down on illegal timber cutting and smuggling has been one of Kunar's outgoing governor's most important achievements. He strictly enforces Karzai's decrees on that matter. According to his interpretation, however, no individual can transport wood without the GoA's express permission. Tens or hundreds of millions of dollars of wood, mostly cedar, now lie in the timber yards of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. The GOA has a Soviet-style plan to buy up all the wood, at a price to be determined by Kabul, and then sell the timber to the highest bidder, most likely international wood concerns. The potential for graft and corruption is high. Many local government and tribal leaders do not support this plan. Some advocate allowing market forces to work their magic, while others desire the GOA to donate the logs for construction of housing for poor Afghans. Karzai's government must make smart choices on what to do with Kunar's, and Nuristan's, lumber and devise, in coordination with international partners, a long-term reforestation and tree-harvesting program for a sustainable lumber industry. End Summary. Timber: Possible engine for economic growth? -------------- ¶2. (U) The main economic activity in Kunar province currently is subsistence farming, the means of livelihood for over ninety percent of the population. But the trees of Kunar, particularly its nakhtar cedars, may be a potential source for economic development in the long term. Other potential economic opportunities are gemstone mining and electricity production from the two main rivers, the Pech and the Kunar. Locals hope the GOA will be able to harness these rivers to produce power for half the country. ¶3. (U) Sixty percent of Afghanistan's forests lie in the eastern region of the country, primarily in Kunar and Nuristan with limited forests in Nangarhar and Laghman provinces. Nakhtar cedar trees, prized for use in construction and furniture-making in Afghanistan and Pakistan, are found at higher elevations in both Kunar and Nuristan. Other trees growing naturally in Kunar include walnut, eucalyptus, and various citrus and other fruit trees. Depending on quality and species, wood merchants �A;today sell Kunari cedar in downtown Asadabad, the provincial capital, for $4 to $20 per cubic foot. Illegal harvesting of trees -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Before the civil war of the early 1990s, under Afghan law, the Ministry of Agriculture monitored the harvesting of trees and required that new saplings replace the felled timber. This system collapsed during the civil war. The current Director of Economy for Kunar and others state that rich Pakistanis, then and now, are behind the timber smuggling business throughout the province. Others spread the blame a bit more broadly, pointing the finger at merchants from Paktiya, Kandahar, Nangarhar, and elsewhere, including some Kunaris. ¶5. (SBU) After the fall of the Taliban, Karzai banned lumber harvesting in Afghanistan, though in Kunar this was not enforced by the first two post-Taliban governors, warlord Jahn Dod and the Afghan-American Sayid Fazil Akbar. Akbar took a laissez faire approach, allowing wood to flow relatively freely within the province as long as individuals paid the appropriate taxes, which helped fund the building of a new mosque in downtown Asadabad, enriched warlords and local officials. It is unclear if any connection existed between enemy forces and the illegal timber trade. Governor Wafa's (mostly successful) crackdown -------------- ¶6. (SBU) When Governor Wafa came to Kunar in February 2005, KABUL 00003570 002 OF 003 he cracked down on the illegal harvesting of trees in Kunar and strictly enforced the ban on the transport of lumber, stifling a means of livelihood for many inhabitants of this province, particularly in the unstable Korengal Valley and the northeastern districts. This had a drastic effect on the local economy, according to the provincial Finance Director, with Kunar's total revenues sent to Kabul dropping from $5 million two years ago to only $300,000 last year. (In comparison, last year's total provincial budget was $7 million, with approximately 70% of that going to salaries of government employees.) ¶7. (SBU) Nevertheless, smuggling on a lower scale continues. Kunari warlords who served in government positions before the arrival of Governor Wafa in February 2005 - Afghan Militia Force (AMF) commander Malik Zarin, border brigade commander and former governor Jahn Dod, and to a lesser extent ANP chief Matiollah Khan - and who all still have close ties to Karzai played key roles in the exploitation of Kunar's (and Nuristan's) woodlands. They are all presumably still involved in timber smuggling, and may be lobbying hard for the solution to the timber issue that would leave the most money in their coffers. Kabul's Soviet-style plan for Kunar's timber -------------- ¶8. (SBU) In late December 2005, Karzai's government issued a decree spelling out what to do with the millions of feet of wood piled up in Kunar and Nuristan. A commission made up of various ministries from Kabul spent weeks earlier this year cataloguing the timber in Kunari lumberyards. The Economy Director criticized the commission's accounting methods. He says their figure of around 10 million cubic feet understates the amount of lumber by approximately 5 million. Going with an extremely conservative estimate of 200 afghani ($4)/foot, the going rate for low quality cedar, the woodlots of Kunar contain at least $40 million worth of timber. The actual market value is likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars. ¶9. (SBU) The commission in Kabul (including the heads of some of the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture, and Interior) plans to take a very Soviet-like approach to solve the timber problem, determining the appropriate price to pay the dealers for their product, buying up and collecting all of Kunar's (and Nuristan's) timber, and finally - with a belated nod to Adam Smith and the market system - selling the wood at a mark up of perhaps, according to the Finance Director, thirty percent. (A Dutch firm apparently made inquiries into purchasing $3 million of timber back in February.) ¶10. (SBU) Kunar's Economy Director, Deputy Governor for Administration, Agriculture Director and other officials have all advised Kabul against this plan, but the central government will proceed anyway. These local officials would have preferred allowing market forces to determine prices and buyers. Kunar's elders and members of Parliament, on the other hand, claim that the wood sitting in the woodlots of this province should be used to build homes and other buildings for the poor citizens of Afghanistan. It is unlikely, however, that Kunar's timber yard owners, including some powerful local figures and at least one member of parliament, would have allowed this sort of giveaway. Comment -------------- ¶11. (SBU) It remains to be seen whether this arrangement, rife with opportunities for corruption and insider deals, will be able to set the province's timber industry in motion and generate some decent income for the GoA. The GoA has been wrestling with the question of what to do with Kunar's timber since Karzai's first decree on the subject when he first took office. If the GoA doesn't act soon, the wood, ostensibly chopped down some time before Wafa's arrival KABUL 00003570 003 OF 003 almost eighteen months ago, may begin to rot. Presuming the wood is sold off in the near future, which is not a sure bet by any means, there is still no plan for the development of the timber sector. GOA and NGO efforts at reforestation thus far have been on an extremely small scale. The dream of Kunar's cedars becoming an engine for economic growth is decades away. NEUMANN