HELMAND MPS DELIVER THANKS BUT ALSO WARNINGS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 000383

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, EUR/RPM
STATE PASS USAID FOR ASIA/SCAA
NSC FOR WOOD
OSD FOR WILKES
CG CJTF-101 POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM AF
SUBJECT: HELMAND MPS DELIVER THANKS BUT ALSO WARNINGS

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Christopher Dell for reasons 1.4 (b) a
nd (d)

Summary
--------------


1. (SBU) At a February 2, UK-hosted dinner for Members of
Parliament from Helmand Province, the MPs collectively
delivered four messages. First, they expressed appreciation
for the assistance and sacrifices being offered up by the
international community, particularly the U.S.; but the
mistakes committed by international forces are taking a toll
on popular patience. Second, improved coordination between
international and Afghan security forces would, in their
view, significantly improve common efforts to counteract the
insurgency. Third, Afghans at all levels insist that they
must remain masters of their own fate. This translates to a
demand that any changes to the size or placement of
international forces be blessed by Afghan authorities at the
highest level. Finally, the group collectively endorsed the
Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF) and called for its
eventual deployment in Helmand. They suggested it would not
be difficult to find the requisite number of local volunteers
to man the force in their province. End Summary.

The Attendees
--------------

2. (C) The event, hosted by the UK deputy head of mission,
included five of Helmand,s eight Lower House Members of
Parliament (Haji Mohammad Anwar Khan; Shikh Nematullah
Ghafari; Daud Mohammad Khan; Haji Mir Ali Khan; and Nasima
Niazi) and two of the province,s three Upper House
representatives (Haji Abdul Wahed; and strongman and former
governor Al-Haj Mullah Sher Mohammad Akhundzada, whom
President Karzai has continued to favor for reinstatement as
governor despite his record of abuse and narcotics
trafficking).

Questioning the Tactics of International Forces
-------------- --

3. (C) Discussion began on a distinctly sour note, with
Daud Mohammad Khan (Akhunzada,s former intelligence chief,
described later by our host as "unsavory") demanding why,
with thousands of troops in the province, security could not
be maintained. He described Helmand,s population as
victims, caught between the violence wrought by the Taliban
and international forces. Khan spoke of Now Zad and Sangin
as once-bucolic tourist sites from which the populations had
largely had to flee, in good measure in order to escape
aerial bombardments. When, he asked accusingly, are things
going to change? "We are human beings too." In a
considerably more moderate tone, Nasima Niazi, a women,s
rights activist, suggested the people of Helmand are
long-suffering and accept that international forces can make
mistakes. But, she continued, their patience has by now been
greatly strained ) similar civilian casualty incidents as
those suffered by people in Helmand would have brought people
from the country,s North beyond the breaking point.


4. (SBU) Several attendees took aim at what they
characterized as a lack of coordination between international
and Afghan security forces. By contrast, they contended,
working closely with the ANSF -- with international forces
profiting from the Afghans, more accurate intelligence just
as the ANSF were profiting from the training and equipment
they receive from their foreign partners -- would bring huge
benefits. A number of deputies also objected to the
positioning of international forces, echoing President Karzai
in suggesting those forces would more usefully be deployed
along the border with Pakistan and Iran. In a similar vein,
they questioned why international forces had to take up
positions within towns instead of simply securing their
perimeters. Shikh Nematullah Ghafari, a Hazara MP from
Lashkar Gah, drew approving nods from his fellow MPs when he
demanded to know whether plans to deploy additional U.S.
forces had been approved by President Karzai and whether he
had also signed off on the specific locations to which they
would be sent. Issues like this, he insisted, required the
assent of Afghan authorities at the highest level.

Election Security
--------------

5. (SBU) MP Niazi underscored the importance of the
upcoming national elections and expressed frustration at
those MPs criticizing the Independent Election Commission,s
action in putting off those elections until August. She
suggested such members of parliament simply have no realistic

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notion of the security challenges facing elections in the
South. She pressed hard for assurances that U.S. troops
would be in Helmand to ensure security for voting. She also
bemoaned what she characterized as the limited extent of
voter registration in Helmand to date. U.S., UK and Estonian
representatives at the dinner pointed out the top priority
attached by their governments and the international community
as a whole to the August elections. They also noted both
ongoing discussions aimed at ensuring a beefed up
international troop presence as well as prospects for more
ANA troops by the time of the elections. At this point,
Daud Mohammad Khan broke into the back-and-forth, in apparent
exasperation, suggesting it was absurd to talk about voting
in an area where Taliban beheadings and other acts of
intimidation are the order of the day.

The Elephant in the Room
--------------

6. (C) The dynamic of the entire evening was clearly
influenced by the presence of former Governor Sher Mohammad
Akhundzada (informally referred to as SMA),under whose rule
a number of the other deputies and their families had
personally suffered. Most of the MPs did not appear to show
outright deference to Akhundzada, but they often appeared to
take care in choosing their words. The former governor
himself could not have been more charming. He went out of
his way to express thanks for the contributions of the
international community, particularly the U.S., in freeing
Afghanistan from the Taliban regime, including at the cost of
many military casualties, a sentiment shared by others. He
went on to lay out in fairly cogent terms what he sees as the
reasons why security has gone downhill in Helmand. Like
others before him, he cited the lack of adequate coordination
between international forces and the ANSF. He pointed also
to unrealistically high expectations on the part of the
Helmand population regarding the pace of development
assistance. On Pakistan, he complained that too little had
been done to destroy insurgent safe havens and criticized his
own government for having taken too long to start improving
relations with Islamabad. Somewhat ironically, given his own
reputed links to narcotics, he singled out as well the growth
in the drug industry in Helmand, where processing plants have
now been established.


7. (SBU) As for the future, SMA stressed the need for
greater engagement with elders of the various Pashtun tribes
in his province. More U.S. troops would be good for Helmand,
he argued, but only if they listen to the advice of such
tribal leaders. According to the former governor, success
for the country,s international partners in Helmand rests on
a three-pronged strategy: listen to tribal leaders, take
action against the narcotics trade, and be careful in your
actions to reinforce the notion that the Afghan people are
their own masters. Otherwise, he warned, people will believe
the Taliban propaganda line that the country has lost its
independence to the foreigners.

Support of APPF
--------------

8. (SBU) Asked specifically about the Ministry of
Interior,s plans for the Afghan Public Protection Force,
soon to be launched on a pilot basis in Wardak Province, the
MPs showed strong support. They stressed that the APPF
should be different from traditional arbaka (tribal-based
militia). It should be carefully controlled, under the
authority of either the army or police. MPs also expressed
broad support for extending the program to Helmand (note:
the UK is considering backing such a move) and agreement that
it would not be difficult to find the necessary recruits.
They cautioned, however, that individuals from all the tribes
would need to be included. Akhunzada argued against a role
for Governor Mangal or the provincial chief of police in the
selection process. He noted that he had just spoken with
Minister of Interior Atmar regarding the program.

Comment
--------------

9. (C) Clearly some of the remarks of some of these MPs,
such as those on narcotics, and SMA's views on who should
manage any eventual APPP in Helmand were intended either to
sit well with international listeners or serve their own
interests. On the other hand, their repeated words of
caution regarding the need to listen to Afghan voices and
avoid violating Afghans, sense of independence appeared
sincere. Their strong support for APPF in Helmand was
noteworthy, but fielding such a force without running
crossways of the complicated Pashtun tribal dynamics in

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Helmand would be a major challenge and COMISAF has requested
that the concept be implemented on a trial basis in Wardak
before others rush in with their own versions of it. It is
worth noting that most of these MPs spend little time in
Helmand, citing security concerns. They do maintain strong
links to people there, but their situational awareness is
largely second-hand. We and the UK embassy are currently
looking for ways to better connect these MPs with their
constituents. One of the potential benefits of more direct
contact with Helmand realities, we hope, could be a tempering
of the tendency of many of these MPs to take a decidedly
negative, unhelpful line in speaking with the media.
DELL