VZCZCXRO2910
OO RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHIK RUEHKUK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #3049/01 1891002
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 081002Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1239
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 0268
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2674
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 6133
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 1503
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 2818
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 003049 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, S/CR, EUR/RPM 
NSC FOR HARRIMAN 
OSD FOR BREZEZINSKI 
REL NATO/AUST/NZ/ISAF 
CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A, CG CJTF-76 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: PGOV EAID MARR ECON SOCI AF
SUBJECT: PRT/BAMYAN: OFFICIALS MAKE NZ PRT SCAPEGOAT 
FOR PACE OF DEVELOPMENT IN BAMYAN 
 
KABUL 00003049  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Summary 
-------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Officials have begun their annual blame the 
internationals for everything campaign, this time 
focusing their ire on the PRT.  Official carping about 
the PRTs (mis)perceived lack of activity in Bamyan 
has reached new heights, capped by recent caustic 
remarks from WJ and PC members to the PRT Commander. 
r. 
Such self-serving comments betray the nervousness of 
local officials about their inability to deliver 
development to the people of Bamyan.  End Summary. 
 
The PRT Does Nothing for the People of Bamyan 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
2 (SBU) Local officials have gone out of their way in 
recent weeks to snipe at PRT efforts. Refugee and 
Repatriation Director Sayed Ramatullah Anwari accused 
the PRT of letting children die.  (Anwari was upset 
that the PRT would not build an aqueduct up a 200m 
cliff to a barren plateau where the Government wants 
to build homes for 1000 returnee families.)  Director 
of Communications Azizullah Hamidi piled on, telling 
NZ Planning Officer Meighan that the computer lab the 
PRT provided was useless unless the PRT also 
provided the fuel for the generator that will power 
the computer network. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Officials saved their harshest criticism for 
PRT Commander NZ Navy Captain Ross Smith, however.  PC 
member Mohammad Hussain Wafayee accused the PRT on 
T on 
June 26 of bringing nothing to benefit Bamyans 
people. (This came one week after Wafayee thanked 
PRToff for the PRT development projects in Bamyan, 
past, present and future.)  The most scathing comments 
came from WJ member Ustad Mohammad Akbari at a DIAG 
meeting June 28.  Akbari, in front of over 50 people, 
including some former mujahadeen, said bluntly that, 
the PRT is doing nothing for the people of Bamyan. 
(Note:  This follows comments by Sayad Mohammad Jamal 
Fakori Behisti in Parliament that the US had done 
nothing to help the people of Bamyan.  Amb. Neumann 
has sent a letter to Behisti outliningall the projects 
completed and ongoing in Bamyan. End Note.) 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The worst may be yet to come.  The 
provincial government announced this morning that it 
would hold a public forum for 400 people July 1 to 
discuss security and reconstruction in Bamyan. 
The PRT suspects that the forum will provide officials 
another opportunity to attack  the PRT.  Commander 
ander 
Smith will meet with Governor Sarabi to express his 
concerns about the wave of negative hyperbole. 
 
Comment 
-------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Internationals-bashing is an annual rite by 
the Bamyan government, as they try to shift the 
publics attention away from their own inability to 
secure government resources.  Last year Governor 
Sarabi led the charge, directing most of her 
frustration at UNAMA.  This year the PRT seems to be 
the target of choice.  The WJ and PC members, in their 
first year as elected officials, may feel that 
inability to deliver most keenly, and thus are most 
outspoken in their invective.  Governor Sarabis 
silence says more about her own precarious political 
 
KABUL 00003049  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
position than it does for PRT efforts. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The people of Bamyan, fortunately, are less 
vitriolic in their criticism of assistance generally, 
and the PRT specifically.  Even so, it is widely 
understood by the people that secure and stable Bamyan 
Province receives lower levels of assistance than more 
e 
restive provinces in the South and East.  This fact 
has engendered increasing resentment and bitterness 
amongst a Hazara population which continues to view 
itself from a victims perspective. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Officials finger-pointing is even more 
inaccurate than usual this year, as NZAID and USAID 
are engaged in one of the busiest construction seasons 
in the PRTs history.  Such unwarranted, if 
understandable, criticism could not come at a worse 
time for the people of Bamyan, as the NZDF currently 
is evaluating its own medium to long term objectives 
in Afghanistan. 
 
NORLAND