PRT ASADABAD - ATTORNEY GENERAL BRINGS GOVERNMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 005877

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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)

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Summary
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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.

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AG Causes Alarm
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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

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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.

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Stop That Timber Plan
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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.

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Comment: Helpful, But Not a Revolution
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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

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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