VZCZCXRO1623
RR RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #1552/01 1760615
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240615Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4458
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 001552 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, S/CRS, EUR/RPM 
NSC FOR WOOD 
OSD FOR WILKES 
CENTCOM FOR CG CSTC-A, CG CJTF-101 POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON PGOV PREL PTER AF
SUBJECT: PRT ASADABAD: GOVERNANCE AND DEVELOPMENT 
IMPROVING, SECURITY AS GOOD AS CAN BE EXPECTED 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Governor Wahidi extended good governance 
and implemented an aggressive development strategy despite 
ongoing insurgent activity in Kunar over the past six months. 
 Governance is improved; development is increasing; and 
security is improving slightly.  The threat of improvised 
explosives is higher than six months ago.  The most intense 
fights are still in central Kunar's highlands, upper Watapur 
valley, Waygal valley leading into central Nuristan, and east 
of the Kunar River. 
 
Demonstrating Good Governance 
----------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) Governor Wahidi is encouraging directors to meet 
beneficiaries in the districts rather than in Asadabad.  He 
reinforced his message "to bring provincial government closer 
to the people" by attending security shuras in Chaparara, 
Sarkani, Pech-Manogai and Chowkay districts.  The Governor 
travels independently with a police detail to eight of 
Kunar's 14 districts and apologizes to shuras in the other 
six when he arrives with Coalition escort, noting that he 
looks forward to the day he can travel freely.  Kunar's 
Provincial Council remains weak, but Wahidi has encouraged 
members to travel with him to community engagements to 
increase their visibility.  The Governor reinvigorated the 
provincial government's link to religious leadership by 
recruiting Maulwi Obaidullah Bahari, a leading local cleric, 
as a regular speaker at government events.  Wahidi embraced 
the government's creation of a new Chief Executive position 
and relies on the Independent Directorate for Local 
Governance-appointee as a liaison with the PRT and other 
development actors. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Wahidi takes anti-corruption measures seriously.  He 
successfully lobbied the Ministry of Finance to have the 
Customs Department's provincial representative replaced 
because of suspected timber-smuggling facilitation.  He 
similarly advocated the removal of the Media Director after 
discovering embezzlement.  Wahidi made public announcements 
about the firings to explain his rationale and improve the 
government's transparency.  He also began an audit of 
provincial directors, monthly budgets. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Popular criticism of Wahidi is low.  His biggest 
public affairs challenge is his rocky relationship with 
provincial Chief of Police Jalal and occasional rivalry with 
NDS Chief Jamiullah.  Some observers say the apparent 
animosity between the three offices undermines Wahidi's case 
that the provincial government is stronger.  Opponents say 
Wahidi is concentrating too much on development in peripheral 
areas and failing to deliver services like water and power to 
Asadabad.  The Governor tasked Asadabad's mayor with a 
massive clean-up campaign, and Asadabad now has sidewalks in 
front of market stalls, cleaner drainage ditches, and trash 
bins.  Provincial Administrator and long-time Kunar official 
Fazl Akbar says the public considers Wahidi a genuine 
anti-corruption czar. 
 
More Roads, More Skilled Craftsmen 
---------------------------------- 
¶5. (SBU) The PRT's road into the Shuryak Valley infuriates 
insurgents, who have tried to destroy it.  However, despite 
several attacks on machinery and one bomb in the road, the 
council of elders advising the PRT continues to support the 
project.  The Deywagal Valley Road is both the most attacked 
and most defended project in Kunar.  The contractor has 
pushed 11 kilometers into the valley, and residents have 
fought alongside locally hired security guards against 
insurgents at least five times.  Korengal Road construction 
stalled in early 2008, but restarted following a series of 
negotiations between Safi and Korengali tribesmen.  Three 
kilometers are nearly complete.  Afghan Engineering District 
(Army Corps of Engineers) manages the road project, which 
stretches from the end of the Pech Valley paved road through 
western Kunar to Wama, Nuristan. 
 
¶6. (U) USAID's provincial flagship program, the Kunar 
Construction Center, graduated 140 males to full job 
placement.  The school expanded to include some students from 
Laghman and Nuristan, and the new class matriculated in 
 
KABUL 00001552  002 OF 003 
 
 
mid-June.  The USAID-funded Local Governance and Community 
Development program earmarked USD 811,000 for community-based 
projects across Kunar over the next six months.  USAID will 
build a farm-to-market road from Tantil village in the Pech 
Valley. 
 
Security: Asymmetric Tactics Increase 
------------------------------------- 
¶7. (SBU) Militants are unable to overrun district centers or 
challenge ISAF troops effectively.  The last U.S. military 
fatality in Kunar was January 26.  The main roads are clear, 
and the bazaars are teeming with business.  Attacks do little 
to slow the PRT's operational tempo to oversee USD 48 million 
in Commander's Emergency Response Program infrastructure 
development projects.  UNAMA and U.S. military contacts 
report that insurgent-initiated incidents of effective fire 
are down from last May and June.  The trend in enemy activity 
is toward asymmetric tactics: insurgents attacked civilian 
project workers with increasing frequency since December.  In 
Ghaziabad, they kidnapped and mutilated several truck drivers 
in March and April, reprising a similar attack that occurred 
in February 2007.  Militants killed a Ghaziabad road worker 
in May.  The threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) is 
higher than six months ago.  Fighters continued experimenting 
with command-wired configurations in the Korengal, and used 
one in the Deywagal Valley.  IEDs detonated on several Afghan 
army and police convoys, mostly on unimproved roads. 
Pavement effectively deters IED emplacement.  Militants blew 
up four new police checkpoints this spring. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The hottest spots in Kunar are still Sarkani 
district east of the Kunar River and the confluence point of 
five valleys at Gatigal Sar in central Kunar (accessible from 
Korengal, Shuryak, Badel-Narang, Deywagal and Nowabad 
valleys).  Watapur district grew a small poppy crop this 
year, and insurgents still move freely north of that valley's 
fork.  The Waygal Valley near central Nuristan is unstable, 
but a Coalition base is relocating to a more strategic 
location there.  Western Chapadara district is most 
physically distant from government institutions.  Insurgents 
have intimidated road workers west of the district center, 
burning machinery and issuing night letters.  Local 
populations in these areas are still under significant 
insurgent pressure to resist participation in government and 
coalition projects.  However, communities continue to provide 
workers to projects. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The increased deployment of Afghan National Security 
Forces (ANSF) on the east side of the Kunar River south of 
Asadabad has made it more difficult for insurgents to move 
supplies and fighters into central Kunar.  Two Afghan Army 
Kandaks (battalions) deployed to Kunar in January.  One 
focuses east of the Kunar River in Sarkani and Khas Kunar, 
and the other is deployed along the Pech Valley and in the 
Korengal.  Afghan Border Police now have a nearly complete 
Kandak south of Asadabad, and the new Kandak for Asmar 
district is half-staffed, with half in training.  The 
increase in ANSF presence east of the river has drastically 
improved the amount of patrolling, participation in joint 
operations, and enemy interdiction.  Coalition Forces have 
begun 30-day immersion training for police units in each 
district.  Chowkay, Narang, and Sarkani police graduated 
recently, and Dyncorp mentors reported significant 
improvement in their performance.  Asmar and Naray police 
began immersion training in June.  Kunar's remaining 
auxiliary police will complete sustainment training to roll 
over into regular police before the September 30 deadline. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Comment: Overall, Kunar's government made great 
strides in infrastructure development and responsiveness to 
constituents.  The usual hotspots continue to pose security 
challenges.  The shift of ANSF and Coalition Force attention 
to the east side of the Kunar River was a huge success and 
should continue with troop reinforcements north of Asadabad. 
Soft targeting by insurgents is a source of concern, because 
an increase in threats to civilian project workers could 
create local perception that security is deteriorating.  Now 
that the PRT is building into contested areas, road projects 
may occasionally stall as Kunaris (who desire roads and 
 
KABUL 00001552  003 OF 003 
 
 
ancillary benefits such as markets, clinics, and schools) 
negotiate terms of survival with insurgents who have fewer 
places to retreat.  We should support this.  Paving in fits 
and starts is still paving, and longer building seasons mean 
more young men are employed continuously.  The PRT will 
encourage Governor Wahidi to keep doing what he is doing. 
WOOD