Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KABUL453
2006-02-01 13:53:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Kabul
Cable title:  

PRT HELMAND: GOVERNOR OPTIMISTIC ON POPPY

Tags:  SNAR PREL PGOV PTER PINR AF 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 000453 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

NSC FOR AHARRIMAN, KAMEND
DEPT FOR SA/FO, AMBASSADOR QUINN, SA/PAB, S/CT, SA/A
CENTCOM FOR POLAD
REL NATO/AUST/NZ/ISAF

E.O. 12958 N/A
TAGS: SNAR PREL PGOV PTER PINR AF
SUBJECT: PRT HELMAND: GOVERNOR OPTIMISTIC ON POPPY
ERADICATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 000453

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

NSC FOR AHARRIMAN, KAMEND
DEPT FOR SA/FO, AMBASSADOR QUINN, SA/PAB, S/CT, SA/A
CENTCOM FOR POLAD
REL NATO/AUST/NZ/ISAF

E.O. 12958 N/A
TAGS: SNAR PREL PGOV PTER PINR AF
SUBJECT: PRT HELMAND: GOVERNOR OPTIMISTIC ON POPPY
ERADICATION


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Helmand provincial Governor
Engineer Daud told PRT officers on January 30 that he
is optimistic his poppy eradication plan will succeed.
Along with eradication, there must also be significant
assistance to poor farmers, especially in the far
north of the province. The Governor expects USAID and
the UKs Department for International Development
(DFID) to implement cash for work and/or food for work
programs in these areas. To facilitate eradication,
Governor Daud is also planning on removing some
district chiefs of police who have close ties to the
opium trade. Separately, other provincial officials
warned that clashes with farmers and/or anti-Coalition
Militia (ACM) elements are possible. Eradication will
commence only after the plan is approved by the
Ministry of Counternarcotics and assistance for poor
farmers is in place. END SUMMARY.

--------------
THE TIME HAS COME
--------------


2. (SBU) At the weekly security meeting, Governor
Daud said that the time had come to move on poppy
eradication. He discussed his January 27-28 trip to
Kabul and meeting with various ministries and
representatives from the U.S. and UK embassies. The
Governor said that he told his interlocutors that,
with the expected upsurge in poppy cultivation this
year (estimated as much as 77,000 hectares, nearly
double last years cultivation),eradication has taken
on greater importance. However, he also noted the
need to take a longer view concerning the importance
of alternative livelihoods as a key in permanently
eliminating poppy in Helmand.

--------------
IM IN CHARGE
--------------


3. (SBU) The Governor said that he insisted on being
in charge of the eradication effort. He recalled
that, in 2003, Kabul officials were supposed to
deliver cash to farmers who eradicated. This effort
turned into a disaster, when corrupt officials from
both Kabul and Helmand pocketed the money meant for
farmers. Daud said that this year would be different;
he would maintain tight controls over the program.

The Governor said that any and all monitors were
welcome to observe the process.

--------------
SECURITY
--------------


4. (SBU) The plan that the Governor presented has a
strong security element. To ensure security, the
Governor will mobilize 500 provincial ANP. In
In
addition, the Ministry of Defense pledged to send 500
troops and the Ministry of Interior was sending 500
additional police.

--------------
PROCEEDING WITH ERADICATION
--------------


5. (SBU) In the past, many citizens complained that
poppy eradication, when it occurred, was unfairly and
corruptly administered. Indeed, there have been many
reports of police essentially extorting money from
farmers in exchange for not destroying their poppy
fields. The Governor asserted that this year would be
different. First, the plan is to start by eradicating
poppy fields belonging to provincial officials. The
next stage will be to eradicate poppy cultivated on
government land. Finally, eradication will commence
on ordinary farmers fields. Poppy eradication will
be two pronged, Daud added, starting from both the
north and the south. Deputy Governor Amir Mohammed
(the former governors younger brother) will lead the
effort in the north; police chief Abdul Rahman Jan
n
(ARJ) will focus on the south.


6. (SBU) As he has remarked on other occasions, the
Governor envisions a step by step process. One or
two days prior to eradication, officials will fan out
to various districts and explain to citizens why the
time has come to stop cultivating poppy. Mullahs will
issue appeals from their mosques. District officials
will explain that poppy cultivation, under the Afghan
Constitution and by Presidential decree, is illegal.

--------------
NEED TO HELP THE POOREST
--------------


7. (SBU) The Governor stated that in central
Helmand, where farmers are able to tap into the
Helmand Rivers network of irrigation canals, there is
no excuse for farmers to grow poppy because they can
make a living growing other crops. (COMMENT: This
true, but not the whole story. There are no other
crops to compete with poppy over the winter poppy-
growing season. Most poppy farmers do grow other
crops, such as corn, cotton, and sometimes fruit, in
, in
the summer season. END COMMENT). However, in the
more remote areas in the north and south of Helmand,
water resources are limited. Daud said that, unlike
other years, there would be no cash payments to
farmers. Daoud said that he discussed with USAID and
DFID officials in Kabul the urgent need to develop and
implement cash for work and/or food for work programs.
These could include various public works projects and
other activities similar to what USAID, through its
Alternative Livelihoods Program, started in Helmand in

2005. The Governor emphasized that, without such
programs in place, eradication would impoverish the
countryside and drive people to the Taliban.
Districts such as Baghran, Mousa Qala, Kajeki, Washir,
Sangin, and Khanoshin have few resources and the
farmers there will need help until they have
alternative cash crops. The Governor said that
without the assistance in place, it would not be
possible to implement a major eradication effort this
year.

--------------
CHANGING DISTRICT CHIEFS OF POLICE
--------------


8. (SBU) During the meeting, the Governor and his
security council discussed the need to move some
district police chiefs who are believed tied to the
local drug business. He proposed moving the police
chief in Cartelegan to Khonoshin; moving the Sangin
district police chief to Nawa; and promoting a senior
officer in Mousa Qala to chief of police in Sangin, a
particularly troubled district where there is
considerable ACM movement and drug smuggling. Daoud
noted that the Taliban had been clever in playing off
tribal disputes between the Isakzai and the Alokazai,
the two main tribes. The Governor also discussed
firing the Garmseer district police chief for
continued corruption.

--------------
POTENTIAL FOR VIOLENCE
--------------


9. (SBU) Separately, Colonel Fawzi Ahmed, head of
the counternarcotics unit of the provincial police,
told PRT poloff on January 29 that the authorities
must be prepared for potential violence, including
IEDs, suicide attacks, and firefights. Colonel Fawzi
said that, with the help from the ANA and the extra
ANP, there should be sufficient manpower;
nevertheless, if the eradication effort proceeded
according to plan, it would be a much stronger effort
than ever before attempted.

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


10. (SBU) Governor Daud appears serious and
determined to substantially reduce poppy cultivation
this year. However, there are many moving parts to
the plan as well as several potentially weak links.
The logistics of supporting 1,500 security personnel
are challenging. Developing and implementing cash for
work and/or food for work programs in remote areas
relatively quickly will require a strong security
component and much effort, considering the near
absence of infrastructure in outlying districts. For
USAID and/or DFID to mobilize over the next two to
three months to implement such programs will be a
major challenge. It is possible that, by trying to
link eradication efforts to USAID and/or DFID programs
aimed at compensating poor farmers, the Governor may
be looking for political cover, if the eradication
effort does not go as planned.


11. (SBU) COMMENT (cont.) Regarding eradication
leadership, while Governor Daud may have political
reasons for placing Amir Mohammed and ARJ in charge of
the north and south efforts, respectively, they are
both suspected of having major involvement in the drug
trade. This could complicate eradication efforts.
Concerning governance, while it may be helpful in the
short term to shuffle some district police chiefs due
to their allegedly strong ties to the drug scene in
their localities, the heart of the problem is lack of
capacity of the ANP.

NORLAND