HELMAND GOVERNOR PROMISED COOPERATION ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000376

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA AMBASSADOR QUINN AND NSC FOR AHARRIMAN AND
KAMEND

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV SNAR KCRM AF
SUBJECT: HELMAND GOVERNOR PROMISED COOPERATION ON
ERADICATION

REF: KABUL 00362


1. (C) Summary: Reftel discussed, among other things, the
dramatic increase in opium cultivation in Helmand and advised
the establishment of the Helmand Eradication Planning Task
Force to deal with the critical issue of opium cultivation in
Helmand. That Task Force met January 26 and is undertaking
urgent and credible action to address this challenge to
GOA/US CN goals in Afghanistan. End Summary.


2. (C) On January 26 the first meeting of the Task Force was
held. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Minister of Interior
General Daud, Deputy Minister of Counter Narcotics at the
Ministry of Interior, and attended by Helmand Governor
Engineer Daoud, Deputy Governor Amir Mohammed Akhunzada,
Deputy Chief of Strategic Operations for the Ministry of
Defense (MOD) Brigadier General Rahim, Colonel Gul Marjan of
the Afghan National Army (ANA) Advisor to the MOD Chief of
Staff, Afghan PRT liaison officer, the head of the Provincial
Council for Helmand, the Chief of Police for Helmand Abdul
Rahman Jan, the Chief of the Helmand National Security
Directorate (NDS) Nazar Ali Khan, Lt. Colonel Don Modder and
Major Billy Bob Brown of CFC-A, INL Kabul Deputy Director
Alan Smiley, INL Eradication Specialist Mick Hogan, INL
Aviation Advisor Guy Charlton, PRT Deputy Director Andrew
Mann, British Embassy Drugs Team (BEDT) Deputy Head Graham
Zebedee, BEDT Eradication Specialist James Hardy, DynCorp
logistical support personnel, DynCorp PEP Deputy Program
Manager Mike O'Donovan, CNTF Director Doug Wankel and others.

3. (C) General Daud began the meeting by discussing the
operational planning meetings for governor-led eradication
(GLE) that had been conducted in Kabul over the past two days
and stated that those planning sessions had gone well and the
GOA was optimistic that the plans could be successfully
implemented. Daud then mentioned that on January 25, Deputy
Governor Amir Mohammed briefed the GOA, US and UK planning
team on the severity of the opium cultivation problem in
Helmand Province this year, saying that it was very large
cultivation, perhaps twice as large as last year's opium
cultivation. General Daud said based upon the magnitude of
the opium cultivation as stated by the Deputy Governor, it
was decided to cancel yesterday's planning session in order
to invite the Governor and other senior provincial officials
to an expanded planning session on January 26.


4. (C) General Daud made a short statement to the group and
began by stating that eradication success in Helmand was
critical if the GOA and its international partners were to
succeed in reducing the level of opium cultivation in
Afghanistan. General Daud said that there would need to be a
plan for eradication of 1-3 months in Helmand and due to
security concerns there would need to a deployment of 500
Afghan National Police (ANP) from Kabul, 500 Afghan National
Army (ANA) soldiers and the Helmand Provincial authorities
would need to deploy an additional 500 police officers. The
force of 1500 ANP/ANA would be responsible for providing
security to the Province during opium eradication operations.
General Daud said that he would recommend that eradication
begin with government lands that are growing poppy and those
lands of government officials that have poppy cultivated in
Helmand.


5. (C) Engineer Daoud, Governor of Helmand, then spoke to the
Task Force. Governor Daoud said that he completely agreed
with General Daud in that if we can succeed with opium
eradication in Helmand, we will succeed with opium
eradication in Afghanistan. The Governor said that the
government officials, supported by the international
community, have the responsibility to build peace and
maintain stability in Afghanistan and to do so, it is
important that the Afghan government, the Afghan people and
the international community come together to fight terrorism
and the drug mafia. The Governor said that GOA officials have
the training and the infrastructure necessary to fight
terrorism and the GOA needs the same capacity to fight drugs.


6. (C) Governor Daoud said that it was important to remember
two things--fighting terrorism means fighting Taliban and
other terrorists and that fighting drugs, opium, means
fighting the community as well because they are involved in
the business of opium cultivation. The Governor said that it
is critical that the GOA establish links with the community
in rural Afghanistan. He said that these links are largely
non-existent at this time. He further outlined that 50
percent of the schools have been burned by the Taliban,
clinics are need and food is needed in some areas. The
Governor said that the GOA must go to the communities to
eradicate but they must also establish governance and
relationships with the community as well. The Governor said,
"we can't complete one job and forget the other."


7. (C) The Governor said that he has had several meetings
with tribal elders, leaders and scholars and has discussed
the need for eradication. Based upon those discussions he
said that as he begins eradication, he must prioritize his
efforts by first destroying opium fields on GOA land (the
Governor said that more than 10,000 hectares of opium is
cultivated on GOA owned land) and by destroying those fields
cultivated by government officials. (Note: Per the Governor,
there are many provincial, district and local government
officials who cultivate poppy). The Governor said that once
he eradicates the aforementioned poppy fields, the community
will accept eradication of their fields. In fact, some of the
community leaders stated that if the GOA eradicates the GOA
land and land of government officials, the community will
voluntarily eradicate their own fields. The Governor said the
community will not trust the GOA to eradicate impartially and
fairly unless the Governor first goes after the fields on
GOA-land and those cultivated by government officials.


8. (C) The Governor said that according to the Provincial
Agricultural Department, there is an estimated 77,375
hectares of opium under cultivation in Helmand Province at
this time (last year the USG estimated that there was 38,500
hectares of opium cultivation or 36 percent of Afghanistan's
cultivation for 2005).


9. (C) The Governor said he welcomed the support of the
additional ANP and ANA forces that General Daud had
previously mentioned as long as it was understood that the
leadership of the eradication effort and the security effort
for the same must be provincially-led or else the Governor
would not be responsible for the eradication effort. The
Governor went on to say that he would welcome any and all
monitoring and verification specialists that Kabul can
provide as he wants the eradication efforts to be
transparent. The Governor also advised that if he was to
conduct eradication efforts in the Northern areas of Helmand
Province, he would request that the international community
consider the possibility of conducting some immediate needs
support in the form of "cash for work" programs there, given
the extreme poverty of the region. Wankel advised that USAID
provided "cash for work" programs in Helmand Province last
year, but not in Northern Helmand due to security concerns
and advised that unless security significantly improves,
USAID (and its implementing partner Chemonics) would not be
able to consider such a request.


10. (C) Wankel asked General Daud whether there was a
decision by the GOA to deploy ANA forces or if that was a
contingency to be considered and whether the MOD and the ANA
agreed to support the eradication effort in Helmand. General
Daud said that he had discussions with the MOD and they
committed to deploy up to 500 ANA soldiers for security, if
required. Brigadier General Rahim confirmed General Daud's
comments and said that while it was not MOD policy to fight
drugs, MOD would provide support for security for the
Governor's eradication effort. The Brigadier General said
that the deployment may require coalition support in the form
of mentors and trainers.


11. (C) The Governor provided written details of his
eradication plan to INL Eradication Specialist Mick Hogan and
BEDT Eradication Specialist James Hardy and they will respond
to the Task Force and the Governor as to how they can support
the plan. General Daud concluded the meeting and advised that
further meetings of the appropriate individuals would take
place, as needed.


12. (C) Comment: The Governor was firmly in charge of his
presentation and made clear the fact that he would be in
charge. Daud and the MOD stated there was GOA agreement for
ANA support for security. The CFC-A representatives took
copius notes and said they would meet with the ANA and MOD to
determine what had been discussed and agreed to meet at
senior levels and determine what CFC-A's position would be
for the announced ANA support. End Comment.

NORLAND