VZCZCXRO3886
PP RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHIL #0419/01 0291252
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291252Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4709
INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 8093
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2714
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 8768
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 4682
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 3358
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 3549
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISLAMABAD 000419 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID MASS SNAR PK
SUBJECT: FATA IMPLEMENTATION PLAN UPDATE 1/28/08 
 
REF: ISLAMABAD 00308 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Summary. This cable reports our weekly update of 
USG activities in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal 
Territories (FATA).  It also gives a broad brush look at our 
on-going programs in the region to show how deeply and in 
what variety we are reaching into this difficult and often 
hostile countryside. End Summary. 
 
 
USAID FATA Program Updates 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) USAID's Pakistan Mother and Newborn Health Project 
initiated planning with FATA medical staff and government 
officials and agreed on a detailed work plan on January 24 - 
¶25. Participants included top officials from the FATA 
Secretariat and the Director, Health and Population Welfare 
 
SIPDIS 
for FATA. Medical superintendents and obstetricians from all 
proposed project locations, Khyber and Kurram agencies, along 
with Peshawar and Kohat Frontier Regions, also provided input 
to the plan.  The project will renovate and equip labor and 
delivery and surgical units in three hospitals, train 
existing medical staff for vacant obstetric posts, and 
provide specialist clinic days and medical camps to improve 
access for pregnant women.  By March the FATA Health 
Directorate will identify 20 women to enroll in an 18 month 
community midwifery course.  An equipment needs assessment is 
already underway. 
 
¶3. (U) USAID/Office of Transition Initiative Senior Field 
Advisor arrived at Post. OTI's FATA Transition Initiative 
(FTI) held a five-day training program to orient new partner 
staff to the objectives of the FTI program.  FTI staff met 
for the first time with the new Political Agent (PA) from 
Kurram Agency at the FATA Secretariat.  The PA suggested FTI 
open offices in both Upper and Lower Kurram and that FTI 
staff be non-local because of recent sectarian unrest. 
Additionally, the PA identified points of contact for the FTI 
in Parachinar (Upper Kurram) and Sadda (Lower Kurram).  The 
PA promised office space, accommodation and security for FTI 
staff within the existing administrative set up in Kurram 
Agency. 
 
¶4. (U) The FTI reestablished relations with the Mohmand 
Agency PA after a hiatus due to local unrest. Limited 
activity took place during this reporting period because of 
FTI training in Peshawar.  However, FTI staff identified a 
grant to restore safety and security to the central market in 
Mian Mandi, a market used by six tribes in Mohmand Agency. 
Its rehabilitation would provide a very visible sign of the 
PA improving conditions for local residents. 
 
¶5. (U) USAID is in the process of selecting contractors for 
the following grant programs in Khyber Agency: 
-- Community Revitalization through Flood Protection ($62,900) 
-- Securing Futures through an Improved Water Control System 
($66,304) 
-- Community Enhancement through Modern Irrigation ($32,673) 
 
 
ODRP FATA Program Updates 
------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) The predeployment site-survey 8-man team for the 
Frontier Corps training is on the ground.  The first Border 
Control Center (BCC) is now set to open on March 15, with the 
second set for July.  In response to a request from the 
Coalition Joint Task Force (CJTF) in Afghanistan, we are 
looking at four new possible BCC sites to develop this year. 
 
 
NAS FATA Program Updates 
------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) NAS has funded a geo-spatial mapping project that is 
intended to document all the NAS projects throughout 
Pakistan. USAID plans on participating in this program 
shortly with the introduction of USAID's data into the system 
as well. Once documented with the software, NAS will have the 
ability to demonstrate visually all the roads, bridges, 
micro-projects, outposts and other funding projects. By the 
end of February, the newly-arrived GIS coordinator will have 
 
ISLAMABAD 00000419  002 OF 002 
 
 
a presentation on where we are and what we need to move 
forward. 
 
¶8. (U) The DOJ ICITAP Border Security Advisor met with the 
Secretary of Law and Order, FATA Secretariat, last week to 
 
SIPDIS 
discuss the Levy training program. The Secretariat will 
establish a Project Director for the PC-1 oversight of this 
program. The Secretary identified the need for management and 
strategic planning concepts relating to security. He agreed 
to a full day of meetings this week with Levy commanders and 
junior commanders to review future Levy training needs. 
 
¶8. (U) The Resident Legal Advisor attended the weekly Embassy 
FATA meeting and will begin a review of the judicial 
situation in the NWFP and SWAT to look for areas where we can 
provide assistance. 
 
A FATA Overview 
--------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU)  When political unrest keeps FTI teams from meeting 
the Political Agent in Mohmand Agency, or when six tribes 
mixing in the market at Mian Mandi risk local security, the 
reality of working in the FATA comes alive.  Despite these 
well-known difficulties, we are making inroads. The wide 
range of our projects virtually guarantees that should we 
encounter resistance in one area, we will have an impact in 
some other.  Examples:  USAID funded a one year B. Ed. 
program for 37 women at a Teachers College in Khyber Agency; 
USAID trained hundreds of teachers, community activists, even 
religious scholars in hygiene education; and 108 girls 
schools and 54 communities in FATA have been provided water 
and sanitation facilities with USAID funding. NAS has built 
480 km of roads through the FATA, with 53 km more being 
built, easing access to markets, health centers and 
education. DOD programs, often outlined in these reports and 
elsewhere, obviously touch on an entirely different part of 
our effort to tackle extremism in the FATA.  When we list 
each development in these weekly reports they tend to stand 
out as independent programs, but where we sit, we see them, 
disparate as they are, as threads of a very coherent whole. 
PATTERSON