VZCZCXRO2682
PP RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #5810/01 3460323
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 120323Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4817
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3373
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 005810 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, S/CR, S/CT, SCA/PAB, EUR/RPM 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE 
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN 
OSD FOR KIMMITT 
CENTCOM FOR CG CFC-A, CG CJTF-76, AND POLAD 
RELEASABLE TO NATO/ISAF/AUS/NZ 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV INR AF
SUBJECT: PRT/PANSHJIR: KABUL-PANJSHIR RELATIONS PART I: THE 
PROVINCE IN THE CAPITAL 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY: Relations between the valley province of 
Panjshir and the capital city of Kabul have evolved this past 
year.  Panjshiris in the central government maintain their 
prominence, although the sacking of Abdullah Abdullah as 
Foreign Minister this spring caused some resentment in the 
province.  The main political change has been the emergence 
of Panjshir Governor Bahlul as an active presence in the 
capital, lobbying for his province.  His relations with 
President Karzai, however, have worsened, punctuated by a few 
sharp exchanges over policy at a recent governors, 
conference.  Road projects have strengthened ties between the 
province and capital, creating an increasing volume of 
traffic.  Improving the road link will have the greatest 
long-term impact on relations.  END SUMMARY 
 
¶2.  (U) In terms of political, commercial and 
people-to-people ties, the PRT has witnessed several dramatic 
changes between Panjshir and Kabul this past year.  This is 
the first of two cables on the subject.  Part I examines the 
role of Panjshiris in Kabul.  Part II will report on 
Kabulites in Panjshir. 
 
------------------- 
Official Delegation 
------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Panjshiris, our contacts tell us, possess a sense of 
exceptionalism based primarily on the Massoud-led resistance 
against the Soviets and later the Taliban.  Meshrano Jirga 
member Aref, a Panjshiri, calls it "a special psychology." 
Panjshiris are proud of their strong representation in the 
central government, which includes First VP Massoud, Wolesi 
Jirga Speaker Qanooni, NDS Director Saleh, Meshrano Jirga 
member Aref (a former NDS Director) and Army Chief of Staff 
Bismalluh Khan, a high-powered delegation, they say, for a 
small-sized province. 
 
¶4.  (U) Panjshiri exceptionalism, our contacts continue, also 
translates into a sense of entitlement for positions of power 
in Kabul, and a sense of resentment if expectations are not 
fulfilled.  We hear grumblings when Panjshiris are sidelined 
in Kabul.  For example, when Dr. Abdullah was sacked as 
Foreign Minister this spring, or when, earlier, Fahim Khan 
was released as Defense Minister.  The charge that the GOA is 
elbowing aside Panjshiris is a constant refrain we hear in 
our political talks in the valley. 
 
--------------- 
Lobbying Effort 
--------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) Governor Bahlul, at the urging of the PRT, has 
emerged as a strong Panjshir lobbyist in Kabul.  He travels 
to the capital regularly.  He moved his wife and five 
children to Kabul earlier this year, mainly to take advantage 
of better schools.  He has forged a strong political alliance 
with VP Massoud and, although not a Panjshiri, Education 
Minister Atmar.  The Embassy's Fourth of July reception 
illustrated the Governor's tack.  He hobnobbed with Massoud 
and Qanooni, but spent most of his time talking with Atmar on 
education matters, a high priority for the province.  Bahlul 
has also attended several of the Ambassador's receptions in 
Kabul for visiting American governors. 
 
¶6.  (U) Members of the Provincial Council (PC) occasionally 
travel to Kabul on official business.  The three women PC 
members tell us they encounter less resistance working in 
Kabul than in Panjshir.  The PC Chairman, Behaduri, joined 
his Afghan counterparts in late summer to report directly to 
Karzai on provincial challenges.  In his overview, Behaduri 
reportedly told Karzai of the positive conditions in 
Panjshir-- above all, that the province was free of poppy 
cultivation and terrorist activity. 
 
 
KABUL 00005810  002 OF 003 
 
 
------------ 
Policy Clash 
------------ 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The Governor is circumspect on airing his views of 
President Karzai.  He often evades questions from visitors on 
the subject, for example, with Management U/S Fore earlier 
this year.  Privately, he tells us he receives scant support 
from Karzai.  Bahlul spent months, without success, trying to 
arrange a meeting with Karzai to discuss Kabul-Panjshir ties. 
 Karzai, he said, kept rebuffing him.  Their only channel was 
through Saleh at NDS but, as Bahlul admitted, his own ties 
with Saleh were strained and the dialogue with Karzai stifled. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Bahlul's moment of interaction with the President 
came on Nov. 21-22 in Kabul at a counter-narcotics conference 
chaired by Karzai and attended by all Afghan governors. 
Karzai reportedly chided the assembled governors, and Bahlul 
felt singled out, for cultivating contacts with the 
international community at the exclusion of the GOA.  Bahlul 
told us he was disturbed by the criticism, since he had found 
contact with the President virtually impossible. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) On the conference subject of counter-narcotics, 
Karzai called on the governors to take a bigger role. 
Bahlul, according to the read-out he gave us, queried Karzai 
in plenary session:  Why has the central government -- with 
all its counter-narcotics resources, including an entire 
ministry, failed in its effort and then turned to the 
governors to address the poppy problem?  Karzai's answer, 
Bahlul reported to us, was incoherent. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Another clash came the next day, Nov. 22, at the 
same seminar.  Again, Bahlul spoke out during the conference, 
this time questioning Karzai's "abdication of responsibility" 
in allowing the Helmand governor to broker the Musa Qala 
deal.  Such authority, Bahlul reportedly argued, belonged at 
the central level, not provincial; and such an agreement with 
the Taliban, however indirect, was a grave mistake.  The 
Kandahar governor also voiced criticism of Musa Qala.  Karzai 
reportedly turned to the Interior Minister for a reply and 
left the room.  Bahlul summed up his relations with Karzai 
after their exchanges:  "more direct, more honest, and worse 
off." 
 
------------------- 
Panjshir Fraternity 
------------------- 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Panjshiris have a habit, contacts tell us, of 
leaving the valley but never losing their identity. 
According to Wolsei Jirga member Regestani, a Panjshiri, 
there may be more Panjshiris outside the valley than inside. 
A local joke plays on this theme:  When astronauts make it to 
Mars, they may well find a watermelon and, inside it, a 
Panjshiri.  The Panjshiri community in Kabul numbers in the 
multiple thousands.  They rallied this past May to help 
reconcile the feuding Bahlul and Saleh, two of the most 
prominent Panjshiris.  VP Massoud and MJ member Fahim Khan 
presided over a large gathering at the Intercontinental 
Hotel, over two hundred Panjhshiris, according to an 
eye-witness account.  The event symbolized the close-knit 
Panjshir society, even in its Kabul version.  Bahlul and 
Saleh embraced before the group in a gesture of 
reconciliation, with the assembled Panjshiris acting as 
witnesses. 
 
¶12.  (U) There is another group of Panjshiris in Kabul, our 
contacts report.  These are the thousands of young men who 
have moved to the capital to seek jobs and education.  Many, 
we understand, have landed in the security sector as guards, 
a reflection of their mujahideen background.  Their 
remittances in support of their families are an important 
financial stream into the province.  The May 29 riot in Kabul 
 
KABUL 00005810  003 OF 003 
 
 
involved many Panjshiris who had resettled there recently. 
MJ member Fahim Khan told us he became personally involved, 
along with WJ Speaker Qanooni, to urge quiet among the 
Panjshiris that day. 
 
¶13.  (U) The Governor told us that Panjshiris have "two 
lives: a home in the valley and an apartment in the capital." 
 Most officials in the provincial administration, including 
the Governor and Deputy Governor, spend weekends in Kabul 
with their families.  By the start of the weekend, on 
Thursday afternoon, official business comes to a halt as 
Panjshiris strike out for the capital.  The USAID-funded road 
projects now connect the valley with the capital almost 
entirely by paved surface.  It has accelerated the trend of 
Panjshiris heading to Kabul, either for weekends or for 
resettlement.  Fahim Dashty, the editor of Kabul Weekly, told 
us he can drive from his Panjshir home to his Kabul office in 
just over two hours, admittedly "at a crazy speed."  Earlier, 
it took half a day. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶14.  (SBU) In terms of Kabul-Panjshir relations, the single 
most transformative force this year has been the USAID-funded 
road project.  It has paved the way for more intense 
political, commercial and people-to-people interaction.  On 
the political side, the PRT has encouraged Governor Bahlul to 
raise his profile in Kabul to lobby for his province.  In 
countless conversations, we have laid out the rationale for a 
Panjshir advocacy in GOA corridors:  extending the reach of 
the GOA into the provinces starts with extending the 
reachback of the Governor to the capital.  Panjshiris, 
through their lobbying, are now more active in pulling the 
GOA into the province.  As Part II of this series will 
report, we see little of the GOA pushing into the province. 
END COMMENT. 
NEUMANN