VZCZCXRO5607
RR RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #1575/01 1761201
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241201Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4485
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001575 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, S/CRS, EUR/RPM 
NSC FOR WOOD 
OSD FOR SHIVERS 
CENTCOM FOR CG CSTC-A, CG CJTF-101 POLAD 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER AF
SUBJECT: PANJSHIR PROVINCE: GOOD SECURITY AND GOVERNANCE; 
DEVELOPMENT ONGOING, BUT COULD BE ACCELERATED 
 
REF: Kabul 86 
 
KABUL 00001575  001.5 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Panjshir remains one of Afghanistan's safest 
provinces.  The Governor speaks out strongly against corruption and 
has taken action to avoid even the hint of impropriety, but the 
Provincial Council is largely in the Governor's shadow.  Development 
and reconstruction is ongoing with a focus on electricity, 
agriculture and roads. 
 
Security Remains Good 
--------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) In 2008, the security situation in Panjshir has been 
disturbed by a few minor incidents.  In March, a small explosive 
device damaged a police checkpoint in Dara district.  Two abandoned 
rockets of amateur quality were found pointed at the PRT in May. 
Neither incident has been explained, and investigations are ongoing. 
 In May, the executive director of Panjshir's hospital (which is run 
by Emergency, an Italian NGO) barely escaped an armed robbery 
attempt in Parwan province while driving his car from Kabul back to 
Panjshir.  The assailants have not been apprehended.  On the night 
of June 14, two rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire were 
directed at the PRT's communications site in Bazarak from a 
ridgeline approximately two-thirds of a mile away across the 
Panjshir river.  The assailants did not hit the communications site. 
 An investigation into the attack is ongoing. 
 
¶3. (U) The Panjshiri people, through their alertness to anything out 
of the ordinary, remain the key to security.  Panjshir is an 
ethnically homogenous Tajik enclave and extremely rural.  It is 
geographically a cul-de-sac; anyone entering or leaving the Panjshir 
valley must pass through the manned checkpoint at the "Lion's Gate." 
 Provinces with active insurgencies, including Baghlan, Nuristan, 
Laghman and Kapisa, share mountainous borders with Panjshir.  The 
Panjshiri security forces' primary concern is guarding these 
mountainous borders against insurgent infiltration. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Amrullah Saleh, the national director of the National 
Directorate of Security, is a prominent Panjshiri and regularly 
visits the province.  Focused District Development (FDD) and rank 
reform efforts (e.g., chiefs failing proficiency examinations) have 
reshuffled some district chiefs of police and reduced some district 
police officer numbers to give sufficient resources to less secure 
provinces.  Panjshir districts have not yet been selected for FDD. 
The Governor and UNAMA have asked the MOI to restore the ANP 
personnel, but overall realignment goals and the relative security 
in Panjshir have precluded granting this request.  Crime levels 
remain relatively low in the province, with most cases involving 
disputes between known parties. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Disbandment of Illegally Armed Groups (DIAG) has resumed in 
Panjshir under the Governor's leadership.  UNAMA and Afghan National 
Army (ANA) representatives assigned to DIAG in Panjshir say the 
program is on track.  The Governor called for weekly DIAG meetings 
and tasked Anaba to be the first district.  UNAMA has recommended 
that Anaba be designated a "Peace District", qualifying it for award 
projects under DIAG.  Upon its eventual designation, UNAMA would 
prefer that award projects be funneled through the Governor's 
office, and not through the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and 
Development (MRRD).  MRRD in Panjshir is slow in implementing 
projects, which could discourage other districts from following 
Anaba's lead. 
 
¶6. (U) Panjshir remains poppy free, but there are unconfirmed 
reports of an increase in hashish cultivation in Khenj district. 
There has been no increase in the small-to-moderate scale of drug 
trafficking through the province. 
 
Governance: Strong and Non-corrupt Governor 
------------------------------------------- 
¶7. (SBU) Governor Haji Bahlol Bahij is responsible for good 
governance in Panjshir.  His anti-corruption stance has hardened. 
Recently, the PRT awarded a tender for the construction of a bridge 
in Rokha district to a contractor who was the Governor's 
brother-in-law, unbeknownst to the PRT.  Despite repeated PRT 
assurances that it awarded the contract according to its standard 
best-value decision matrix, the Governor was adamant that the 
contract be re-bid to avoid even the appearance of impropriety, and 
he pressured his brother-in-law to withdraw from the contract. 
 
 
KABUL 00001575  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Governor Bahlol has sought the removal of incompetent 
provincial ministry officials in the Ministries of Women's Affairs 
and Public Works, but has been unable to get the authorities in 
Kabul to act.  He calls in contractors whom he suspects of skimming 
and/or doing shoddy work to account for their performance.  During 
Provincial Development Council (PDC) meetings, Governor Bahlol asks 
for updates and bluntly chides non-performers.  Relations between 
the Governor and the Provincial Council (PC) are cordial and have 
improved since the election of a new chairperson.  However, the PC 
does not challenge the Governor's preeminence.  The PC is searching 
for an effective niche beyond being conveyors of assistance requests 
from Panjshiri residents. 
 
¶9. (U) The greatest challenge facing governance in Panjshir is the 
scarcity of talented administrators as talented Panjshiris move to 
Kabul in search of opportunity.  The suspicious attitude of the 
locals toward outsiders and the province's poverty make it difficult 
to attract non-Panjshiris to the valley.  The schools are of such 
poor quality that the Governor relocated his family to Kabul to get 
better education for his children.  Ministers rarely visit the 
Panjshir; in fact, no IRoA minister has visited since Education 
Minister Atmar came for the inauguration of the Panjshir Teacher 
Training College one year ago.  When it is difficult to get the 
attention of ministries, the Panjshiris turn to the network of 
influential Panjshiris in Kabul to get things done, which does 
nothing to build the government's capacity to provide services. 
 
Development: Roads, Power, and Fruit Trees 
------------------------------------------ 
¶10. (U) Panjshir authorities' development priorities are roads and 
power.  Education and agriculture are also high priorities.  The 
biggest obstacle to implementation of these development priorities 
is the lack of coordination, information and capable administration. 
 Daqiq, formerly the line-director for the Ministry of Economics and 
now the administrative executive and Independent Directorate for 
Local Governance (IDLG) liaison in the Governor's office, acts as 
Panjshir's primary development coordinator.  He keeps track of 
provincial project lists and compiles the Afghan National 
Development Strategy (ANDS) five-year plan for Panjshir, the 
Provincial Development Plan, and the Counter-Narcotics Trust 
Fund/Good Performers Initiative funds. 
 
¶11. (U) Panjshir's principal economic activity continues to be 
agriculture and, in particular, subsistence cultivation of small 
wheat plots.  Panjshiri officials, most notably Hashmetullah Inyat, 
the capable new line-director for the Agriculture Ministry, are 
encouraging farmers to switch from subsistence wheat crops to 
higher-value horticulture.  The bulk of the Good Performer 
Initiative funds awarded to Panjshir will purchase fruit trees and 
greenhouses.  The value-adding step from fruit-harvesting to 
fruit-processing is also seen as a viable economic development 
possibility for the near- to medium-term.  Agricultural officials 
want to improve animal husbandry through veterinarian services. 
Although previous international community investments in veterinary 
facilities have lapsed, the province is now restarting its efforts. 
Included in these efforts are women's poultry projects, while 
aquaculture (fish farming) is also being studied for the first time. 
 
 
¶12. (SBU) The expenditure of CERP funds in Panjshir has risen every 
year since the PRT was established, including some USD 11 million 
for two major extensions of the paved road, and Afghanistan's first 
electricity-generating wind farm.  On a smaller scale, the PRT's 
engineers and civil-affairs teams, along with USDA and USAID, are 
increasingly lashed up with the line-directors, National Solidarity 
Program staff, and NGO implementers.  Japanese and Polish funding 
for development projects has also come to the valley in 2008 for the 
first time. 
WOOD