PRT MEHTARLAM: LAGHMAN PROVINCE SIX MONTH

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 002723 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, S/CRS STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG NSC FOR AHARRIMAN OSD FOR SHIVERS CG CJTF-82, POLAD, JICCENT E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/04/2017 TAGS: EAID KDEM PGOV AF SUBJECT: PRT MEHTARLAM: LAGHMAN PROVINCE SIX MONTH ASSESSMENT REF: A. KABUL 1036 ¶B. KABUL 1057 ¶C. KABUL 1569 Classified By: PolCounselor SRosenberry for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) Governance capacity improved in Laghman province, which also saw progress in reconstruction during the last six months. Taliban and HiG insurgents continued low-level operations in remote areas, but IEDs were the main threat to ISAF and IROA forces. Afghan security force training is on track, and the Afghan National Police (ANP) conducted a vigorous poppy eradication campaign, but both the PRT and Governor Gulab Mangal question the ANP provincial comander's dedication to the security mission. Governor Mangal provides strong leadership and works skillfully with an active Provincial Council and Provincial Development committee. Despite record wheat production, Laghman's agrarian economy continues to need infrastructure development. The Governor relies largely on PRT and USAID-supported infrastructure, education, and media projects to increase opportunities and help the province overcome its isolation. END SUMMARY. SECURITY: IED THREAT INCREASES FOLLOWING DOWNTURN -------------- -------------- ¶2. (S) The IED threat increased significantly in Laghman Province after a drop-off in attacks during the first three months of 2007. In April, the first suicide bomber attack in Laghman was conducted against the ANA side of the PRT compound (ref B). In May, IED incidents spiked to 13 and included three attacks against ANSF forces. Eight NDS officials were killed. Attacks declined by the end of July but not before an attack on an ISAF convoy that resulted in the death of a U.S. soldier from the PRT. The majority of incidents occurred near Mehtarlam city. Governor Mangal expressed concern that ANP patrols and checkpoints are not sufficiently aggressive in countering the threat. PRT intelligence analysis assesses that the goal of the IED campaign is to both discourage ISAF forces from patrolling while also inflicting ANSF casualties. IED cells responsible for the attacks are likely associated with Taliban and the Hezb-I Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) insurgents with most of the financing coming from the Taliban via outside sources. Beyond the IED threat, insurgents associated loosely with the Taliban and HIG conducted low-level operations primarily in Dawlat Shah district and the river valleys located in upper Alishang and Alingar districts. ¶3. (SBU) ANA and ANP forces are steadily improving their capabilities, but training and equipment shortages continue to hamper their effectiveness. The PRT expanded its police training program in order to instruct all regular ANP officers, by next spring. Laghman has received its full allotment of 110 ANAP officers and all will receive required sustainment training. After halting attempts during the spring, Laghman established a functioning provincial communications center (PCC) that is improving ANSF ability to react to security incidents reported by the population. COMMITTED POPPY ERADICATION CAMPAIGN -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Strong leadership from Governor Mangal has contributed to a vigorous poppy eradication campaign. Mangal and the ANP pressed hard to eliminate all poppy cultivation, and UN observers verified 976 hectares of eradication. Laghman could make even greater strides if the ANP and ANA coordinate to provide greater force protection on eradication missions facing long range, high power attacks (ref C). (COMMENT: Governor Mangal deserves credit for making poppy elimination a priority this year, supporting a comprehensive eradication campaign with the express goal of making his province poppy-free. Based on survey data in the Spring, KABUL 00002723 002 OF 003 UNODC predicted that cultivation in Laghman this year would increase. Whether or not Mangal achieves poppy-free status, he has set a strong foundation for getting to zero soon. END COMMENT.) AFGHAN ARMY AND POLICE SHOWING SOME PROGRESS -------------- ¶5. (C) Despite improvements in ANP force size and capacity due to strong recruiting and training efforts, Chief of Police General Abdul Kariem Omaryar has not been able to translate these improved capabilities into improved security. The ANP are responsive when the PRT requests escorts for convoy movements or to provide security for village shuras. Governor Mangal told the PRT he has recommended the removal of General Omaryar because Omaryar ignores more fundamental security challenges. Mangal claims Omaryar is more focused on building political ties with former mujahadeen associates than on combating corruption and ensuring that his forces are patrolling adequately. ANP complicity in recent security incidents supports Governor Mangal's contention that Omaryar does not have sufficient control over his operation. POLITICAL: GOVERNOR LEADS ON GOOD GOVERNANCE -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Governor Mangal provides strong leadership and is an effective bridge to the international community. He consults ANSF commanders, ministerial provincial directors, district sub-governors, and village about provincial priorities. The nine-member provincial council meets weekly with the governor and provides him with advice on disposition of land disputes and other sensitive political matters. The PDC meets regularly, is well-attended, coordinates closely with the PRT, and is rated by UNAMA as the most effective in the eastern region. The PDC has established developmental priorities focused on road and agricultural infrastructure that will assist CERP, USAID, and other donors in providing reconstruction funding. District level government has completed most of the work required to finalize the PDP by the end of August 2008. ¶7. (SBU) Apart from Governor Mangal's efforts, governing capacity in Laghman remains low. Few senior line ministry officials have management skills, including computer literacy. Laghman's governing institutions are characterized by low capacity, ambiguity over the responsibilities of and relationships between different institutions and levels of government, lack of formal rules and procedures, and inadequate pay scales for attracting qualified staff and weak ties with communities. USAID has several programs in place to address these deficiencies, but progress is slow. ECONOMIC: AGRICULTURE SUCCESS HIGHLIGHTS NEED FOR INFRASTRUCTURE RECONSTRUCTION -------------- -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Laghman's economy remains driven by agricultural production. The province led the country in wheat production per hectare during the last year and is a major vegetable producer. However, almost half the population is unemployed, and another twenty percent work in Pakistan or Iran. The economy relies on a few agricultural sub-sectors, including poppy cultivation, and lacks infrastructure, access to markets, and business services. ¶9. (SBU) USAID is providing substantial funding (about USD 7 million in 2007) to support provincial reconstruction goals under the Alternative Development Program (ADP) and Local Governance and Community Development (LGCD) programs. USAID repaired 29 kilometers of rural roads, improving access to markets. USAID programs have also rehabilitated over 25 percent of Laghman's irrigation and drainage canals and flood protection walls, improving irrigation to over half of the province's agricultural land. USAID's ADP and LGCD initiatives have provided USD 2.7 million in wages to 12,000 people in exchange for 750,000 days of labor. KABUL 00002723 003 OF 003 ¶10. (SBU) New business services are also being established. USAID's Agriculture, Rural Investment and Enterprise Strengthening (ARIES) opened a credit union in the provincial capital this summer -- the province's first formal lending institution. Public and private capacity for operating in a competitive and transparent economy is also improving. Under ADP, more than 27,000 farmers in targeted poppy areas have been trained in agricultural practices and nearly 40,000 farmed have received improved seed and fertilizer. An additional 1,000 have received business skills training under ADP. ¶11. (SBU) PRT CERP projects emphasize support for roads and bridges, the power grid, and water infrastructure. In 2007, the PRT has spent nearly USD 3.2 million in CERP funds, primarily to repair washouts from spring flooding on the Alishang valley road, and is planning a USD 16 million reconstruction of this road in concert with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers -- Laghman's top development priority. ¶12. (SBU) Access to electricity continues to improve slowly. The PRT has made initial efforts to reconstruct the Mehtarlam power grid. In April 2007, the PRT supervised the completion of an electricity distribution network that provides 800 homes with power. In addition to the city system, about 100 micro-hydro plants (MHP) built with funding from the PRT, the NSP program, or individual communities, supply power to rural areas. The PRT supervised the installation of two new MHP systems in Alishang district in May. SUMMER BRINGS POSSIBLE SURGE IN RETURNEES -------------- ¶13. (SBU) UNHCR states that 17,300 persons have returned to Laghman since the beginning of 2007, driven by the recent closure of Kachigari refugee camp in Peshawar and the proposed closing of Jalozai Camp. The PDC made plans for the returnees to return to their families in Laghman, and there has been no need for temporary camps thus far. UNHCR predicts that about nine percent of the families in the Jalozai refugee camp in Pakistan, closing at the end of August 2007, have Laghman family connections, but it is still too early to predict how many will try to return to the province. CULTURAL/SOCIAL: LITTLE CHANGE, BUT NOT OPPRESSIVE -------------- -------------- ¶14. (U) The vast majority of Laghman,s population is rural, conservative and Pashtun, although there are also significant numbers of Pashai and Tajik. Tribal disputes are not a major source of conflict. Conditions for women are not oppressive, but provincial government interest in promoting women's issues remains a low priority. The Director of Women's Affairs lacks capacity to plan and organize projects, and relies on the PRT and USAID for assistance. Girls attend school in segregated classes. The graduation of 21 girls from the 12th grade this spring, while low, is the highest number recorded in Laghman since the fall of the Taliban. ¶15. (SBU) The population receives news almost exclusively through radio versus television or print media. While plans to expand radio coverage through a USD 420,000 PRT CERP project were delayed through the spring and early summer, Laghman now has two radio stations (one state-owned, one independent). New repeater stations will extend coverage to upper Alishang and Dawlat Shah Districts by the end of August ¶2007. WOOD