VZCZCXRO9582
OO RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHPW RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #3414/01 2791318
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061318Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0759
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN 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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 003414 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, S/CRS 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG 
NSC FOR JWOOD 
OSD FOR SHIVERS 
CG CJTF-82, POLAD, JICCENT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID KDEM PGOV AF
SUBJECT: EVENTS IN PARLIAMENT; SEPTEMBER 17 - 28 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Parliament is completing the essential 
business of considering, modifying and, if it chooses, 
endorsing the 100-plus Presidential decrees enacted before 
its creation, even as Speaker Qanooni's dispute with 
President Karzai over presidential versus parliamentary 
prerogatives escalates.  The Meshrano Jirga (Upper House) 
approved the UN Convention Against Corruption, and the Wolesi 
Jirga (Lower House) passed the Structure of Government Bill; 
both of these are London Compact Benchmarks.  The parliament 
also reached agreement on amendments to key pieces of 
legislation regulating the media, passports, and morgues. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Upper House Approves UN Convention Against Corruption 
(UNCAC): The Upper House approved the UNCAC by a wide 
majority on September 25 after determining that the 
convention is consistent with Sharia law.  During the debate, 
convention proponents emphasized the importance of 
Afghanistan's participation in international conventions and 
treaties.  Once President Karzai signs the convention, it 
will become Afghan law.  Final ratification would satisfy 
London Compact benchmark 2.2, which calls for Afghanistan to 
ratify the convention by March 20, 2008. 
 
¶3. (U) Structure of Government Bill Approved in Lower House: 
Lower House members, after weeks of sometimes acrimonious 
argument, approved all but one article of the Structure of 
Government bill.  This bill derives from the London Compact, 
which encouraged a rationalization of Afghanistan's many 
governmental ministries to facilitate budgetary economies and 
fiscal sustainability.  The Lower House decided to fold only 
the Ministry of Urban Development into another as yet 
unidentified ministry.  In addition, the Lower House decided 
to eliminate the Anti-Corruption Commission.  The house has 
not yet passed the text of the bill to the Upper House. 
According to Assistant Second Secretary of the Upper House, 
Senator Abdul Khaliq, the Upper House "will drop everything" 
and discuss the text once they receive it. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Spanta Controversy Persists:  Speaker of the Lower 
House, Mohammad Yonus Qanooni, and members of the Qanooni's 
United Front Group, sought to ratchet up pressure on 
President Karzai to fire Foreign Minister Dr. Rangin Dadfar 
Spanta by twice cancelling confirmation hearings for three 
Karzai appointees, once on September 20 and again on 
September 27.  The renewed calls for Spanta's dismissal cite 
his alleged mishandling of refugee negotiations in Iran; 
however, the foreign minister actually aroused warlord MPs' 
ire by calling earlier this year for their prosecution as 
human rights violators.  Ambitious Lower House Speaker 
Qanooni and MPs in his United Front Group have transformed 
the May 2007 no-confidence vote on Spanta into a contest with 
the Palace over interpretations of the constitutional power 
granted to the executive and legislative branches. 
 
¶5. (U) Upper House Approves Extradition Treaty:  The Upper 
House ratified prisoner extradition treaties with Tajikistan, 
Russia, and Iran.  Several MPs expressed the hope that a 
similar treaty could be signed with Pakistan, to which many 
eastern Afghans frequently travel. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Sharia Central to Debate on Road Toll Reform Bill: 
Lower House discussion of the bill to reform tolls on roads 
leading into Kabul focused on the acceptability of 
non-compliance fines under Sharia law.  A block of 
conservative Sunni MPs argued that such fines violate Sharia 
in the Sunni religions tradition, and are thus 
constitutionally unacceptable.  Several Shia MPs argued in 
favor of the bill.  In an effort to close debate, some MPs 
suggested sending the bill to the Supreme Court for 
interpretation, while others recommended a parliamentary 
committee study its religions implications.  The Lower House 
was unable to decide on a course of action.  (Comment:  This 
debate once again illustrates the importance of Sharia law 
interpretation to MPs' consideration of issues that to most 
Westerners would seem to be entirely secular. Comment.) 
 
¶7. (SBU) Lower House Approves Passport Bill, Later Rescinds 
Decision:  The Lower House initially approved the bill with 
 
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minor amendments.  Curiously, the same house reopened debate 
on the bill several days later when a group of conservative 
MPs argued it violated Sharia by allowing women to obtain 
passports and, possibly, travel on their own without a male 
family member escort.  Speaker Qanooni attempted to convince 
the conservatives that traveling alone and obtaining an 
independent passport are separable issues, but opponents 
succeeded in having the bill referred back to committee. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Upper House Passes Police Reform Bill with 
Recommendations:  The Upper House recommended only that the 
Lower House add a sentence prohibiting "war criminals" or 
"human rights abusers" from becoming police officers.  The 
Upper House did not define either term.  (Comment: 
Interestingly, several MPs are suspected war criminals or 
human rights-abusers or both.  The Upper House's inclination 
to marginalize human rights-abusers and war criminals, while 
positive, may lead to difficulties in reconciling the two 
houses' versions of the bill. End Comment.) 
 
¶9. (SBU) Morgues-Regulation Bill Amended and Passed by Lower 
House:  The Lower House approved a morgues-regulation bill 
with two amendments.  MPs accepted an amendment stipulating 
the importance of maintaining female doctors on morgue staffs 
to examine female corpses.  They also accepted an amendment 
that would only permit organ donation from decedents who had 
registered their consent to donate, or, in the case of a 
mentally disabled decedent, with the consent of an authorized 
family guardian.  (Comment:  The stipulation about 
maintaining female doctors on morgue staffs is indicative of 
this extremely conservative Muslim society's obsession with 
maintaining separation between the genders. End Comment.) 
 
¶10. (SBU) Comment:  Qanooni-Karzai Contest Escalates: 
Qanooni used his considerable political skills to increase 
substantially parliament's through-put in late September, but 
his machinations increasingly focus on a presidential run in 
the next election and his most obvious opponent, Karzai. 
Their continued power struggle has found expression in the 
dispute over Spanta's fate, Qanooni's obstruction of Karzai's 
nominations, debate over a constitutional commission to 
replace the Supreme Court as the final arbiter of the 
Constitution and parliament's review of a new local 
governance office established in the Palace to avoid 
parliamentary oversight.  As the election approaches, the 
tension between the two men will likely increase and infect 
more aspects of the parliament)Palace relationship.  End 
Comment. 
 
 
WOOD