PANJSHIR GOVERNOR OUT ON THE HUSTINGS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000623 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO DAS CAMP, SCA/A STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG NSC FOR JWOOD OSD FOR SHIVERS CENTCOM FOR CG CSTC-A, CG CJTF-82 POLAD SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: MCAP MOPS PREL PGOV PTER PHUM AF SUBJECT: PANJSHIR GOVERNOR OUT ON THE HUSTINGS ¶1. (U) Summary: Panjshir Governor Bahlul visited Panjshir's districts to hear directly from citizens in an open "town meeting" format. These sessions are examples of accountability in governance and reveal grass-roots concerns. DISTRICT-BY-DISTRICT "TOWN MEETINGS" -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In late 2007 Governor Haji Bahlul Bahij discussed the idea of holding a "state of the province" meeting. To this end, the Governor decided on a series of town meetings, timed to coincide with the end of the Afghan solar year (March 20),to be followed up by a general session perhaps in the form of an augmented Provincial Development Council meeting. ¶3. (U) At venues across the province, the meetings drew standing-room-only crowds for sessions, which typically lasted 4-5 hours each. On each occasion, the Governor began with a straightforward declaration of what has been accomplished and what is planned, and then opened the floor to comments from participants. ¶4. (SBU) At each meeting the Governor was flanked by the newly elected Chairman of the Provincial Council (PC). This closeness provides hope for a better working relationship than has been the case with the previous PC chairman. Following his remarks, the Governor turned the podium to the district manager to provide a summary of completed and ongoing projects. Key line directors (e.g. Rural Rehabilitation and Development, Economy, Agriculture, and Education) gave similar summaries. Line directors received the toughest questions from the participants. ¶5. (SBU) Attendees generally thanked the PRT for its work, although attendees were quick to raise projects that the PRT had either not agreed to or had not considered. These were often small or located in extremely remote parts of the province. Another common question concerned the PRT's contracting methodology, which required that the PRT defend its "best-value decision matrix" for selecting contractors. COMMON THEMES -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Agriculture: This is a weak line directorate in Panjshir. (The previous line director fled the province under suspicion of embezzlement and is in hiding.) The Ministry of Agriculture has not yet named a replacement, and the deputy line director was often overwhelmed in the face of complaints from the audiences. The Governor repeatedly shifted the blame to Kabul for not yet finding a replacement. The Minister himself, according to Governor Bahlul, is an "American businessman" more interested in his business interests than agriculture in Afghanistan. ¶7. (SBU) Economy: The economic line director, who comes closer than any other Panjshir official to filling the role of overall planning coordinator, would then brief on both economic priorities and the "Good Performer" funds for Panjshir. In this vein, the Governor reiterated his displeasure that the good-performer money has been stuck in Kabul. He also described how he and other governors made a successful plea at the highest levels in Kabul to prevent the entire counter-narcotics budget from going solely to poppy-growing provinces. Whether true or not, the implication left with the audience was that the "good performers" had to fight to get their reward. ¶8. (SBU) Education: The line director for education provided information about schools built and schools under construction, as well as curricula, teacher shortages, teacher training, and NGO contributions in kind (food, furniture, computers). Several asked about the inability to attract enough trained teachers. The line director acknowledged this reality, saying it was true all over Afghanistan. Religious leaders made standard appeals for more madrassas in Panjshir - which drew polite if unenthusiastic support from the audience. ¶9. (SBU) Health: The generally competent line director for the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) was taken to task by many citizens. Complaints focused on poor staffing, as well as the physical KABUL 00000623 002 OF 002 condition and open hours of health care resources. Others complained that an Italian NGO involved in providing medical services was insensitive to local concerns regarding the treatment of women. The Governor issued a sharp warning in response, telling his listeners that the NGO "knows what they're doing. And if we try to stop them from doing their duties they will stop the service and run the hospital somewhere else." Panjshir will likely continue for some time with a hybrid public-health facility arrangement, with some of its clinics (24 in total) run by the MoPH while the Italian NGO "Emergency" runs others. ¶10. (U) Immigration and Returnees: The line director said that 6,700 people who left Panjshir have returned. Noting that Panjshir has "more mountains than land," he has requested other provinces to help with Panjshiri returnees. There are 3,000 plots of land in Parwan province and 2,000 plots in Kapisa province that are available to Panjshir returnees. For next year, Baghlan (3,000 plots),Balkh (2,000 plots),Kunduz (2,000 plots) and Herat (2,000 plots) will also accept applications. ¶11. (SBU) MRRD: This line director faced a tough task as he attempted to explain both what projects have been undertaken by the National Solidarity Program and the GIRoA, and why it takes so long for their completion. Unfortunately, his explanations tended to fly over the heads of his listeners. He also took criticism from fellow line directors, such as the Education line director who criticized the slow pace of school construction overseen by MRRD. PROBLEMS WITH HASHISH AND FRUSTRATIONS WITH KABUL -------------- -------------- ¶12. (SBU) In one of the recent meetings, the Governor offered up his diagnosis of the three threats facing the extension of governance: terrorism, narcotics, and corruption. The view from Panjshir is that these three factors are largely absent in the province. The recent town-meetings did offer an occasional myth-puncturing episode. Particularly in Khenj district when the discussion turned to hashish cultivation, with at least one participant asserting that hashish accounts for up to fifty percent of the district's agricultural output. (The PRT believes this figure is greatly exaggerated.) Others called for the eradication of hashish fields, but the Khenj district chief of police said his men would not do so for fear of being shot by landowners. ¶13. (SBU) Throughout his meetings the governor expressed his frustration at the lack of control over the quality and quantity of Kabul's interaction with the province. He complained about the unqualified administrators sent to Panjshir by the central authorities. Although he might prefer, as any provincial governor would, to control these appointments himself, he has urged for greater responsiveness on the part of the Kabul ministries. His sway with the ministries is less than he would wish, and he has been unsuccessful at persuading ministers to visit. In the past year, only Education Minister Atmar has traveled to Panjshir. This may, in part, be that unlike other governors Bahlul rarely leaves Panjshir for Kabul (he asserts that he is too poor to travel often and cannot spend time in the capital waiting in lobbies for appointments with ministers). Regardless of the reason his lack of interaction with the central government likely contributes to Panjshir's perceived lack of attention from Kabul. WOOD