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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KABUL 000553 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INL/FO AND SA/FO AMB QUINN 
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN/KAMEND 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: SNAR PREL PGOV PTER KCRM AF
SUBJECT: Justice Sector Support Project Progress Report 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  In the July 2005 launch, the Chief of Team, 
three embedded advisors (two in the Ministry of Justice, one 
assigned to the Prison Director and one assigned to the 
Minister, and one in the Attorney Generals Office) and three 
legal experts (legal trainer, criminal justice, and criminal 
defense attorney mentor) arrived in Afghanistan.  The fourth 
embedded advisor (Ministry of Interior and Attorney Generals 
Office Coordinator) arrived in early October.  The cable 
highlights JSSPs accomplishments and significant findings to 
date. End Summary 
 
Work with the Afghan Attorney Generals Office (AGO) 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶2. (U) JSSP has completed a comprehensive assessment of the 
AGO organization and operational capacity, including legal 
framework, organizational, resource and personnel constraints 
and limitations, mapping out and constructing a detailed 
organization chart of the AGO to understand the current 
structure and enable further work on structure.  JSSP also 
contributed to the German Police Project Offices Police 
Guidelines for Discovery, Investigation and Coordination with 
the Investigating Prosecutors. 
 
¶3. (U) JSSP is assisting the AGO in creating personnel records 
for all prosecutors in Afghanistan, containing data on their 
heir 
educational backgrounds, skills, and training received. 
 
Provincial Justice Reform Projects 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) JSSP spear-headed the Wardak Justice Reform Project, a 
multi-agency development effort bringing together USG and 
Afghan officials, from Kabul and Wardak, to improve and reform 
the criminal justice sector in the Wardak Province.  The 
Project will bring the full spectrum of USG community 
resources (infrastructure projects, public education, 
training, etc.), along with international assistance, across 
all components of the Wardak justice system, resulting in an 
efficient system that functions and will serve as a model for 
other provinces.  Subcommittees, under the guidance of JSSP 
experts and Afghan leaders, are developing and will implement 
a comprehensive strategy for increasing successful 
prosecutions and strengthening the organizational structure of 
the provincial prison.  USAID will fund the building of a 
courthouse and CFC-A will fund the building of a new 
Prosecutors Office.  In three months, the group will have a 
full understanding of the inmate population, along with a plan 
on how to address over-detention and other problems. 
 
¶5. (U) Modeled after the Wardak project, the Ghazni Project 
was only recently initiated (December 2005).  Future 
activities of this kind will launch in February/March. 
 
Corrections 
----------- 
 
¶6. (U) JSSP coordinated the development of the design of the 
National Provincial Prisons-Detention Centers Survey.  JSSP 
experts provided analysis and input on the criminal justice 
system aspects of the survey.  The actual surveying, funded by 
CFC-A, was completed at the end of January and the final 
document is expected in February.  Deputy Minister of Justice 
Hashimzai was provided a summary of the survey, for 
presentation at the London Conference in January. 
 
¶7. (U) JSSP integrated nearly all USG and international 
corrections planning, construction and training into one 
Afghan-led working group. JSSP laid the foundation for the 
launching of the Corrections Sector Support Project (CSSP), 
which occurred in January 2006.  A separate cable on the CSSP 
to follow. 
 
Afghan Defense Attorneys 
------------------------ 
 
¶8. (U) JSSP is facilitating, in collaboration with Afghan 
NGOs, Afghan defense attorneys, and the international 
community, the creation of an independent, national and 
compulsory bar association in Afghanistan to assist in 
improving an attorneys ability to effectively advocate on 
behalf of the accused.  Currently, a poorly maintained quasi- 
mandatory licensing structure is within the competence of the 
Ministry of Justice, which negatively impacts the right to 
legal aid, in part due to the requirement that defense 
attorneys enter into a Sharia contract. 
 
¶9. (U) JSSP has taken a leadership role in assisting Afghan 
defense attorneys organize and develop training curricula in 
order to improve due process in the criminal justice system. 
The first in a series of workshops was hosted by JSSP with 
th 
Afghan defense attorneys, initially providing them with a 
forum to discuss the difficulties they face when dealing with 
police and prosecutors, including widespread disregard for 
criminal procedure law, lack of qualified legal professionals 
at every level, violation of legal and human rights, and the 
routine use of torture and coercion against the accused. 
 
¶10. (U) JSSP will be overseeing the work of Global Rights 
Legal Internship teams and mentors, providing professional 
training to improve capacity and skills. 
 
Donor Funding 
-------------- 
 
¶11. (U) JSSP facilitated a grant of $400,000 from CFC-A to 
support Qanon Satonkay, an Afghan legal defense organization, 
to enhance capacity and improve its ability to offer services 
to needy Afghan clients. 
 
Laws 
---- 
 
¶12. (U) JSSP has assumed a leadership role in the revision of 
the draft Law on the Organization and Structure of the 
Attorney Generals Office (AGO).  Persuaded by the JSSP 
Embedded Advisor to the AGO, the AGO formally withdrew the 
draft law from the legislative process to allow for the 
redress of multiple problems and allow for input from the 
international community.  The Advisor was thereafter appointed 
to the internal AGO Committee responsible for drafting the 
law, where he has been able to successfully propose 
significant revisions, incorporating human rights standards to 
protect victims, American standards of prosecutorial 
independence, duties and protections, and provisions on 
appointment, tenure protections and qualifications of 
prosecutors, as well as standards to protect victims.  Despite 
initial resistance, the Advisor has persuaded the AGO to 
consider forming vertical prosecutions and/or special 
divisions/task forces in specialized areas, such as, 
corruption and financial crimes, war crimes, and AGO 
investigation of prosecutor discipline and ethics violations. 
Resubmission of the law to the legislative process is expected 
within the next two months. 
 
Criminal Procedure Code 
----------------------- 
 
¶13. (U) The JSSP, as a member of an internal working group, 
has been a major contributor in evaluating and proposing 
improvements to the Interim Criminal Procedure Code (ICPC). 
The group is articulating problems with the Code and drafting 
solutions, which will be presented to the Attorney General. 
JSSP is also coordinating comments and recommendations on the 
Code from professors at the Faculty of Law and Economics and 
the Sharia Faculty. 
 
¶14. (U) Preparations are underway for the formation of a 
working group, to be comprised of Afghan and international 
experts, to draft a new Criminal Procedure Code.  JSSP has 
been invited to participate in that working group. 
 
Legal Education and Training 
---------------------------- 
¶15. (U) JSSP conducted an assessment of the training done by 
Afghans and international donors, what is needed, and the 
state of post-university legal education. The assessment 
revealed a number of misunderstandings and choke-points that 
must be addressed to create a functional Afghan criminal 
justice system.  For example, formal legal education in 
Afghanistan has never been designed to produce a qualified 
entry-level prosecutor.  Rather, a specialized, post-graduate 
training known as the stage was an additional requirement. 
However, during the years of conflict, the stage was 
destroyed.  At the invitation of the AGO, JSSP is part of the 
team developing course materials and a model curriculum to 
reestablish the stage for prosecutors.  The curriculum is 
expected to be approved by the AGO by mid to late February. 
 
¶16. (U) The assessment also revealed that training received by 
prosecutors is of poor quality, unfocused, repetitive and 
oftentimes lacks an appreciation of both the substance and 
realities of Afghan law and practice, which is a result of the 
AGO having no control over or not tracking the training.  At 
the invitation of the AGO, JSSP is part of the team developing 
oping 
standardized curriculum for prosecutors and in embedding an 
AGO training committee, responsible for drafting standard 
operating procedures for  approving and tracking curriculum, 
course materials, as well as, tracking attendees and trainers. 
 
Training 
-------- 
 
¶17. (U) JSSP trainers have trained:  25-30 prosecutors on 
Advanced Investigation and Prosecuting Corruption & Financial 
Crimes (6 day program); 20 women defense lawyers on the 
functions and roles of an independent bar association (2 
days); 15 law professors on the basic differences between the 
Afghan Interim Criminal Procedure Code and the U.N. approved 
Criminal Procedure Code and the effects on human rights (1 
day); 25 prosecutors on Investigation and Prosecution of Rape, 
Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence under Afghan Criminal 
Procedure and Law (2 days); 22 private and government lawyers 
on Bar Governance (1 day); 25-30 private and government 
lawyers on Organizational Development (1 day); 25-30 private 
and government lawyers on Codes of Conduct and Professional 
Responsibility; nine law school professors and 3-4 selected 
law students on the form of analysis applied by Sharia 
scholars who support human rights (1 day); and 30 prosecutors 
on criminal procedure (7 day program). 
 
¶18. (U) JSSP has led the development of the Governing Charter, 
as well as, operational aspects of the National Legal Training 
Center (NLTC), a multi-story training facility being 
constructed by the Italian government and UNOPS on the campus 
of the University of Kabul.  JSSP will provide $100,000 to 
furnish the facility upon completion of construction, expected 
November 2006. 
 
¶19. (U) In support of the Supreme Courts initiative to 
reestablish the stage for judges, JSSP provided classroom 
supplies. 
 
Other activities 
---------------- 
 
¶20. (U) JSSP assisted the Minister of Justice in developing 
the Justice for All Framework (JFA), a 10-year justice sector 
strategy, which was approved by the GOA (Cabinet) in October 
¶2005. 
 
¶5. 
 
¶21. (U) JSSP Experts are permanent members of Justice 
Consultative Working Groups (JCWG), created by the MOJ to 
draft legal benchmarks and indicators for his presentation at 
the London Conference, as well as for, inclusion in the 
Afghanistan National Development Strategy.  The JCWG are also 
in the process of developing comprehensive strategies, 
including detailed analyses, cost analyses, and donor 
commitments, for the necessary reforms identified in the JFA. 
 
¶22. (U) JSSP has been monitoring the case of an inmate death 
with implications of corruption at the highest level in the 
Kabul Police Station. JSSP is regularly called on by Embassy 
officials for legal assistance concerning the Afghan criminal 
justice sector. 
 
Projects under development 
-------------------------- 
 
¶23. (U) A functional AGO law library, including space, 
furniture, lamps, generator, photocopy machine, and 
translations of international standards, obscure Afghan 
criminal laws and government/administrative documents, and 
international criminal law conventions of concern to AGO 
prosecutors. 
 
¶24. (U) Archive system and location, with file cabinets, 
files, to unite the disparate filing locations for each 
Department/Division within the AGO. 
 
¶25. (U) Provide investigating prosecutors with cameras, film 
(or digital and printer) telephones and phone cards for 
communication with the police. 
 
¶26. (U) Publication and distribution in Dari of applicable 
laws to all prosecutors, including the ICPC, 1965/1974 CPC (as 
some parts still used to fill gaps in the ICPC), 1976 Penal 
Code, various criminal laws (former and reformed), and various 
other laws needed, such as Government Procurement Laws. 
 
¶27. (U) JSSP is developing a project proposal to translate 
international laws and treaties into Dari and Pashtu and 
publish 10,000 hard bound copies of these texts.  Funding is 
being sought for this project. 
 
¶28. (U) Comment: The JSSP is functional and has become fully 
entrenched in the Afghan justice sector, seeking to address 
gaps in training and to build institutional capacity in 
Afghanistans nascent judicial and prosecutorial institutions. 
INL is closely monitoring its efforts and will work with the 
Chief of Party to ensure that the JSSP provides targeted 
assistance as outlined in the project plan. Post will provide 
regular progress reports on the work of the JSSP. End Comment. 
 
NEUMANN 
 
 
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