This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000376 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA AMBASSADOR QUINN AND NSC FOR AHARRIMAN AND 
KAMEND 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SNAR KCRM AF
SUBJECT: HELMAND GOVERNOR PROMISED COOPERATION ON 
ERADICATION 
 
REF: KABUL 00362 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Reftel discussed, among other things, the 
dramatic increase in opium cultivation in Helmand and advised 
the establishment of the Helmand Eradication Planning Task 
Force to deal with the critical issue of opium cultivation in 
Helmand. That Task Force met January 26 and is undertaking 
urgent and credible action to address this challenge to 
GOA/US CN goals in Afghanistan. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (C) On January 26 the first meeting of the Task Force was 
held. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Minister of Interior 
General Daud, Deputy Minister of Counter Narcotics at the 
Ministry of Interior, and attended by Helmand Governor 
Engineer Daoud, Deputy Governor Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, 
Deputy Chief of Strategic Operations for the Ministry of 
Defense (MOD) Brigadier General Rahim, Colonel Gul Marjan of 
the Afghan National Army (ANA) Advisor to the MOD Chief of 
Staff, Afghan PRT liaison officer, the head of the Provincial 
Council for Helmand, the Chief of Police for Helmand Abdul 
Rahman Jan, the Chief of the Helmand National Security 
Directorate (NDS) Nazar Ali Khan, Lt. Colonel Don Modder and 
Major Billy Bob Brown of CFC-A, INL Kabul Deputy Director 
Alan Smiley, INL Eradication Specialist Mick Hogan, INL 
Aviation Advisor Guy Charlton, PRT Deputy Director Andrew 
Mann, British Embassy Drugs Team (BEDT) Deputy Head Graham 
Zebedee, BEDT Eradication Specialist James Hardy, DynCorp 
logistical support personnel, DynCorp PEP Deputy Program 
Manager Mike O'Donovan, CNTF Director Doug Wankel and others. 
¶3. (C) General Daud began the meeting by discussing the 
operational planning meetings for governor-led eradication 
(GLE) that had been conducted in Kabul over the past two days 
and stated that those planning sessions had gone well and the 
GOA was optimistic that the plans could be successfully 
implemented. Daud then mentioned that on January 25, Deputy 
Governor Amir Mohammed briefed the GOA, US and UK planning 
team on the severity of the opium cultivation problem in 
Helmand Province this year, saying that it was very large 
cultivation, perhaps twice as large as last year's opium 
cultivation. General Daud said based upon the magnitude of 
the opium cultivation as stated by the Deputy Governor, it 
was decided to cancel yesterday's planning session in order 
to invite the Governor and other senior provincial officials 
to an expanded planning session on January 26. 
 
¶4. (C) General Daud made a short statement to the group and 
began by stating that eradication success in Helmand was 
critical if the GOA and its international partners were to 
succeed in reducing the level of opium cultivation in 
Afghanistan. General Daud said that there would need to be a 
plan for eradication of 1-3 months in Helmand and due to 
security concerns there would need to a deployment of 500 
Afghan National Police (ANP) from Kabul, 500 Afghan National 
Army (ANA) soldiers and the Helmand Provincial authorities 
would need to deploy an additional 500 police officers. The 
force of 1500 ANP/ANA would be responsible for providing 
security to the Province during opium eradication operations. 
General Daud said that he would recommend that eradication 
begin with government lands that are growing poppy and those 
lands of government officials that have poppy cultivated in 
Helmand. 
 
¶5. (C) Engineer Daoud, Governor of Helmand, then spoke to the 
Task Force. Governor Daoud said that he completely agreed 
with General Daud in that if we can succeed with opium 
eradication in Helmand, we will succeed with opium 
eradication in Afghanistan. The Governor said that the 
government officials, supported by the international 
community, have the responsibility to build peace and 
maintain stability in Afghanistan and to do so, it is 
important that the Afghan government, the Afghan people and 
the international community come together to fight terrorism 
and the drug mafia. The Governor said that GOA officials have 
the training and the infrastructure necessary to fight 
terrorism and the GOA needs the same capacity to fight drugs. 
 
¶6. (C) Governor Daoud said that it was important to remember 
two things--fighting terrorism means fighting Taliban and 
other terrorists and that fighting drugs, opium, means 
fighting the community as well because they are involved in 
the business of opium cultivation. The Governor said that it 
is critical that the GOA establish links with the community 
in rural Afghanistan. He said that these links are largely 
non-existent at this time. He further outlined that 50 
percent of the schools have been burned by the Taliban, 
clinics are need and food is needed in some areas. The 
Governor said that the GOA must go to the communities to 
eradicate but they must also establish governance and 
relationships with the community as well. The Governor said, 
"we can't complete one job and forget the other." 
 
¶7. (C) The Governor said that he has had several meetings 
with tribal elders, leaders and scholars and has discussed 
the need for eradication. Based upon those discussions he 
said that as he begins eradication, he must prioritize his 
efforts by first destroying opium fields on GOA land (the 
Governor said that more than 10,000 hectares of opium is 
cultivated on GOA owned land) and by destroying those fields 
cultivated by government officials. (Note: Per the Governor, 
there are many provincial, district and local government 
officials who cultivate poppy). The Governor said that once 
he eradicates the aforementioned poppy fields, the community 
will accept eradication of their fields. In fact, some of the 
community leaders stated that if the GOA eradicates the GOA 
land and land of government officials, the community will 
voluntarily eradicate their own fields. The Governor said the 
community will not trust the GOA to eradicate impartially and 
fairly unless the Governor first goes after the fields on 
GOA-land and those cultivated by government officials. 
 
¶8. (C) The Governor said that according to the Provincial 
Agricultural Department, there is an estimated 77,375 
hectares of opium under cultivation in Helmand Province at 
this time (last year the USG estimated that there was 38,500 
hectares of opium cultivation or 36 percent of Afghanistan's 
cultivation for 2005). 
 
¶9. (C) The Governor said he welcomed the support of the 
additional ANP and ANA forces that General Daud had 
previously mentioned as long as it was understood that the 
leadership of the eradication effort and the security effort 
for the same must be provincially-led or else the Governor 
would not be responsible for the eradication effort. The 
Governor went on to say that he would welcome any and all 
monitoring and verification specialists that Kabul can 
provide as he wants the eradication efforts to be 
transparent. The Governor also advised that if he was to 
conduct eradication efforts in the Northern areas of Helmand 
Province, he would request that the international community 
consider the possibility of conducting some immediate needs 
support in the form of "cash for work" programs there, given 
the extreme poverty of the region. Wankel advised that USAID 
provided "cash for work" programs in Helmand Province last 
year, but not in Northern Helmand due to security concerns 
and advised that unless security significantly improves, 
USAID (and its implementing partner Chemonics) would not be 
able to consider such a request. 
 
¶10. (C) Wankel asked General Daud whether there was a 
decision by the GOA to deploy ANA forces or if that was a 
contingency to be considered and whether the MOD and the ANA 
agreed to support the eradication effort in Helmand. General 
Daud said that he had discussions with the MOD and they 
committed to deploy up to 500 ANA soldiers for security, if 
required. Brigadier General Rahim confirmed General Daud's 
comments and said that while it was not MOD policy to fight 
drugs, MOD would provide support for security for the 
Governor's eradication effort. The Brigadier General said 
that the deployment may require coalition support in the form 
of mentors and trainers. 
 
¶11. (C) The Governor provided written details of his 
eradication plan to INL Eradication Specialist Mick Hogan and 
BEDT Eradication Specialist James Hardy and they will respond 
to the Task Force and the Governor as to how they can support 
the plan. General Daud concluded the meeting and advised that 
further meetings of the appropriate individuals would take 
place, as needed. 
 
¶12. (C) Comment: The Governor was firmly in charge of his 
presentation and made clear the fact that he would be in 
charge. Daud and the MOD stated there was GOA agreement for 
ANA support for security. The CFC-A representatives took 
copius notes and said they would meet with the ANA and MOD to 
determine what had been discussed and agreed to meet at 
senior levels and determine what CFC-A's position would be 
for the announced ANA support. End Comment. 
 
NORLAND