IRANIAN AID AND CHILD LABOR KEY LABOR MINISTRY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 003362

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB ECON EIND ETRD PHUM PREL SOCI
SUBJECT: IRANIAN AID AND CHILD LABOR KEY LABOR MINISTRY
CONCERNS

REF: A. STATE 92560

B. STATE 03076


1. (U) SUMMARY: In a review of child labor issues,
Afghanistan Ministry of Labor Director of International
Relations Ahmad Komail focused on issues of foreign criminals
preying on the children of the poor, foreign government
influence on his ministry, and ineffective staffing policies
pursued within his ministry. He also noted that
Afghanistan,s 10 private orphanages were caring for their
children much more effectively than the 54 government-run
orphanages. Describing his ministry as subject to Iranian
&manipulations,8 Komail hinted broadly at the need for
increased support from the United States to check this
influence and improve the Ministry,s social outreach. End
Summary.


2. (U) Afghanistan Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs
and Disabled (MoL) Director of International Relations Komail
met with Poloff October 15 as a follow-up to our demarche on
DOL,s child labor report. Komail,s office had prepared an
eight-page response to questions we had posed in our last
meeting on September 30. His paper, however, largely
extolled the virtues of Ministry projects and his oral
comments contradicted this paper. Speaking at length on the
vulnerability of the desperately poor to criminal influence,
he identified worsening conditions for children, including
child neglect, runaways, and the selling of children abroad
for forced labor and organ harvesting, as serious problems.

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Pernicious Foreign Influences
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3. (SBU) Komail said the ministry identifies 23 categories of
child labor. He noted that girls are particularly vulnerable
in two ways: when sold for forced marriages, and when
kidnapped and sold for sexual abuse or third-party marriage.
He believed the latter cases to be particularly appalling, as
some families sell their daughters to Pakistanis for a mere
USD 200-300. Boys, said Komail, are especially vulnerable to
foreign military recruitment. He reported rumors that the
Iranian government had offered entire families visas in
exchange for sending their sons to fight in Gaza. The poor
fall prey to numerous schemes, and in Komail,s view, the
predator influences are usually foreign.


4. (SBU) Komail complained at length about a current missed
opportunity for training: he said that the Iranian government
has offered USD 400,000 to the MoL for capacity-training, but
that his minister had rejected the offer, fearing that the
United States would look askance at such direct Iranian
influence on the Afghan government. The opportunity to
accept the offer extends until next week; Komail was clearly
seeking our assistance to either persuade his Minister to
accept the deal, or submit a counter-offer. He regaled us
with stories of attempts by the Iranian embassy to bribe,
pressure, and win favor with members of his ministry,
undesirable from his point of view, as he personally dislikes
the Iranians.

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A Potential for Corruption
--------------


5. (SBU) Komail claims his work is hampered both by a lack of
budget and by ineffective colleagues. He said most members
of his ministry are political appointees; most lack money and
are susceptible to bribery; and some actively avoid the
media, seeking to squelch discussion of sensitive issues or
to raise awareness of social problems within the country. He
believes the MoL has difficulty attracting qualified people
with the necessary skills and background, and therefore,
capacity-building is crucial. He also identified some
directors as inappropriate choices for their jobs, implying
they had been selected deliberately for their lack of
interest or background. Emphasizing that most ministerial
employees lack wealth and are thus easily corruptible, he
took pains to underscore that he did not need money, and so
would avoid that fate, but that at any time his colleagues
might succumb to the ongoing temptation.

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Solutions?
--------------


6. (U) Dejectedly, Komail advised us to look to civil society
rather than the government for solutions to problems such as
child labor. By way of example, he described the superior
living conditions for children living in the ten private
orphanages in country, compared to the 54 government-run

KABUL 00003362 002 OF 002


orphanages. The private facilities provided better food,
clothing, and education to their wards; he could do little to
match them.


7. (SBU) Apparently contradicting his position on NGO,s,
Komail went on to suggest the lack of progress to date in
solving many Afghan social problems rests with the failure of
donors to empower ministries through direct funding. He
asserted that donor funding for MoL-related development
projects must be passed through his office; only with
ministerial oversight could international donor efforts be
effectively utilized and proper priorities identified. Then,
contradicting his views on the Iranians, he implied that he
would encourage their funding if necessary.


8. (SBU) COMMENT: Komail,s relaxed attitude and easy
demeanor belied the intensity of his critical comments on the
functioning of his ministry. He took pains to highlight the
Iranian aid offer and explicitly cited it as a reason for
increasing U.S. assistance to check Iranian
&influence.8 However, Komail did not make a convincing
case for doing more than building capacity within his
ministry, since, by his own admission, the MoL faces
significant problems in formulating and implementing policy.
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