VZCZCXRO0806
OO RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHPW RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #1344/01 1091518
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191518Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7629
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSOCCENT MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 3980

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001344 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/FO DAS GASTRIGHT, SCA/A, S/CRS, SA/PB, S/CT, 
EUR/RPM 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG 
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN 
OSD FOR SHIVERS 
CENTCOM FOR CG CJTF-82, POLAD, JICCENT 
REL ISAF/NATO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER ASEC MARR AF
SUBJECT: PRT LASHKAR GAH: GOVERNOR HOSTS JIRGA IN SANGIN 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (SBU) Following the recent military operation to clear 
the Taliban from Sangin district, on April 12 a Government of 
Afghanistan (GOA) and ISAF delegation traveled from Lashkar 
Gah to Sangin to meet with a group of elders.  Governor 
Wafa's delegation included the Police Chief, head of the 
Ulema Shura, and a member of the Provincial Council from 
Sangin.  Wafa gave a prepared speech to the approximately 100 
elders assembled, discussing improvements in security, 
inviting people to return to Sangin and assuring them that 
the GOA was committed to security and development in the 
district.  He specifically mentioned the Kajaki energy and 
infrastructure project and the benefits it would bring the 
Province.  The Task Force Helmand Commander spoke of ISAF's 
support for the Afghan National Army's efforts and reaffirmed 
that ISAF troops were here to support the GOA and pursue 
hardcore Taliban and foreign fighters.  Some of the elders 
spoke with the Governor and the Chief of Police and offered a 
number of requests and complaints, the latter including 
accusations of looting by Afghan National Police.  The jirga 
should be considered a success, as it brought together a 
significant number of local elders with Provincial Government 
officials to air concerns and look ahead.  That success could 
result in a newly reinvigorated Wafa, whose outreach efforts 
towards tribal leaders had flagged in recent months.  As a 
measure of stability and security returns to the district, 
the PRT will engage local leaders and provincial officials on 
the (re)introduction of the Afghan government and 
reconstruction to the district.    END SUMMARY 
 
Tribal Outreach Follows on Heels of Sangin Operation 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
¶2.  (SBU) Following the recent military operation to clear 
the Taliban from Sangin district, located in northern 
Helmand, on April 12 a Government of Afghanistan (GOA) and 
ISAF delegation traveled from the provincial center of 
Lashkar Gah to Sangin to meet with a group of tribal leaders 
and others from the district.  Governor Wafa led the GOA 
delegation, which included his Chief of Police, the head of 
the Ulema Shura, and the Provincial Council (PC) member from 
Sangin.  Representatives of Task Force Helmand (TFH) and the 
PRT included HTF Commander Brigadier Lorimer, the HTF Deputy 
Commander, the acting head of the PRT (civilian) and the 
USAID representative.  Approximately 100 Sangin elders 
participated.  (NOTE: Estimated attendance before the shura, 
from Afghans in Lashkar Gah, ran into the hundreds.  Some 
locals in Sangin, informed of the shura before it occurred, 
expressed doubts that a sufficient number of influential 
elders would attend to make any decisions resulting 
meaningful.  One hundred could be considered a significant 
turnout, especially considering how soon it took place after 
commencement of the operation and that there were troops in 
contact with anti-government forces roughly four kilometers 
away from the jirga site during the event.  END NOTE) 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Wafa gave a prepared speech to the elders 
assembled, covering a variety of themes: expressed thanks to 
the Afghan National Army (ANA) and National Police (ANP) for 
their hard work; called for the need to stop foreign 
fighters; the district's residents are returning to Sangin; 
conveyed the importance of elders participating in district 
shuras; and requested Sangin residents to send 100 young men 
to be trained as ANP.  He asked the shura what its priorities 
were for reconstruction and development and assured them that 
local contractors would participate in reconstruction.  Wafa 
also spoke of the benefits of the Kajaki energy and 
infrastructure project for Helmand and Kandahar provinces. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The PC member from Sangin told the elders that the 
international community was there to help Afghans, that the 
 
KABUL 00001344  002 OF 002 
 
 
residents needed to "take their district back" and that 
Afghans must stop killing each other. (NOTE: It was not made 
clear from whom they should take the district back. END NOTE) 
 The head of the Ulema Shura cited a passage from the Koran 
to support his assertion that Muslims and Christians can and 
should work together. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Brigadier Lorimer spoke to the elders, explaining 
that ISAF wanted Sangin to be a better place and that 
stability led to development.  He also spoke of ISAF's 
support for the Afghan security forces and reaffirmed that 
ISAF troops were there to support the GOA and pursue hardcore 
Taliban and foreign fighters and that once the Taliban were 
removed the district would be a safer and more prosperous 
place for the elders and their families. 
Tribal Leaders Respond 
---------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) A number of the elders spoke with the Governor and 
the Chief of Police -- sometimes quite passionately or 
angrily -- and offered a number of requests and complaints. 
One prominent local elder, pointing out that for 29 years 
there had been no GOA presence in Sangin, said that the 
district's residents were not happy with the Taliban and 
welcomed ISAF and GOA support.  Those voicing complaints 
mostly pointed to looting by the ANP, though some requested 
that ISAF troops move out of the villages. 
 
Shura Reinvigorates the Governor 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Governor Wafa was immensely pleased with the shura. 
 The success of the event -- as he saw it -- may have 
reinvigorated the Governor, who, in a subsequent meeting with 
PRT representatives, spoke of other shuras he wished to hold. 
 Specifically, in the near future Wafa plans a jirga in Nahri 
Sarraj, a district that is a focus of the PRT's development 
and reconstruction efforts and the site of the first 
construction camp related to the Kajaki project.  Governor 
Wafa's message echoed those of President Karzai during his 
visit to Lashkar Gah on March 29 when the President met with 
Wafa and 300 elders. 
 
Comment 
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¶8.  (SBU) Wafa's enthusiasm for the jirga is both encouraging 
and justifiable.  Not long after the operation commenced, and 
while ISAF and the GOA were still prosecuting it, GOA 
officials and ISAF representatives met in the district center 
with a significant number of local elders to speak frankly 
about problems and possibilities.  As a measure of stability 
and security returns to the district, the PRT will engage 
local leaders and provincial officials on the 
(re)introduction of the Afghan government and reconstruction 
to the district. 
 
 
WOOD