PRT ASADABAD - ATTORNEY GENERAL BRINGS GOVERNMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 005877 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/FO DAS GASTRIGHT, SCA/A STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG NSC FOR AHARRIMAN OSD FOR KIMMIT CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A. CG CJTF-76 POLAD E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/08/2016 TAGS: PGOV EAID PHUM SOCI AF SUBJECT: PRT ASADABAD - ATTORNEY GENERAL BRINGS GOVERNMENT TO THE PEOPLE, SIGNALS POSSIBLE END OF KUNAR TIMBER BUY UP REF: KABUL 5008 Classified By: A/Political Counselor for reasons 1.4 (B) AND (D) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Attorney General Sabit visited Asadabad November 27 to December 1, investigating corruption and receiving petitions from the general populace. He said he would focus on administrative corruption, land disputes, and timber smuggling. While he ordered a few provincial officials to be arrested for corruption, he apparently did not go after the Governor and his staff, or the Chief of Police. Potentially the most significant result of the visit, the Attorney General denounced the GOA?s buy-up plan for Kunar?s massive timber stocks as illegal, and said he would urge the President to halt it. End Summary. -------------- AG Causes Alarm -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The Attorney General arrived on November 27 from Jalalabad. He was accompanied by about a dozen assistants, and a similar number of bodyguards. He set up shop in the Governor?s compound in central Asadabad, and began calling in many provincial officials and district Governors for interviews. His security detail was very alert and suspicious, based on our encounter with them when visiting the Governor?s compound. ¶3. (SBU) Prior to his arrival, Kunar radio hosted a call-in program, in which Kunaris discussed their expectations for Sabit?s visit. Accusations of official corruption were aired on the radio, including that the Governor?s Chief of Staff demanded bribes from NGOs to allow them to operate schools. The Chief of Staff, Ahmed Mukhtar Ajmal, told the PRT that ?we are frightened? by the Attorney General?s presence, and that the Attorney General was generally displeased with the level of support he received from the Governor?s office. Governor Deedar was in Kabul when Sabit arrived; he returned to Asadabad the next day. In the meantime, several of our meetings with provincial officials, including police chiefs, ministry representatives, District Governors, and the deputy Governor of the province, were delayed or cancelled as they were fully occupied by the Attorney General. In short, the place seemed to shut down. After interviewing provincial officials, Mr. Sabit proceeded to receive some 750 local petitioners. Some cases he referred to local shuras for informal resolution. Others he referred to his staff for further investigation. ¶4. (C) The tension in the Governor?s office, and the allegations aired on the radio, led to some expectations that Governor Deedar was in trouble. One provincial official told us that he thought the Attorney General was in Asadabad ?to fire Deedar.? He criticized Deedar for lack of attention to governance, saying that Deedar was not interested in the less glamorous aspects of governing the province, such as economic development planning and administrative matters. When we asked what the provincial official thought of the Chief of Police, about whom there are many allegations of corruption, he said ?if the Governor is fired, his police chief should go too.? But he also recounted a rumor he had heard, that the Attorney General would not go after the Governor himself, because the two were ?from the same village and tribe.? (Note: We cannot corroborate this KABUL 00005877 002 OF 003 relationship, and their bios indicate they are from different provinces and different Pashtun clans.) Another official also criticized Governor Deedar, saying that he did not think seriously about Kunar?s economic development needs. ?He was probably a good mujahiddin commander, but...?. ¶5. (SBU) However, it does not appear that the Attorney General went after the Governor or his immediate staff. Early in the visit he announced the arrest of eight low-level timber smugglers. At a press conference at the end of his visit, Sabit said that he had ordered the arrest of former Asadabad Mayor Haji Khan Jan (for skimming city revenues while Mayor) and the local director of Hajj and Mosques, on undisclosed charges. He also ordered the arrest of two provincial prosecutors. In a meeting on November 29, Governor Deedar told us he was happy that the Attorney General was in town, as it allowed the Governor to dismiss some bad personnel, without blame and resentment falling on him. -------------- Stop That Timber Plan -------------- ¶6. (SBU) This is not to say that the Attorney General avoided the Governor?s interests. Reportedly many of the petitions he received concerned the GOA?s plan to buy up Kunar?s large timber stocks (reftel). Sabit declared at his press conference that the GOA?s plan, which allows only three privileged contractors to buy billions of Afghanis worth of timber at below- market rates, was ?unfair, unjust, against the principles of a free market, and against the constitution.? He said he would urge the President to cancel this contract, and accused one of the three contractors, Kunar warlord Haji Jon Dod, of smuggling timber in addition to his contracted activity. Governor Deedar is known to be close to Haji Jon Dod and to the other major warlord- contractor, Malik Zarin. No arrest warrant was issued for Jon Dod. ¶7. (SBU) Nor were the activities of the USG off the Attorney General?s radar screen. Sabit promised to look into complaints about the U.S.-funded Jalalabad to Asmar Road. The road is eight meters wide up to Asadabad, and six meters wide from Asadabad north to Asmar. This difference is planned, and is based on traffic flow. However some provincial administrators in Asadabad have alleged that the difference in width is a violation of the contract for the road, and represents some sort of corruption. USAID and the road contractor have consulted on this issue, and are in agreement that the contract is being fulfilled. The Attorney General, by examining this issue, may reduce the hot air coming from the provincial administration over this. ¶8. (SBU )Overall, the Attorney General characterized the level of official corruption in Kunar as lower than the Afghan average. He commented that the administrations of Kunar and Nangarhar had been helpful to him, and he urged the populace not to offer bribes to anyone. -------------- Comment: Helpful, But Not a Revolution -------------- ¶9. (C) Mr. Sabit?s visit probably served to improve the reputation of the central government in Kunar, as it was a highly visible example of government service for the people. The pronouncement about the timber buy plan is particularly important for demonstrating government responsiveness to the public, as this plan KABUL 00005877 003 OF 003 is widely unpopular and is seen (correctly) to benefit a few local warlords at the expense of many small wood traders. It remains to be seen whether the Attorney General will really force rescission of the timber plan. End Comment. NEUMANN