VZCZCXRO8573
PP RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHPW RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #1165/01 0991313
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091313Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7377
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3920
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 001165 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/FO GASTRIGHT, SCA/A 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE 
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN 
OSD FOR SHIVERS 
TREASURY FOR ABAUKOL 
CENTCOM FOR CG CJTF-82, AND POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV SOCI EAID ECON AF
SUBJECT: PRT/MAZAR: SNAPSHOT OF FARYAB PROVINCE: ECONOMY, 
SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND SECURITY SITUATION 
 
REF: KABUL 1032 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Faryab, the gateway to the north, has an 
agricultural economy crippled by severe drought.  Many 
families cannot afford to buy enough food.  Development has 
been slow to reach the region, which has fewer than 20 miles 
of paved roads.  Half of all children start school, but most 
girls leave after the fourth year and boys by the end of the 
seventh.  Young men go abroad to seek jobs since the only 
jobs in Faryab are in the failing agricultural sector.  The 
security situation has improved, although crime is still a 
problem.  The police are finding a role in the community, 
however, the weak court system remains ignored.  Bright spots 
include the introduction of electricity to the two largest 
towns and ongoing construction of the ring road.  Schools and 
other development projects are slowly being built.  UNAMA has 
finally staffed its office in Meymenah.  Attention needs to 
be paid to the varied challenges presented in the North. 
While the Taliban may not be poised at the doorstep of the 
northern provinces, locals are looking for alternatives.  Now 
is the time to help Faryab before locals find another, less 
desirable way to deal with their current circumstances.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
----------------------------- 
Basic Provincial Demographics 
----------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) Predominantly rural Faryab is the largest province 
in northwest Afghanistan.  Faryab is a chokepoint for many of 
Afghanistan,s major smuggling routes.  PRT Meymaneh asserts 
that the Taliban's strategy included attacking the region 
from Faryab province.  Most of Faryab,s one million 
inhabitants are poor farmers.  It lacks any real urban 
centers.   Meymaneh, the province,s capital and largest 
town, is home to about 70,000 residents.  There is a higher 
concentration of Uzbeks (50 percent) and Turkmen (14 percent) 
than in Afghanistan as a whole.  Pashtuns represent 20 
percent of the local population.  General Dostum and his 
Junbesh party dominate the province. 
 
------------------------------ 
Severe Drought Hampers Economy 
------------------------------ 
¶3. (SBU) The economy is suffering from the effects of a 
severe drought that has lasted for more than four years.  The 
province is almost entirely agricultural, producing mainly 
rain-fed grain and grazed sheep.  The few small dams provide 
little irrigation water.  Crop failure last year was 70-90 
percent, which also caused animal fodder prices to shoot up 
prohibitively.  Sheep starved across the province, forcing 
owners to slaughter them thus glutting the market.  Some took 
their cattle and sheep east, where prices were higher in the 
fall.  More and more residents of the province continue to 
face the threat of starvation.  Some have borrowed money 
against production of drought-resistant poppy, although 
cultivation is estimated to be lower this year except in the 
westernmost district of Quaisar.  According to the Provincial 
Council, farmers do not need payments, but rather long term 
loans so they can introduce plowing with tractors (they use 
cows), modern farming techniques for vegetables and orchards, 
and better seeds. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Markets are well-stocked but most people have no 
money to shop.  A significant amount of new economic activity 
is driven by the international community.  The PRT employs 
1000 local workers on projects including construction of a 
new camp.  Last summer, doors and windows were unavailable 
for purchase, although demand for them was high for use in 
foreign-financed school construction and shelter kits.  In 
response to this demand, two carpentry shops have been 
opened.  The new electricity connection (opened two months 
ago) and the ring road construction, expected to finish in 
two years, should stimulate economic activity in the medium 
term.  For now, Faryab has fewer than twenty miles of paved 
roadway, even though the province is the eighth largest in 
 
KABUL 00001165  002 OF 003 
 
 
Afghanistan.  Electricity is only available to 10 percent of 
residents and only at night. 
 
------------------------- 
Food Shortages Widespread 
------------------------- 
¶5. (SBU) Afghan and international observers agree that in the 
short term, this province needs food more than schools, 
highways and clinics.  In addition to its normal program, the 
World Food Program had planned supplemental drought relief of 
7500 metric tons of wheat.  According to the Norwegian 
Political Advisor at the PRT, the wheat has been stuck in 
Pakistani warehouses for the last five months and is not 
expected to be released soon. 
 
------------------ 
Few Jobs Available 
------------------ 
¶6. (SBU) Few jobs are available outside of the agricultural 
sector, which is failing, so young males go abroad to work. 
Since the summer of 2006, there has been little family 
migration.  Experts estimate outward migration exceeds inward 
migration, including returning internally displaced persons 
(IDPs), by 25 percent right now.  Shias go to Iran; Sunnis to 
Pakistan.  An estimated 40 percent of residents are involved 
in the opium business, which is an important income source 
for the warlords brokering power in the districts. 
 
----------------------------- 
Few Children Remain in School 
----------------------------- 
¶7. (SBU) Education also faces challenges: there are shortages 
of facilities, teachers, and secondary schools.  Of the 407 
schools in the province, 84 have buildings.   The rest are in 
tents, homes, mosques, or under trees in the open air.  Five 
to ten schools were built in the last year by the GOA.  There 
is a shortage of qualified teachers; some cannot read or 
write.  The international community is supplying 130 school 
tents for the new school year.  An estimated 50-60 percent of 
children go to school, split almost evenly between girls and 
boys.  In the fifth year, there is a sharp drop in the number 
of girls attending; many boys are pulled out before the 
seventh year, bringing the gender balance back.  Factors in 
pulling children out of school include the lack of secondary 
schools and the security risk for girls who must often walk 
to schools in neighboring villages.  Boys also leave to start 
work, girls to be married, often extremely young. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Security Better, But Crime Problematic 
-------------------------------------- 
¶8. (SBU) Security overall has improved over the last two 
years, although crime is rampant.  Weapons are still 
widespread.  NGOs have no particular security issues; it is 
more Faryab,s isolation that gives them pause about opening 
offices here.  The long-awaited Meymenah UNAMA field office 
was finally staffed in February. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Around Meymenah, the police are the most visible and 
the most trusted of the government institutions, which are 
largely ignored by local residents.  The local ANA 
representation and the PRT are both small.  The countryside 
is Dostum territory.  There, warlords tell the people that 
they are the security against the return of the Taliban. 
Many believe them since they have not seen any serious 
alternatives.  People use police services; the courts have a 
more dubious reputation and are largely avoided.  There are 
no professional judges or prosecutors.  In Faryab, a little 
more than half of the incidents are handled in the Shura 
system; the rest are handleged by the court system. 
------------------------------------- 
Slow Development Hinder's GOA's Reach 
------------------------------------- 
¶10. (SBU) More than half of NSP funding goes to the water 
sector.  The population has asked for more schools; three 
 
KABUL 00001165  003 OF 003 
 
 
girls high schools are under construction in district 
centers.  Basic health services programs are operating but 
few clinics are located in the mountains and no winter 
service is provided.  In Kohistin, for example, all 
government influence is weak.  No girls go to school there 
after the fourth year, no boys after the seventh.  The 
provincial hospital is under-funded and under-staffed.  It 
still lacks the specialties that were promised to level two 
provinces like Faryab.  Some micro-hydro projects are planned 
but none have been started. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The Chinese and Korean firms constructing the ring 
road have been the targets of several attacks but work is 
continuing.  On November 26, President Karzai opened the new 
power line from Turkmenistan.  Before that date, no 
electricity was available in Faryab.  Because construction of 
the grid in the city is going on during the days, power is 
available only at night in Meymenah, Andkhoy (the province,s 
second largest town) and a few villages along the power 
line,s route.  Some more prosperous residents have 
generators.  Most do without electricity entirely. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) The GOA still has much work to do to bring even a 
small improvement to the very low standard of living of most 
Faryab residents.  The international community continues to 
support the GOA to ensure that progress continues, albeit 
slowly, so that the people of Faryab will motivated enough to 
resist any potential Taliban sweep up to the North from the 
South. 
NEUMANN