Identifier | Created | Classification | Origin |
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08ISLAMABAD419 | 2008-01-29 12:52:00 | UNCLASSIFIED | Embassy Islamabad |
VZCZCXRO3886 PP RUEHLH RUEHPW DE RUEHIL #0419/01 0291252 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 291252Z JAN 08 FM AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4709 INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 8093 RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2714 RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 8768 RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 4682 RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 3358 RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 3549 RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL |
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 000419 |
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 |