HAZARAJAT FEELING NEGLECTED AGAIN; ACTING DAI

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000064 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR SA/FO AMBASSADOR QUINN, S/CT, SA/A NSC FOR AHARRIMAN, KAMEND CENTCOM FOR POLAD, CG CFA-A, CG CJTF-76 USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KDEM AF SUBJECT: HAZARAJAT FEELING NEGLECTED AGAIN; ACTING DAI KUNDI GOVERNOR VOICES A COMMON REFRAIN ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Acting Governor of Dai Kundi Province Ahmadullah Nawid and Hazara political activist Zulfiqar Omid were pleased on January 5 to once again voice their complaints to a USG PolOff about the lack of development attention being given to the Hazarajat region. Describing the region as united in its desire for change but overwhelmingly influenced by Iranian-backed politicians, Nawid asked that the USG consider providing additional cultural programming to counter a growing influence from Iran. Meanwhile, Omid lamented that President Karzai's administration has been plagued by corruption and lack of a clear policy since its optimistic inception in 2002. He believes that the GOA is deferring to fundamentalist religious leaders as it has throughout modern history, rather than using the Bonn process as an opportunity for positive change. Nawid and Omid are both highly educated, well-spoken, and amicable politicians, and their message echos what Hazaras have been repeating for years - that Hazara Afghans feel distinctly discriminated against by both the GOA and the international community. END SUMMARY. TWO PLEASANT MEN WITH AN UNPLEASANT MESSAGE -------------- ¶2. (U) At a January 5 meeting with PolOff and long-time political contact Zulfiqar Omid, it was the Acting Governor of Dai Kundi Province, Ahmadullah Nawid, who spoke the harshest message about continued Hazara neglect. The Hazara population of central Afghanistan, he argued, has been extremely disappointed by the lack of interest from both the Karzai government and the international community (IC) in furthering the goals of development in the Hazarajat region. As in all of Afghanistan, however, Nawid believes that the Hazaras are united in two thoughts: (1) the region is dominated by Iranian money and politicians who are eager to divide the country; and (2) Hazaras desire change and are eager to work together to bring peace. Nawid's purpose in explaining this thought process was revealed by his final point - that the US should consider delivering more cultural, political, and developmental assistance to the Hazarajat region as a means of countering growing Iranian influence. 
¶3. (U) Zulfiqar Omid, meanwhile, took a slightly different tack, focusing his comments on his general disappointment with the Karzai administration rather than its neglect of the Hazara people. To him, the Bonn process provided an opportunity to unite the country, but instead the people have grown disaffected by corruption and the lack of clear policies coming from Karzai's palace. Omid believes that, rather than taking advantage of the Bonn opportunity, President Karzai is doing what decades of Afghan leaders have done before him by deferring to fundamentalist religious leaders like Sayyaf and Rabbani, either because: (a) he is afraid of them; (b) he feels a tribal affiliation with them; or (c) because he is secretly a fundamentalist himself. By marginalizing the educated elites as he is doing now, Omid believes, Karzai will only continue the cycle of corruption and dysfunction within the government. COMMENT -------------- ¶4. (SBU) While opinions differ on the reality of the oft-lamented Hazara persecution in Afghanistan, the fact remains that the "Hazara neglect" message has been a common refrain here since shortly after 9/11. As such, Nawid's comments mirror what Hazara leaders - from Bamiyan Governor Sorabi to Kabul MP Haji Mohammad Mohaqqeq - have lamented for years about the lack of attention by the IC to Hazara-dominated provinces. This feeling of persecution is so ingrained among Hazara interlocutors that it is likely that no amount of additional development aid will ever completely mollify the population. That said, however, Nawid's point about growing Iranian influence is worth exploring further. If what he says is true - and it likely is - then an overwhelming Iranian influence in the near term could indeed have a negative effect on US goals in the central region in the long term. BIO INFORMATION - Zulfiqar Omid -------------- ¶5. (U) A good friend of several Embassy PolOffs over the past three years, Omid is the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the head of his own NGO foundation, which is currently working to assist women and children in the Hazarajat region under a grant from the government of the Netherlands. Omid claims that he lost the race for Parliament in Dai Kundi because the three male winners were backed by Iranian money. (NOTE: Omid was the fourth-highest male vote-getter in a province with three male seats. END NOTE.) That said, his smiling eyes, bubbling laughter, and mastery of English make him an easy conversationalist and an ideal representative of the Hazara people who continues to voice the Hazara cause in an educated manner to anyone in Kabul who cares to listen. NEUMANN