PRT JALALABAD: WHAT NEXT FOR POPPY ERADICATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001356 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/FO DAS GASTRIGHT, SCA/A, S/CRS, SA/PB, S/CT, EUR/RPM STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG NSC FOR AHARRIMAN OSD FOR SHIVERS CENTCOM FOR CG CJTF-82, POLAD, JICCENT REL NATO/ISAF E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER ASEC MARR AF SNAR KCRM SUBJECT: PRT JALALABAD: WHAT NEXT FOR POPPY ERADICATION -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Nangahar Governor Sherzai shared his plans for the future with officials from the PRT at a lunch on April 18, including what to do with so much poppy in the province. Sharzai indicated he will fire officials who do not support his eradication campaign and complained that even members of the Provincial Shura and Parliament had themselves planted poppy. Sherzai wants tougher punishment for those who grow poppy next year and spraying of fields. He has plans to continue the fight against the drug mafia, demonstrated in the very public destruction of illegal drugs that day. The Director of Religious Affairs met with PRT officials later in the week and debunked some of the justifications for growing poppy. He believes that the governor should use the mullahs more next year to drive home the message that growing poppy is wrong. END SUMMARY -------------- Sherzai Discusses Future -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Nangarhar Governor Gul Agha Sherzai warmly welcomed members of the new PRT team to the Palace on April 18, providing lunch to all soldiers and civilians in the convoy. He discussed a number of issues, including what to do in the face of the large amount of poppy that was grown this year in Nangarhar, in spite of his aggressive anti-poppy campaign. He declared his intent to fire more line directors and three more subgovernors who have not been supportive of the poppy eradication campaign. He specifically mentioned the Director of the Disabled and Martyrs and the Sherzad Subgovernor. ¶3. (SBU) The Governor complained that all but five members of the Provincial Shura and two Members of Parliament from Nangarhar planted poppy this year. While he has no authority over them, Sherzai will discuss the matter with President Karzai. In a departure from his earlier public opposition to spraying (he has always privately maintained his support for spraying with Embassy contacts and pushed the issue with the Ministry of Interior),Sherzai advocated that next year the President and Parliament pass a law sentencing poppy growers to one year in jail and that their fields should be sprayed. Without tougher measures, he said, poppy production would continue to increase. ¶4. (SBU) PRT Officials noted the CNN interview by the Governor's Special Assistant Masood Azizi earlier in the week and complimented his articulate remarks debunking the justifications people made for growing poppy. The Governor proudly pointed to Nangarhar as being number one in poppy eradication and further noted that he had a plan to fight the drug mafia. (Note: UNODC's latest report of verified eradication indicated that Nangarhar's 1467 hectares of eradication is second among governor-led efforts, trailing Kandahar's 7273 hectares. UNODC has informed Embassy that there is a back-log of unprocessed eradication records from Nangarhar due to the province's recent intensive activity. Verified eradication figures for the province should climb sharply over the upcoming two weeks. End Note). Sherzai said that he would locate the drug labs and start confiscating the drugs. Masood appeared later and told the group that he was on his way to burn seized drugs and that the international news media including CNN would witness the destruction. (Press reports appeared the following day saying that Nangarhar police had destroyed four tons of narcotics outside of Jalalabad, and the lead of the Day in Photos on BBC's website showed the group pouring "petrol over a haul of heroin".) KABUL 00001356 002 OF 002 -------------- Sajid Shares Thoughts on Growing Poppy -------------- ¶5. (SBU) On April 19, PRT officials met Asadullah Sajid, Nangarhar Director of Religious Affairs, and discussed the many justifications people offered for growing poppy. While Sajid confirmed there was flexibility in Islam -- that, for example, a person who was starving could eat food that was normally forbidden if that was all that was available, he debunked the idea that this argument could be used in the case of most poppy growers who had alternatives to support themselves, especially those with irrigated lands suitable for other crops. ¶6. (SBU) PRT officials asked why he thought there were such dramatic differences in the amount of poppy being grown in different districts. Even the newly arrived soldiers at the PRT were surprise at the difference between the Kama and Goshta districts on a mission earlier in the week. Kama is covered in wheat fields ready for harvest while Goshta is covered in poppy. Sajid attributed this to several factors, including the fact that people in Kama tended to be more educated and had a long history of supporting the government. Similar to the Governor's comments, he said that Members of Parliament and the Provincial Council from the Goshta district, in contrast, had planted poppy on their own land and probably encouraged others to do so as well. ¶7. (SBU) Sajid thought the Governor needed to stress the idea that growing poppy was wrong and use the mullahs to express this more. He also supported the idea of giving aid to those who did not grow poppy, since many people who did not grow poppy last year ended up growing it this year. He noted that districts that grew poppy still received development projects and international aid. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The Governor is disappointed at the large amount of poppy throughout the province, clearly identifiable by the bright red and white flowers covering the fields in some districts. Early unofficial reports from UNODC suggest that Nangarhar may top 10,000 hectares of cultivation unless Governor Sherzai continues his recent pace of strong eradication. The Governor now knows and accepts that he cannot fulfill his earlier, and frequent, promises to make Nangarhar poppy-free this year, but it is clear that he is not backing down from his aggressive counter-narcotics stance that has been evident over the past six months. It was encouraging to hear that he has not given up and recognizes he must now turn his attention to law enforcement operations targeting the upcoming harvest, concentrating on those who will be processing and selling the drugs. The PRT has heard many officials declare that the fight will be over once the poppy is harvested; however, Governor Sherzai, we suspect, will not be one of those who will walk away from this fight. ¶9. (SBU) (Comment cont.) The Governor announced his intent to fire 15 district subgovernors in a meeting with PRT officials on April 4. So far he has only fired three, from Rodat, Surk Rod, and Hisarek. If he does fire the Sherzad subgovernor as he announced on April 19, Rodat will be the only one included in his list of five districts growing 90 percent of the poppy ) Rodat, Chaparhar, Bati Kot, Shinwar, and Kot. WOOD