HAZARA LEADERS SUPPORT KARZAI IN EXCHANGE FOR PROMISES OF

UNCLAS KABUL 001593

DEPARTMENT FOR SRAP, SCA/FO, SCA/A, EUR/RPM
STATE PASS TO AID FOR ASIA/SCAA
USFOR-A FOR POLAD

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV AF
SUBJECT: HAZARA LEADERS SUPPORT KARZAI IN EXCHANGE FOR PROMISES OF
MORE PROVINCES


1. Hazara political leaders backing President Karzai's re-election
have asked Karzai to support the creation of more majority-Hazara
provinces in exchange for their influential endorsements among the
ethnic Hazara minority, which could constitute as much as 15 percent
of the electorate in this summer's election. Hazara leaders are
asking for up to three new provinces created from majority-Hazara
districts in other provinces. Such a change would require approval
from Parliament and executive branch entities, which has approved
the creation of Panjshir and Daikundi provinces since the
establishment of the post-Taliban government. Bamyan and Daikundi
are currently the only majority-Hazara provinces.


2. Bamyan Governor Habiba Sorabi recently told State PRT officer
that most Bamyan residents have been waiting to learn which
presidential candidate key Hazara leaders will support before
deciding for themselves. Populist leaders are hoping to exploit the
issue of additional Hazara provinces. Among those, Second Vice
President Karim Khalili and Lower House MPs Haji Mohammad Mohaqqeq
(Kabul) and Ustad Mohammad Akbari (Bamyan) have thrown their support
behind Karzai. These leaders have asked Karzai to form more
provinces out of Behsud district in Wardak Province, Jaghori
district and the surrounding region in Ghazni province, and several
Hazara-populated districts north of Bamyan in Samangan, Sar-e-Pul,
and Baghlan provinces. The contiguous Behsud district and the
Jaghori region could form a single province, or each become its own
province. Some Hazara leaders also want Karzai to revisit the
recent decision to give the majority-Pashtun Gizab district from
Daikundi to Uruzgan Province.


3. Mohaqqeq told PolOffs he had asked Karzai to sign an agreement
exchanging his political party's endorsement in return for Karzai's
support of the additional provinces. Karzai declined to put the
agreement in writing, though Mohaqqeq claims Karzai is committed to
the idea. Opposition candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Mirwais
Yaseni also have told supporters they support the creation of more
Hazara provinces. Another presidential candidate, Ashraf Ghani,
told journalists on June 20 that such a decision should be left to
Parliament, and not be the price of political negotiations between
individuals.


4. Comment: Mohaqqeq's desire to redraw multiple boundaries in
order to provide Hazara areas their own administrative divisions is
not new and an idea that has been largely dismissed by the
Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) up to this point.
Granting such administrative changes would open up GIRoA to
requests for redistricting from other minority groups. End Comment.


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