Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09CANBERRA283
2009-03-23 06:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Canberra
Cable title:
CONTENTIOUS PAST FOR AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
how-toVZCZCXRO6659 PP RUEHDBU RUEHPW DE RUEHBY #0283 0820604 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 230604Z MAR 09 FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1241 INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE PRIORITY 6156 RUEHBAD/AMCONSUL PERTH PRIORITY 4419 RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY PRIORITY 4372
C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 000283
SIPDIS
NOFORN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL AS
SUBJECT: CONTENTIOUS PAST FOR AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
FROM MELBOURNE
REF: 2009 CANBERRA 278
Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor John W. Crowley for reasons 1
.4(b)(d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 000283
SIPDIS
NOFORN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL AS
SUBJECT: CONTENTIOUS PAST FOR AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
FROM MELBOURNE
REF: 2009 CANBERRA 278
Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor John W. Crowley for reasons 1
.4(b)(d)
1. (SBU) Additional information has emerged regarding Abdul
Khaliq Fazal, an Afghan Presidential candidate from
Melbourne, Australia that may raise questions about his
viability. In a 2002 interview with Fazal, then the Minister
of Public Works for Afghanistan, a reporter from the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) challenged Fazal's
credentials. ABC investigations showed that Fazal had taken
the title of Dr., although no such title had been conferred
by an institution of higher learning. Moreover, a Victorian
court found Fazal guilty of selling counterfeit Reebok
footwear. During the confrontational interview, Fazal
focused his responses on ABC's attempts to discredit him as
insulting to him and the Government of Afghanistan. He
further denied allegations of having been an anti-monarchist
or a spokesman for the Taliban. ABC presented 1979
documentation from a socialist newspaper alleged to have been
authored by Fazal in support of its case. Fazal denied the
alleged copyright infringements with Reebok, although the ABC
interviewer stated that the court had ordered Fazal's company
to pay Reebok costs related to the claim.
2. (C/NF) Daoud Yaqub, a Research Scholar in the Centre for
Arab and Islamic Studies at Australian National University
and previously Executive Director of the Afghanistan
Foundation, advised Embassy that Fazal was a senior figure in
the Afghan Communist Party in the 1980's and reinvented
himself in the 1990's as a cousin of Mullah Wakil Ahmed
Muttawakil, the Taliban Foreign Minister. Yaqub explained
that through Fazal's liaison with Mullah Muttawakil in
efforts to link the Mullah with the former King's group, he
became a Minister with the Afghan Government. Subsequently,
according to Yaqub, Fazal has been successively demoted in
his government roles. Yaqub suggested that Fazal's candidacy
stems less from a genuine belief that he will be elected than
from hope that a new government will name him Minister.
Yaqub assesses Fazal's chances of securing a ministerial post
as slim, noting that Fazal has "discredited himself to many
consitutuencies".
RICHE
SIPDIS
NOFORN
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL AS
SUBJECT: CONTENTIOUS PAST FOR AFGHAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
FROM MELBOURNE
REF: 2009 CANBERRA 278
Classified By: Deputy Political Counselor John W. Crowley for reasons 1
.4(b)(d)
1. (SBU) Additional information has emerged regarding Abdul
Khaliq Fazal, an Afghan Presidential candidate from
Melbourne, Australia that may raise questions about his
viability. In a 2002 interview with Fazal, then the Minister
of Public Works for Afghanistan, a reporter from the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) challenged Fazal's
credentials. ABC investigations showed that Fazal had taken
the title of Dr., although no such title had been conferred
by an institution of higher learning. Moreover, a Victorian
court found Fazal guilty of selling counterfeit Reebok
footwear. During the confrontational interview, Fazal
focused his responses on ABC's attempts to discredit him as
insulting to him and the Government of Afghanistan. He
further denied allegations of having been an anti-monarchist
or a spokesman for the Taliban. ABC presented 1979
documentation from a socialist newspaper alleged to have been
authored by Fazal in support of its case. Fazal denied the
alleged copyright infringements with Reebok, although the ABC
interviewer stated that the court had ordered Fazal's company
to pay Reebok costs related to the claim.
2. (C/NF) Daoud Yaqub, a Research Scholar in the Centre for
Arab and Islamic Studies at Australian National University
and previously Executive Director of the Afghanistan
Foundation, advised Embassy that Fazal was a senior figure in
the Afghan Communist Party in the 1980's and reinvented
himself in the 1990's as a cousin of Mullah Wakil Ahmed
Muttawakil, the Taliban Foreign Minister. Yaqub explained
that through Fazal's liaison with Mullah Muttawakil in
efforts to link the Mullah with the former King's group, he
became a Minister with the Afghan Government. Subsequently,
according to Yaqub, Fazal has been successively demoted in
his government roles. Yaqub suggested that Fazal's candidacy
stems less from a genuine belief that he will be elected than
from hope that a new government will name him Minister.
Yaqub assesses Fazal's chances of securing a ministerial post
as slim, noting that Fazal has "discredited himself to many
consitutuencies".
RICHE