VZCZCXRO1435
OO RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #2471/01 1501258
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 301258Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0560
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//JF/UNMA//
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC//J3//
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUMICEA/JICCENT MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFIUU/COMSOCCENT MACDILL AFB FL
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2588
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 2741
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 6015
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 1410

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 002471 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/FO (JGASTRIGHT), SA/A, S/CR, SA/PAB, 
S/CT, EUR/RPM 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG 
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN, KAMEND 
OSD FOR BREZINSKI 
CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A, CG CJTF-76, POLAD 
REL NATO/AUST/NZ/ISAF 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER AF
SUBJECT: PRT/PAKTIKA Q JOURNEY TO WAZA KHWA Q 
PROJECTS, AND GOVERNANCE IN SOUTHERN PAKTIKA 
 
KABUL 00002471  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
 
(SBU) SUMMARY: An early May overland journey from 
PaktikaQs capital Sharana through the districts of 
Khair Kot, Jani Khel, and Wasa Khwa in southern 
Paktika province revealed districts bereft of 
improved roads, infrastructure, and effective Afghan 
government influence.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  PRT Sharana conducted a eight day 
overland trip to remote districts in southern 
Paktika to meet key leaders, conduct medical 
assistance visits and inspect ongoing building 
projects. The trip, while providing medical care for 
over 1200 people, also gave the PRT DOS 
representative the opportunity to meet local leaders 
and the PRT engineer the opportunity to inspect five 
building projects in Khair Kot, Jani Khel, and Waza 
Khwa districts.  The medical side of the trip 
provided positive medical and dental service to the 
Afghan people, many of whom had likely never before 
seen a qualified medical professional.  The leader 
engagements revealed significant shortages of 
resources and staffing for the district government 
offices, and project inspections demonstrated 
deficiencies in nearly all the construction 
projects. 
 
Government Reach Stretched 
 
¶3.   (SBU)  The Afghan government lacks capacity in 
PaktikaQs southern districts.  Waza Khwa district 
center, reached after a hot and dusty seven hour, 
seventy mile, bone jarring  ride from Sharana over 
unmarked desert tracks, is a small mud town of 
little distinction aside from the small American 
military outpost located on its outskirts. Situated 
in an important border province in AfghanistanQs 
southeastern Pashtun homeland and along infiltration 
routes from Pakistan, the desert district of Waza 
Khwa is typical of many remote districts in south 
and central Paktika. Perhaps most revealing of its 
remoteness from central governmentQs influence was 
the discovery that the main currency in exchange in 
Waza KhwaQs market was the Pakistani rupee. Afghan 
currency was not in evidence and only U.S. dollars 
or  rupees were accepted in most shops. Discussions 
with the two resident Afghan government leaders, the 
district commissioner Kadirgul Zadran and chief of 
police Ahmed Wahid Watak revealed the reach of the 
Afghan government to be quite limited in this remote 
area.  With only two operational Toyota pickups, no 
telephones, no radios, no electricity, and 
functioning with only rudimentary offices in mud 
buildings, the chief of police and district 
commissioner are at best able to control only a 
small part of their district.  Support from the 
central government is nearly nonexistent and what 
has been made available suffers greatly from 
inefficiency and apparently corruption. 
 
Project Inspection Reveals Lack of Oversight and 
Likely Corruption 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  In projects in Khair Kot,  Jani Khel, and 
Waza Khwa districts, contractors were observed using 
 
KABUL 00002471  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
inferior materials including weak concrete block and 
poorQuality concrete columns and beams.  The use of 
substandard materials and incorrect mix ratios 
produced concrete which is extremely weak, crumbly, 
and completely unsuitable for its intended 
structural purpose.  This is especially true in the 
construction of the new government center buildings 
in Waza Khwa, which the Afghan government is 
supposed to be funding and supervising.  These 
Afghan Stabilization Program (ASP) buildings under 
construction for well over a year are nowhere near 
completion and are so poorly constructed that they 
likely pose a real danger of collapsing on any 
future occupants. 
 
¶5.   (SBU)   Comment:  Waza Khwa, Khair Kot and Jani 
Khel are remote and undeveloped districts.  The 
district commissioners and chiefs of police, usually 
the only representatives of the Afghan government in 
the districts, lack the resources to effectively 
govern. The planned construction by U.S Army 
engineers this year of a road from Sharana to Waza 
Khwa will help to open up these remote districts. 
However, the lack of resources for the local 
government agencies and the apparent government 
negligence and likely corruption in the construction 
of the ASP government center project in Waza Khwa is 
disturbing.  Despite these problems these districts 
are not in imminent danger of falling to 
Taliban/insurgent forces. Rather they are simply not 
going to make much forward movement until the Afghan 
government commits sufficient resources -  both 
manpower and materiel -  to provide good governance 
and  to decisively dominate the environment. These 
districts need reliable telecommunications and roads 
to tie them to the rest of Afghanistan.  They also 
need honest professional administrators, equipped 
with proper offices and equipment, committed to 
extending the reach of the Karzai government and the 
rule of law. Until this commitment is made these 
districts will remain frontier regions where KabulQs 
rule will remain weak. End Comment. 
 
NEUMANN