PRT/ASADABAD: GOVERNMENT-CONTROLLED TIMBER SALE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 005008 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/FO FOR DAS GASTRIGHT, SCA/A STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG, NSC FOR AHARRIMAN CENTCOM FOR CFC-A, CG CJTF, POLAD RELEASABLE NATO/ISAF/AU/NZ E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2016 TAGS: PGOV ECON PINR AF SUBJECT: PRT/ASADABAD: GOVERNMENT-CONTROLLED TIMBER SALE WILL BENEFIT LOCAL WARLORD; ALIENTATE MANY OTHERS -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) On August 30 Kunar Province Governor Deedar told us he had received permission from Kabul to implement a plan to sell off large stocks of timber in Kunar, stocks which have accumulated since the previous governor cracked down on illegal timber cutting and smuggling in early 2005. The GOA has a plan to buy up all the wood, which it believes is worth 8 billion Afghanis ($260 million) at a price determined by Kabul, and then sell the timber to three designated contractors. One of the contractors is reportedly the brother of Marshal Fahim, whose partner in the contract is Kunar warlord Malik Zarin. They have been reported been awarded the right to buy and ship more than 80 percent of the timber stocks. Zarin claims also to have authorization to recruit and command an 800-man force to protect the timber and prevent smuggling. ¶2. (C) All the revenue from the GOA,s sale to these contractors would go to the Ministry of Finance in Kabul. Regional government and tribal leaders do not support this plan, preferring an unmediated sale of timber at market prices. The new Governor may find that this government-controlled sale of the timber stocks to a few well-connected parties alienates many Kunaris, who will see their biggest natural resource being sold off with little return to the people of the province. This could create a propaganda opportunity to anti-GOA insurgents. A chance to use a major natural resource to help improve the economy, security, and political stability of a border province is being lost. End Summary. -------------- --- Dreams of Timber as an Engine of Economic Growth -------------- --- ¶3. (C) Subsistence farming provides the livelihood for over 90 percent of Kunar,s population, but along the main roads much of the province looks like a giant lumber yard, with massive collections of wood blocks stacked around the main towns. The trees of Kunar, particularly its nakhtar cedars, are a major resource for this province. Sixty percent of the nation,s forests lie in the eastern region of the country in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and Nuristan, mostly in the latter two provinces. The only other natural resources of note in this area are gems and water power. Kunar,s wood processing industry is, however, underdeveloped. There are about 150 small wood working businesses, producing mainly handicrafts. Sale of all wood products, including handcrafts, has been banned outside Kunar for the past year and a half. The new Governor has pressed us to finance construction of a large wood processing plant, to produce furniture and construction materials, but this has not been possible with current PRT funds and would demand more electricity than is currently available in Kunar. -------------- Governor Wafa,s crackdown on the Wood Trade -------------- ¶4. (C) Before the civil war of the early 1990s, the Ministry of Agriculture monitored the harvesting of trees and required that saplings be planted to replace the felled timber. This monitoring regime collapsed during the civil war. The current Director of Economy for Kunar and others state that rich Pakistanis, then and now, were behind the timber smuggling business throughout the province. Others spread the blame a bit more broadly, pointing the finger at merchants from Paktia, Kandahar, Nangarhar, and elsewhere, as well as perhaps some Kunaris. After the fall of the Taliban, Karzai banned logging in Afghanistan, though in Kunar this was not enforced by the first two post-Taliban governors, warlord Jon Dod and the subsequently Afghan-American Sayid Fazil Akbar. ¶5. (C) When Governor Wafa entered office in February 2005, he cracked down on the harvesting of trees in Kunar and imposed a strictly-enforced ban on the transport of wod products. This stifled a means of livelihood for many inhabitants of KABUL 00005008 002 OF 003 this province, particularly in the Korengal Valley and the northeastern districts. That damaged the local economy, according to the provincial Finance Director, with Kunar,s total revenue to Kabul dropping from $5 million two years ago to contribution only $300,000 last year. (In comparison, last year,s total provincial budget was $7 million, with approximately 70 percent of that going to salaries of government employees.) ¶6. (C) Timber smuggling continues. Kunari warlords who served in government positions before the arrival of Governor Wafa in February 2005 ) AMF commander Malik Zarin, border brigade commander Jon Dod, and to a lesser extent ANP chief Matiollah Khan ) and who all still have close ties to President Karzai, played key roles in the exploitation of Kunar,s woodlands. -------------- A Lot of Wood, and Money, at Stake -------------- ¶7. (C) In late 2005 the central government issued a plan for selling off the wood piled up in Kunar and Nuristan. Reportedly the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Agriculture fought for the right to control the sale of the timber, with the Ministry of Finance winning in the end. In accordance with this plan, a commission surveyed the timber and identified 6.74 million cubic feet of timber in Kunar which should be sold off by the GOA. The plan is now moving into the implementation stage. ¶8. (C) The commission divided the wood into three categories of quality. The best quality would be bought from local timber traders for 500 Afghanis per cubic foot, and sold to the contractors for 840 Afghanis/cu.ft. Mid-grade lumber would be bought for 400 Afghani/cu.ft., and sold for 675. The lowest grade would be bought by the GOA for 300 Afghani/cu.ft., and sold for 510. The Governor claims the wood in question is worth 8 billion Afghanis, or $160 million. The GOA plans to capture forty percent of the value of the wood. The profit, $64 million if all goes as planned, would go to the central government. -------------- Timber Mafia will Have a Timber Militia -------------- ¶9. (C) According to the Finance Director of Kunar Province, three contractors have been selected to buy the wood from the GOA and move it to market: Ahsanullah (674 thousand cubic feet),Najibullah (1 million cubic feet),and Zahid Hussein (5 million cubic feet). The contractor with the smallest share is also the only one from Kunar province. The contractor with the largest share, Zahid Hussein, is reportedly the brother of former Defense Minister Marshal Fahim. His partner is Malik Zarin, Kunar warlord, longtime timber smuggler, and one of the wealthiest men in eastern Afghanistan. Malik Zarin had met with the PRT on September 8, and informed us that not only was he going to be buying up the timber (an eight-month process, he said),but that he had received permission from the President to recruit an 800-man &forest protection8 force in the province, to be under his command. He claimed the force would wear ANP uniforms, be paid by the Ministry of Interior (MOI),and would be charged with protecting the forests from illegal cutting, and with thwarting timber smuggling. Zarin offered that the force could prove useful in fighting Anti-coalition Militia (ACM) as well. (Embassy Note: This force is similar in concept to the "Arbakai" (militia) being recruited elsewhere in Eastern Afghanistan. While efforts are underway to replace these Arbekei with auxiliary police, the immediate focus of action is on the South. End Note) Zarin has has not been in contact since the September 8 meeting, and CSTC-A informs the PRT that the MOI does not have any plans of creating a timber security force. ¶10. (C) Kunar,s Economy Director, Deputy Governor for Administration, Agriculture Director and other officials have all stated that they advised Kabul against this plan. They preferred allowing market forces to determine prices and buyers. The Provincial Administrator and a local journalist KABUL 00005008 003 OF 003 agreed that the people of Kunar generally preferred to sell the timber on the open market, not through government-appointed contractors. As the Administrator said, the contractors were &the real smugglers.8 ¶11. (C) Where is the Governor in all this? He has told us that the sale of the timber will revive Kunar,s wood industry. However, the local journalist we spoke with suggested that the new Governor is not a keen supporter of the plan but does not want to take on the Ministry of Finance. He is therefore letting the plan go forward without opposition. The Governor of Pech District, where there are large stocks of timber, said the GOA plan was unpopular in his territory. As he put it, a few will get rich, and the mass of the people will see little or no benefit from the sale of Kunar,s largest resource. He said he had pressed the Governor for a system to tax the wood as it left the province, and has not heard back. ¶12. (C) In both Naray and Pech, officials told us that about 90 parties owned the wood stockpiles, most of them Pakistani businessmen with local partners. The Finance Director said the commission had identified about one thousand timber traders in Kunar. He added that about ten of these parties were &big;8 the rest, small. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶13. (C) The GOA is attempting to capture the revenue from this substantial natural resource that might otherwise go to smugglers. Governor Deedar has commented that when the wood is smuggled out of Kunar, &90 percent of its value goes to the Taliban, and only ten percent to the GOA.8 At the same time, well-connected insiders are using the sale to enrich themselves and, in Zarin,s case, to rebuild his position as an independent armed force in the east. While the current plan would bring large amounts of money to the GOA, it would not add to provincial revenues, and would not improve the situation of the mass of Kunar residents. The perception that a few well-connected parties, and the Kabul Government, can benefit from the sale of the province,s biggest natural resource, while most Kunar residents see no change in their material conditions, creates a propoganda opportunity to those who argue that the government in Kabul works for iself rather than those in the hinterlands. ¶14. (C) There are not enough police in Kunar to secure the infiltration routes along its border with Pakistan. Border security therefore depends to a large degree on the cooperation of the tribes living along and across the frontier. By not using the timber revenue to improve infrastructure along the border nor the material well-being of border communities, the GOA is also missing a chance to improve the security of this border province. End Comment. ¶15. (C) Additional Biographic note: Governor Deedar was disqualified as a Wolesi Jirga candidate in last fall,s Parliamentary election for maintaining an illegally armed group. He was a commander in Meshrano Jirga speaker Professor Mujadedi,s National Salvation Front. End Note. NORLAND