FATA IMPLEMENTATION PLAN UPDATE 1/28/08

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 000419

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID MASS SNAR PK
SUBJECT: FATA IMPLEMENTATION PLAN UPDATE 1/28/08

REF: ISLAMABAD 00308


1. (SBU) Summary. This cable reports our weekly update of
USG activities in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal
Territories (FATA). It also gives a broad brush look at our
on-going programs in the region to show how deeply and in
what variety we are reaching into this difficult and often
hostile countryside. End Summary.


USAID FATA Program Updates
--------------


2. (U) USAID's Pakistan Mother and Newborn Health Project
initiated planning with FATA medical staff and government
officials and agreed on a detailed work plan on January 24 -

25. Participants included top officials from the FATA
Secretariat and the Director, Health and Population Welfare

SIPDIS
for FATA. Medical superintendents and obstetricians from all
proposed project locations, Khyber and Kurram agencies, along
with Peshawar and Kohat Frontier Regions, also provided input
to the plan. The project will renovate and equip labor and
delivery and surgical units in three hospitals, train
existing medical staff for vacant obstetric posts, and
provide specialist clinic days and medical camps to improve
access for pregnant women. By March the FATA Health
Directorate will identify 20 women to enroll in an 18 month
community midwifery course. An equipment needs assessment is
already underway.


3. (U) USAID/Office of Transition Initiative Senior Field
Advisor arrived at Post. OTI's FATA Transition Initiative
(FTI) held a five-day training program to orient new partner
staff to the objectives of the FTI program. FTI staff met
for the first time with the new Political Agent (PA) from
Kurram Agency at the FATA Secretariat. The PA suggested FTI
open offices in both Upper and Lower Kurram and that FTI
staff be non-local because of recent sectarian unrest.
Additionally, the PA identified points of contact for the FTI
in Parachinar (Upper Kurram) and Sadda (Lower Kurram). The
PA promised office space, accommodation and security for FTI
staff within the existing administrative set up in Kurram
Agency.


4. (U) The FTI reestablished relations with the Mohmand
Agency PA after a hiatus due to local unrest. Limited
activity took place during this reporting period because of
FTI training in Peshawar. However, FTI staff identified a
grant to restore safety and security to the central market in
Mian Mandi, a market used by six tribes in Mohmand Agency.
Its rehabilitation would provide a very visible sign of the
PA improving conditions for local residents.


5. (U) USAID is in the process of selecting contractors for
the following grant programs in Khyber Agency:
-- Community Revitalization through Flood Protection ($62,900)
-- Securing Futures through an Improved Water Control System
($66,304)
-- Community Enhancement through Modern Irrigation ($32,673)


ODRP FATA Program Updates
--------------


6. (SBU) The predeployment site-survey 8-man team for the
Frontier Corps training is on the ground. The first Border
Control Center (BCC) is now set to open on March 15, with the
second set for July. In response to a request from the
Coalition Joint Task Force (CJTF) in Afghanistan, we are
looking at four new possible BCC sites to develop this year.


NAS FATA Program Updates
--------------


7. (SBU) NAS has funded a geo-spatial mapping project that is
intended to document all the NAS projects throughout
Pakistan. USAID plans on participating in this program
shortly with the introduction of USAID's data into the system
as well. Once documented with the software, NAS will have the
ability to demonstrate visually all the roads, bridges,
micro-projects, outposts and other funding projects. By the
end of February, the newly-arrived GIS coordinator will have

ISLAMABAD 00000419 002 OF 002


a presentation on where we are and what we need to move
forward.


8. (U) The DOJ ICITAP Border Security Advisor met with the
Secretary of Law and Order, FATA Secretariat, last week to

SIPDIS
discuss the Levy training program. The Secretariat will
establish a Project Director for the PC-1 oversight of this
program. The Secretary identified the need for management and
strategic planning concepts relating to security. He agreed
to a full day of meetings this week with Levy commanders and
junior commanders to review future Levy training needs.


8. (U) The Resident Legal Advisor attended the weekly Embassy
FATA meeting and will begin a review of the judicial
situation in the NWFP and SWAT to look for areas where we can
provide assistance.

A FATA Overview
--------------


9. (SBU) When political unrest keeps FTI teams from meeting
the Political Agent in Mohmand Agency, or when six tribes
mixing in the market at Mian Mandi risk local security, the
reality of working in the FATA comes alive. Despite these
well-known difficulties, we are making inroads. The wide
range of our projects virtually guarantees that should we
encounter resistance in one area, we will have an impact in
some other. Examples: USAID funded a one year B. Ed.
program for 37 women at a Teachers College in Khyber Agency;
USAID trained hundreds of teachers, community activists, even
religious scholars in hygiene education; and 108 girls
schools and 54 communities in FATA have been provided water
and sanitation facilities with USAID funding. NAS has built
480 km of roads through the FATA, with 53 km more being
built, easing access to markets, health centers and
education. DOD programs, often outlined in these reports and
elsewhere, obviously touch on an entirely different part of
our effort to tackle extremism in the FATA. When we list
each development in these weekly reports they tend to stand
out as independent programs, but where we sit, we see them,
disparate as they are, as threads of a very coherent whole.
PATTERSON