AFGHAN FRAUD SUMMARY

UNCLAS KABUL 001209 SIPDIS E.O. 12958 N/A TAGS: CMGT CASC CFED CJAN CPAS CVIS AF SUBJECT: AFGHAN FRAUD SUMMARY ¶1. Afghanistan has suffered three decades of civil war and unrest. It lacks good road, water, or power systems. International efforts to help rebuild the country are hampered by insurgent attacks, mountainous and difficult terrain, the lack of ingrained government institutions, and the absence of a large, educated workforce. A majority of both men and women are illiterate. There appears to be little document integrity, both because corruption is an enormous problem and because the Government of Afghanistan does not yet have dependable system to produce reliable documents. Many Afghans are born at home; there is no reliable civil registry of births and no cultural emphasis on precise, repeated use of personal data. ¶2. Islamic "Sharia" law governs most social law, including marriage, divorce, inheritance, and adoption, and civil institutions operate within this framework. To provide an example, the consular section has learned of a single- national American citizen (i.e. not Afghan-American) who obtained an Afghan refugee document. Similarly, the consular section knows of a local employee whose Embassy personnel records list one date of birth while his Afghan passport lists another. This FSN has decided to get his passport changed, since he thinks it will be easier than getting his Embassy records corrected, and he is not at all disturbed if his official documents do not reflect his true date of birth. -------------- NIV FRAUD -------------- ¶3. Post expanded beyond A and G visas and began additionally issuing B1/B2, J, F, and C visas in February 2009. The vast majority of applicants are very unsophisticated and do not appear to attempt fraud. Instead, they freely admit to the officer that they have little or no ties to Afghanistan. While significant instances of fraud have not yet been detected, one cause of concern is that visa applicants frequently present passports in which their names are spelled differently, or only some of their names are included, or where their date of birth recorded differently from a previous passport or other records. They shrug when confronted with the disparity, and often claim that it is too troublesome to try to get the government to provide them with an accurate passport. Some false documents have been detected that were purported to be evidence of contracts with the US military, a significant source of money in this country. -------------- 
IV FRAUD -------------- ¶4. Post does not adjudicate IVs. -------------- DV FRAUD -------------- ¶5. Post does not process diversity visas, but does provide public information about the DV and warns Afghans not to be duped by scams. -------------- ACS AND PASSPORT FRAUD -------------- ¶6. Adoption is not legal in Afghanistan, although guardianship is permitted in some cases. The Consular Section has occasionally encountered American citizens trying to pass off as their own child a baby born to other parents. -------------- ADOPTION FRAUD -------------- ¶7. Adoption is not legal in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has no provisions for international adoptions but the Government of Afghanistan has indicated some support for guardianship on a case-by-case basis. Consular is working with the GoA to establish guidelines for the acceptance of guardianship cases. A proven guardianship, as defined by Afghan law, has been determined by Consular Affairs to be grounds for adoption by an American parent. Adoption cases are currently handled out of Embassy New Delhi. -------------- USE OF DNA TESTING -------------- ¶8. DNA testing is not available in Afghanistan. The possibility of relationship fraud exists through the culturally accepted practice of polygamy in Afghanistan. -------------- ASYLUM AND OTHER DHS BENEFITS FRAUD -------------- ¶9. Not applicable. -------------- ALIEN SMUGGLING, TRAFFICKING, ORGANIZED CRIME, TERRORIST TRAVEL -------------- ¶10. Post has not seen evidence of fraud to support nefarious travel. Counterfeiting and fraudulent document production is remedial at best in this country and those fraudulent documents that have been found have been produced in support of travel of intending immigrants, not criminals. -------------- DS CRIMINAL FRAUD INVESTIGATION -------------- ¶11. RSO and Consular have a very good working relationship and collaborate frequently on a variety of issues. One case of suspected fraud on the part of an NIV FSN was reported to RSO this year and the security clearance of the FSN was subsequently revoked. RSO and CON are currently conducting an investigation into allegations that PAS FSNs have been soliciting bribes from Fulbright applicants. -------------- HOST COUNTRY PASSPORT, INDENTITY DOCUMENTS AND CIVIL REGISTRY -------------- ¶12. Afghan passports lack lamination and can be easily altered with a pen. When a legitimate change is made to a passport there will be an official Ministry of Foreign Affairs stamp on a page of the passport along with a handwritten note relating the change to name or date of birth. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues passports and post has frequently noted the distribution of official passports to Afghans who are not government employees. National ID cards called "Taskera" are issued by local police stations and can easily be obtained fraudulently. -------------- COOPERATION WITH HOST GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES -------------- ¶13. Post has felt that given the lack of a complete criminal legal code, the corruption issue, and cultural mores that do not emphasize preciseness of personal data it will be a challenge to engage the government on fraud and related issues. -------------- AREAS OF PARTICULAR CONCERN -------------- ¶14. Afghanistan's borders are far from secure. For example, the consular section is aware of many visa applicants who are able to travel between Afghanistan and Pakistan without passports. Naming conventions also play an important role in providing Consular services in Afghanistan. It is not uncommon for Afghans to use different names for different circumstances. For example, an Afghan may be known by one name to family and friends, and another to his/her employer. Most Afghans identify themselves just by one name and, occasionally, what appears as a surname is often the last part of a long, single name that was broken up. An Afghan man sometimes identifies himself by his first name and his father's first (or only) name. Sometimes, he chooses as his surname the name of his tribe, or his family's home region, or simply a word whose definition is a positive characteristic. It is not uncommon for an Afghan to invent a surname, often based on a word with characteristics the individual likes (such as excellence, religious connotations, etc.). Women before marriage follow the same naming practices. After marriage, a woman either replaces her last name (if she has one) with her husband's, or adds it after her original surname (if she had one) or does not take a surname at all. During the regime just before the communists took over (President Daoud's regime),it was illegal for Afghans to use their tribal name as a surname. When the communists took over (1978),many Afghans who wanted to use this affiliation returned to it. -------------- Staffing and Training -------------- ¶15. Kabul's Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU) consists of one part-time officer Fraud Prevention Manager (FPM),and one part-time Fraud Prevention Eligible Family Member (EFM) investigator. The Consular chief has also completed fraud training at FSI. Titles and training history are as follows: Kevin D. Nelson Vice Consul and Fraud Prevention Manager (part-time) Departs 10/09 Katya Ilieva-Stone FPU EFM Investigator (part-time) Departs 08/09 EIKENBERRY