VZCZCXRO9862
PP RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHIL #1384 0920914
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 010914Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6233
INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 8374
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 7592
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3048
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 9419
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 5190
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 3907
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS ISLAMABAD 001384 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID MASS PK
SUBJECT: FATA IMPLEMENTATION UPDATE FOR 03/28/08 
 
REF: ISLAMABAD 1181 
 
¶1. (U)  Below is a summary of US Mission Islamabad's 
activities in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas 
(FATA) along its northwest border with Afghanistan during the 
past two weeks up to March 28, 2008. 
 
ODRP FATA Activities 
-------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) CCMR Contact Group: 
 
The first Civil-Military Contact Group Program, carried out 
under the auspices of the Center for Civil-Military Relations 
(CCMR) of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, 
California, took place in Peshawar on March 19 - 20. 
Participants were a mix of Pakistani military personnel and 
civilian bureaucrats, the latter drawn from the FATA 
Secretariat with the help of USAID capacity-building 
 
SIPDIS 
contractors to ensure a lively discussion. As one senior ODRP 
observer commented, the exercise was a case study in the need 
for the military to engage with the civilian bureaucracy in 
decision making.  CCMR plans a second session with the same 
participants in Peshawar in May, and a third one in Monterey 
and Washington, DC, in July.  ODRP rates the first program 
highly successful. 
 
¶3. (SBU) SOCOM confirms work with Frontier Corps: 
 
USSOCOM Commander Adm. Olson, during a visit to Warsak, 
outside Peshawar, confirmed the value of a sustained train 
and equip effort of the civil armed forces as a necessity for 
a long-term stability in the FATA. 
 
¶4. (U) BCC Torkham Opens! 
 
Ribbon cutting is set for March 29 for the Border 
Coordination Center at Torkham.  BCCs represent a forum and a 
venue for the generation of coordinated action based on a 
common operating picture of Afghan, Pakistani, and ISAF 
elements. 
 
USAID FATA Activities 
--------------------- 
 
¶5. (U)  USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives' (OTI) has 
halted its work in Kurram Agency because of security threats 
and has stopped in Orakzai since March 25 when fighting broke 
out between tribes.  In Kurram, serious fighting between 
Sunnis and Shias killed five in a mid-day attack on an 
ambulance in Kurram on March 27.  Kurram and Orakzai have 
long histories of sectarian fighting. 
 
¶6. (U)  OTI reports a far more positive development at Ekka 
Ghond Market in Mohmand Agency.  On March 25, in a sign that 
OTI's efforts for open bidding practices on its projects are 
taking hold, there was a meeting to open bids for the 
market's sanitation system.  The Project Oversight Committee 
(POC, made up of the Tehsildar, OTI staff, community members 
and the Assistant Political Agent) met with local contractors 
to review the contractors' bids.  After opening the bids, it 
was clear the contractors had given inflated prices. The POC 
demanded the contractors return with more reasonable prices 
that reflected market rates. Even the Assistant Political 
Agent was visibly irritated at the contractors.  This is an 
example of how the POC serves as an oversight mechanism in 
the project. It also demonstrates a new way of conducting 
transparent and accountable bidding that can serve as a model 
for the future. 
 
¶7. (U) To see the in-depth results of an OTI-commissioned 
survey of perceptions of residents of several agencies within 
FATA, go to www.understandingfata.org. 
 
BODDE