KARZAI URGES CODEL PELOSI TO SUPPORT AFGHAN ARMY,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000402

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958:QL: 2/20/2019
TAGS: PREL KHUM KDEM AF
SUBJECT: KARZAI URGES CODEL PELOSI TO SUPPORT AFGHAN ARMY,
POLICE, IRRIGATION AND POWER PROJECTS

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


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Accompanied by the Ambassador, Speaker of
the House Nancy Pelosi and seven other House Democrats
breakfasted with President Karzai at the Presidential Palace
on 2/21. Karzai claimed Afghanistan was progressing much
better than portrayed in the Western media and expressed
optimism for additional progress stemming from the strategic
review process. Karzai argued troops alone do not bring
security and urged US support for irrigation and power
projects. Karzai expressed support for the August 20
election date announced by the Afghan election commission.
Finally, Karzai conveyed the deep gratitude of the Afghan
people for continued US assistance to their country.

Introduction
--------------


2. (U) Codel Pelosi, comprised of Speaker of the House Nancy
Pelosi, and Representatives Larson, DeLauro, Miller, Markey,
Eshoo, Pascrell, and Capuano et with President Karzai over
breakfast at th Palace. The Afghan attendees included UpperHouse Speaker Sebghatulah Mojaddedi, Lower House Speaker
Yunus Qanooni, Foreign Minister Rain Spanta, National
Security Advisor Zalmai Rsoul, and Minister of Parliamentary
Affairs Mhammad Anwar Jekdalek. Speaker Pelosi started ff
the conversation by emphasizing the importance of the
upcoming strategic review and asking President Karzai to give
the Codel his view of the current "lay of the land" and
detail his plan going forward.

Karzai's Positive Vision of Afghanistan
--------------


3. (U) Responding to several of the representatives'
questions, President Karzai emphasized positive developments
in security and governance. Karzai claimed the Afghan police
were working efficiently in large cities such as Kabul and
Mazar-e-Sharif. Karzai admitted there were still problems in
other areas, but said these stemmed from the international
community starting its police training programs in earnest
too late. The number of police is still small compared to
the population and there are still many administrative
hurdles such as slow pay and lack of training. Karzai urged
the international community to continue and expand police
training efforts.


4. (SBU) Speaker Pelosi asked President Karzai specifically
about the security situation in Kabul. Karzai said that
except for isolated incidents, security is good in Kabul.
Outside of Kabul too, security is not as bad s portrayed in
western media. Karzai describd formerly desolate highways
as jammed withtraffic. Border provinces with Pakistan suchas Kunar and Nangarhar are much more secure tha Pakistan
border areas, even Peshawar, Karzaiclaimed. Karzai agreed
with Representative Markey's quotation from a National
Directorate of Intelligence report, stating "no progress" is
possible in Afghanistan without controlling the border with
Pakistan.


5. (U) Karzai contrasted Afghanistan's government and civil
society now with the situation five years ago, emphasizing
such positive developments as the collegiality in Parliament
among former enemies, new universities, new media outlets,
and economic growth, as particularly important achievements.
He also said the government bureaucracy works much better.
For example, he now receives regular, thorough security
briefings, rather than ad hoc incident reports.

Additional US Troops and the Strategic Review Process
--------------


6. (C) Speaker Pelosi characterized Obama's decision to
announce the deployment of additional troops to Afghanistan
before the completion of the strategic review as "courageous"
and "a risk." The deployment of these troops is not popular
in parts of the US particularly because of the difficult
economic environment, she said. Representative Larson told
Karzai many members of Congress were also skeptical of
President Obama's decision. He asked Karzai to present
benchmarks by which progress could be more easily evaluated.
Karzai did not immediately provide these benchmarks, but said
he was very pleased President Obama accepted the Afghan
government's offer to participate in the strategic review
process.


7. (U) Karzai asked for more international support for the
Afghan Army and the Afghan Police. Afghans must feel that
their government is providing security, Karzai emphasized,
rather than international forces. Also, Karzai asked for
more support for irrigation and power projects, claiming that

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if the international community delivered this support,
Afghanistan could "feed itself" in two years.

Making the US Safer
--------------


8. (C) Responding to the Speaker's question on how to protect
the US from terrorists, Karzai urged the US to address
terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan. Karzai said Al Qaeda are
not present in Afghanistan, although from Pakistan they may
direct terrorist operations here. Karzai described the
Pakistani government's recent decision to allow
implementation of Sharia law in Swat an "alarming" and
"shocking" mistake which would make the security situation in
Pakistan worse. He plans to meet with Pakistan President
Zardari as soon as possible to discuss the situation in Swat;
a scheduled meeting last week was delayed due to a
weather-related flight cancellation.

Taliban: 7800 Reconciled to the New Afghanistan
--------------


9. (C) Karzai claimed 7800 Taliban had reconciled with the
Afghan government as a direct result of government-led talks
emphasizing the compatibility between the Afghan constitution
and Islam. Many Taliban were "country bumpkins" who could
easily be convinced to accept the Afghan government. In
describing the program, Karzai said the government would only
deal with Afghan Taliban who were not Al Qaeda and who would
accept the Afghan constitution without ideological hang-ups,
for example, they would accept women's equality.

Support for the August 20 Election Date
--------------


10. (C) President Karzai expressed support for the 8/20
election date and underlined security conditions would not
allow elections to take place by the 5/22 date contemplated
in the Afghan constitution. Responding to Pelosi's request
to expand on what he meant by "security conditQs," Karzai
explained security (fighting and violence in thQouth),Qechnical, and weather conditions preclude holding a fair and
free election in May. Karzai claimed that if the elections
were held on or before May 22, he would be the winner as
other candidates, "have not yet booked their tickets to the
game," meaning that the August date would allow for more
robust competition between presidential candidates.
Parliament objects to holding the election on August 20 as a
violation of the constitution, Karzai noted.

Concerned about Civilian Casualties; Appreciative of US
Assistance
--------------


11. (SBU) Karzai "felt he had to raise his voice" in
responding to civilian casualties incidents. However, Afghan
people are still immensely grateful to the United States.
Without US intervention and continued support, we would not
be sitting here talking, Karzai said. Karzai said the
Afghan government was looking forward to sitting together
with US officials during the strategic review and discussing
differences and devising a mutually agreeable plan to make
both Afghanistan and the US safer.


12. (U) The Codel did not have an opportunity to clear on
this message.
DELL