Key GIRoA Ministers Plan Sub-National Governance

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KABUL 002270 DEPT FOR SRAP, SCA/FO, SCA/RA, AND SCA/A CENTCOM FOR CSTC-A SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958 N/A TAGS: PGOV ECON EAID EFIN EAGR AF SUBJECT: Key GIRoA Ministers Plan Sub-National Governance Interventions in South and East -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (SBU) Planning for coordinated U.S./ISAF/UNAMA/GIRoA sub-national governance interventions in the South and East took shape at an August 1 meeting of key ministers, senior ISAF and UNAMA representatives, and Ambassador Eikenberry that was hosted by the Ministry of Rural Reconstruction and Development (MRRD). The Ministers of Finance, Agriculture, Education, Health Care, MRRD, and the Director of the Independent Directorate for Local Government (IDLG) agreed to convene a high-level Working Group August 8 to develop approaches to more effective sub-national interventions and cooperation with the U.S. and international community, including possibly via providing the provision of "standard packages" of GIRoA support at the district level. These packages could include immediate health services and education interventions, as well as longer terms development and governance projects. Ministers also underscored the importance of integrating security considerations into any district or community level assistance interventions, and the Minister of Interior may be invited to participate in future deliberations. Participants recognized limited GIRoA ministry capacity and debated both the appropriate levels for sub-national interventions (regional, provincial, or district) and appropriate local implementing partners (e.g. IDLG-controlled Afghanistan Social Outreach Program district councils vs. MRRD-sponsored District Development Assemblies). Ministers welcomed the potential for rapid response assistance from nascent U.S. District Support Teams in the South and East but agreed that successful rapid response interventions ultimately must have an Afghan lead. ¶2. (SBU) Ambassador Eikenberry emphasized the U.S. principle of working in partnership with ministries at all levels. He outlined the U.S. Mission's expanding civilian presence in southern and eastern regions and the devolution of development funding authority to our regional platforms that will make our field staff more responsive to GIRoA priorities and to the parallel civilian staffing and liaison structures that government ministries may establish. ISAF and UNAMA reps echoed the U.S. intent to support increased cooperation with GIRoA at sub-national levels. Active ;multi-ministerial engagement in this first high-level multi-lateral planning session, and in upcoming high-level Working Group meetings, should focus GIRoA energies on the need to push more qualified ministry staff to the regional, provincial and district levels now. End Summary -------------- -------------- Agreement on Integrated Sub-National Interventions -------------- -------------- ¶3. (U) At U.S. recommendation, Ministry of Rural Reconstruction and Development (MRRD) Minister Ehsan Zia convened an August 1 meeting of key Afghan Government (GIRoA) ministers and U.S. Ambassador, and UNAMA and ISAF principals to begin to strategize on sub-national government interventions country-wide that will build more effective partnerships with the U.S. regional, provincial and district level uplift, and with ongoing ISAF and UNAMA programs. Attendees included Finance Minister Omar Zakhiwahl, Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock Minister Muhammad Asif Rahimi, Public Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatemi, Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak, IDLG Director General Jelani Popal, UNAMA Deputy SRSG Richard Wagner, and ISAF Deputy Chief of Staff Stability RADM Borsboom. Ambassador Eikenberry, Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs Ambassador Wayne, USAID Director Frej and Interagency Provincial Affairs Coordinator Liberi represented the U.S. ¶4. (SBU) MRRD Minister Zia emphasized that recent experience in newly liberated areas in the South made very clear the need for rapid, coordinated GIRoA efforts to build trust at the community level by identifying and delivering needed services to the populations through a combination of "flexible mechanisms" and high-level, hands-on ministerial involvement. Without quick action on district and community-level service delivery, he cautioned, post-kinetic momentum will be lost. Existing community-level development resources like the National Solidarity Plan (NSP),while valuable and successful, are too bound by bureaucratic and budget constraints to be mobilized quickly. Zia encouraged ministers to consider both the type of civilian resources and assistance they need to ensure their leadership of the development process in the field as well as the appropriate degree to which they should devolve authority to the provincial and district levels to ensure their efforts are successful. In a later intervention, Zia emphasized the importance of integrating Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), KABUL 00002270 002 OF 004 both police and military, into any district or community level assistance intervention. He also noted the immediate need to coordinate U.S. support for GIRoA ministries planning sub-national interventions in the south and east, pointing out there are currently no civilian flights from Kabul to Helmand capital Lashkar Gah. He concluded on an upbeat and determined note: "An integrated GIRoA and U.S. district and community-level approach is possible -- and MRRD has the capacity to coordinate it." ¶5. (SBU) Ambassador Eikenberry supported Minister Zia's call for Afghan leadership in delivering immediate services and developing sub-national governance capacity. He emphasized the U.S. principle of working in partnership with ministries and said the most important lesson of our ongoing mission to build ANSF is that success is a function of combined effort. The U.S. and GIRoA concur that more and better Afghan civilian resources in the field are fundamental to improve the government's ability to deliver key services at the sub-national level. Eikenberry recalled his July 16 visit to Helmand province with Minister Zia which made clear that the government is absent from many districts. ¶6. (SBU) Beyond developing mechanisms to work together at the regional, provincial and district levels, Eikenberry said, the U.S. remains fully committed to helping GIRoA ministries build national level capacity. At both the regional and national level, the Obama administration's new Afghan strategy has empowered the U.S. Mission to initiate programs locally and so operate with greater flexibility. Such flexibility will allow us to coordinate our significantly expanding civilian presence at the regional, provincial and district levels in parallel with GIRoA ministers' development of civilian liaison structures. Eikenberry emphasized, however, that the degree of devolution of GIRoA authority from the federal to the regional, provincial and district levels is an inherently political decision that only GIRoA can make. "We will partner with you but will not get involved in this political debate," he concluded. ¶7. (SBU) Health Minister Fatemi described his Ministry's early July in-house efforts to brainstorm how best to actively engage in the South and East, dividing the region's 18 provinces into first and secondary priority provinces. (Note: According to Fatimi, the Health Ministry has long divided Afghanistan into eight regional zones, with specialized medical facilities and equipment positioned to serve several provinces). First priority provinces, including Helmand, Kandahar, Farah and Nimroz, are targeted for "immediate interventions" over the coming six months, with critical supplies, including vaccines being sent to local administrators. 154 District Health Office (DHO) administrators have been recruited and appointed over the past 18 months in accordance with GIRoA Pay and Rank Reform (PRR) standards to augment staff in the field. They report to their respective Provincial Health Office (PHO) administrators, who in turn report directly to the Minister. DHOs, he said, are the appropriate platforms to liaise with U.S. District Support Teams. "Count on us," Fatemi concluded, "to come in after the military clears priority districts." -------------- -------------- Appropriate Level/Focus of Sub-National Governance -------------- -------------- ¶8. (SBU) IDLG Director Popal praised the MRRD's Community Development Councils (CDCs) as a "success story." With over 22,000 village-level CDCs currently in place, he said he hoped that IDLG and MRRD would approach the Independent Election Commission (IEC) after Presidential elections to suggest that the Commission recognize CDCs as elected village councils. He poQnted to the unlikelihood of the IEC being able to organize village council elections in 2011 as a justification for this approach. (Note: MRRD Minister Zia later took issue with Popol's call for CDCs to be recognized as elected village councils. Zia argued that, given the security environment, CDCs could not function in some areas if they were to be seen having anything other than a purely development function.) ¶9. (SBU) Regarding GIRoA interventions and support at the district level, Popal recalled the UNAMA-driven Integrated Approach initiative, aimed at identifying "tipping point districts" where combined security/development/governance interventions were thought to be able to turn a deteriorating situation around. Some such districts had already been identified, with pilots launched in Ghormach, Badghis and Tagab, Kapisa. As a stopgap until district council elections are held next year, Popal proposed that, where there are good MRRD-created District Development Assemblies (DDAs - KABUL 00002270 003 OF 004 these feed CDC input into the provincial development planning process),these might serve as partners for U.S. District Support Teams in the field. The IDLG could provide them with capacity-building programs, while MRRD continues providing direct support. Where DDAs are not up to the task, district-level councils created under the IDLG's Afghanistan Social Outreach Program (ASOP) might substitute. Popal pointed to the lack of any linkage between CDCs and security and governance and called for this to change. He encouraged the provision of block grants to such designated districts to ensure the necessary development component is also covered. ¶10. (SBU) Finance Minister Zakhiwahl called the lack of rural security a function of the lack of GIRoA focus on local governance. He praised the rapid response capacity of U.S. District Support Teams that are being stood up but said that, to be successful, such rapid response interventions must have an Afghan lead. As an outcome of this MRRD-hosted meeting, he called for meeting participants to establish a Working Group (WG) to develop a logistical and financial framework for providing "standard packages" of GIRoA support to districts, to include immediate health services and education, as well as longer terms plans for development and governance. To address security aspects of these district level interventions, the Ministry of Interior must be involved in the WG. Finally, he noted that an important initial task for this WG would be to define responsible Ministry counterparts for U.S. field officers. ¶11. (SBU) Agriculture Minister Rahimi said that in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, ISAF and Afghan military have done a commendable "clearing" job but there has been no credible GIRoA follow-on presence to deliver services to post-conflict constituents "still in a state of shock." District Support Teams, he said, remain in a formative stage and often must "operate behind walls," which sustains local suspicions of their ability and intent. Despite GIRoA discussion and planning for district-level governance that dates from 2006, he said, there remains little capacity to deliver services. His own Agriculture Ministry is present in less than 1% of Afghanistan's 364 districts. Districts are close to "farmers, mosques and trouble makers" he said and any Kabul-led governance effort is doomed to fail without a strong and sustained district presence as a "front line of communications" with Afghan citizens. Currently the government provides districts "only a corrupt judge and a few cops," he said. ¶12. (SBU) For U.S. and Afghan civilian teams to succeed, the military, ministries and foreign missions must come together to provide logistical support, Rahimi said. Furthermore, ministries need to put their best people in the field, "not just those fired from Kabul headquarters for incompetence," and 5-10 of the best District Governors in Helmand should be selected to lead pilot governance programs. Rahimi agreed with Minister Zakhiwahl that the government needs to design "complete" packages of district services, to include both quick impact projects and longer term governance initiatives. Finally, he suggested that District Development Funds be created to demonstrate GIRoA capacity to district constituents. Each should be providing provided with up to US$ 500,000 in resources, with governing boards structured to include District Governors and other interested local actors. Governing boards should be authorized to evaluate and approve community-based quick impact projects on a competitive merit basis. ¶13. (SBU) Education Minister Wardak acknowledged the weak linkage between GIRoA and district-level governance and supported the idea of strengthening DDAs, including via establishing mechanisms to identify and finance appropriate projects. He argued that, while education services are key to cementing a sense of shared community, a combined rather than ministry-specific engagement strategy at the district level is needed to move forward. ¶14. (SBU) ISAF Deputy Chief of Staff Stability RADM Borsboom offered that, given manifestly inadequate GIRoA capacity at the district level, ISAF has focused its development initiatives to date primarily at the provincial level. Any future integrated GIRoA/UNAMA/ISAF approach to district governance could focus on a number of select pilot districts to determine whether devolution to this level is viable. Like Popal, he referred back to the UNAMA-led Integrated Approach initiative. While District Support Teams may be an appropriate platform from which to explore district-level interventions, Borsboom offered his personal observation that establishing adequate government capacity at the provincial level is a pre-requisite for expanding engagement at the district level. UNAMA Deputy SRSG Richard Wagner agreed that the success of a KABUL 00002270 004 OF 004 district-level approach will be dependent on ministries putting their best people in the field and that the hardships associated with district-level work will require that appropriate incentive packages be put in place. Wagner supported the concept of an inter-ministry "package" of district-level interventions. On the issue of government coordination with District Support Teams, he noted that some NGO implementing partners with whom UNAMA works are reluctant to get involved in initiatives directly linked to the military. ¶15. (SBU) Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs Ambassador Wayne noted the developing consensus on the need to define and develop an integrated "package" of inter-ministry district-level interventions and spoke to the need for the Working Group follow-up to this first meeting deliver concrete results. The U.S. is expanding its civilian officer presence in targeted southern and eastern districts now and many more civilians will be deployed in the coming months. Simultaneously, the U.S. is devolving development funding authority to the field to enhance flexibility and make our field staff more responsive to district priorities established by the government. As a result, the U.S. Mission needs to engage government ministries in an ongoing and concrete dialogue on district priorities and on the government's own plans for district and regional level civilian staffing that integrates logistics and security concerns within broader development strategies. Ambassador Eikenberry closed, noting our Senior Civilian Representative presence at Regional Command South and East and our hope to see a robust and integrated government ministry presence in the field. -------------- Next Steps: August 8 Working Group -------------- ¶16. (SBU) We will follow up with a meeting at the Deputy Minister level on August 8, with the inclusion of Ministry of Interior representative. ¶17. (SBU) There was some discussion of suggestions by Health Minister Fatemi and UNAMA DSRSG Wagner that other donors be invited to join early Working Group discussions. Finance Minister Zakhiwahl, supported by Ambassadors Eikenberry and Wayne, argued that the Working Group's first priority should be to focus on developing the logistical and financing mechanisms required for the GIRoA to deliver district-level services with donors who have the capacity and intent to directly involve themselves in district-level interventions. Other donors could be briefed and broader donor buy-in sought through the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) mechanism. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶18. (SBU) MRRD's Zia hosted this first sub-national governance gathering of key ministers at the encouragement of the U.S. Mission. His organization, enthusiasm and substantive interventions were impressive and potential friction between MRRD and IDLG over sub-national governance authority was muted. Popal's call for Community Development Councils (structured as vehicles to direct National Solidarity Program funding) and District Development Assemblies to take on a more political role and link in more closely with Afghan governance was not new, nor was MRRD Minister Zia's comeback that CDCs simply could not function in some areas if they are seen as having anything other than a purely development function. ¶19. (SBU) The consensus of participants that the Ministry of Interior should participate in future Working Group discussions was a welcome acknowledgement of the central importance of security to the delivery of government services at the local level. Concrete interventions by the Finance and Agriculture Ministers on the need to quickly develop ministry-specific district-level staffing plans offers promise that upcoming Working Group meetings will focus GIRoA attention on the need to get qualified ministry staff to the regional and district levels now. EIKENBERRY