VZCZCXRO2439
RR RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #1828/01 2030857
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 210857Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4758
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 001828 
 
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 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL AF
SUBJECT: NURISTAN: NEW GOVERNOR, FRESH PRIORITIES 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Hazrat Din became Governor of Nuristan on July 5, 
replacing Tamim Nuristani.  His priorities start with popular 
engagement and good governance, and he intends to establish 
representative district councils - shuras - for consultations on 
whom to nominate as district administrators and ministerial line 
directors.  He will seek a close relationship with the Independent 
Directorate of Local Governance.  The Governor views economic 
development and infrastructure construction as contingent on 
improvements in governance and security.  Hazrat Din will involve 
the provincial ulema council in governance.  As a former commander 
in the anti-Soviet war, a former governor, and a Foreign Ministry 
official (both overseas and in Kabul), Hazrat Din brings 
considerable experience to the position.  End Summary. 
 
A New Governor for Nuristan 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The President's office announced on July 5, 2008, that 
Hazrat Din would succeed Tamim Nuristani as Governor of Nuristan. 
In ten days of consultations, culminating in participation in an 
Eastern Region Governors' Conference in Asadabad on July 14, the new 
Governor developed the priorities for his tenure.  The Governor sees 
economic development as contingent upon security and good 
governance. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In discussions July 13 with U.S. civilian and military 
officials in Jalalabad, Governor Hazrat Din said his first item of 
business was the development of shuras (councils) in each of 
Nuristan's eight districts.  The primary task of the district shuras 
would be to ensure security through popular involvement in 
governance.  Crucial to the success of the bodies will be the extent 
to which they represent the people, said the Governor.  He stressed 
the need to provide shura members with financial stipends, noting 
that a "100-man Shura" in Kamdesh district had never received the 
funds that President Karzai had promised in February.  (Note:  At 
the Governors' Conference in Asadabad on July 14, Jelani Popal, 
director of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), 
said he would make funds available for Kamdesh "immediately."  End 
note.) 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Governor said his second priority is good governance. 
He expressed particular concern over the competence of district 
administrators and ministerial line directors.  He noted that some 
lack capacity, and he plans to seek training and equipment for those 
people.  Others are corrupt, and he will recommend their removal. 
He said he will ask the local people, through the shuras, to 
nominate replacements.  It is also important to construct housing 
and offices for staff in Parun, the provincial capital, and in 
district centers. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Governor's third priority is development.  The task is 
not "reconstruction," he noted, but new construction.  However, 
development depends on governance.  He told us that even the 
communist government had implemented a program of public works in 
areas it wanted to reward, and projects alone do not deliver 
stability. 
 
Military Operations an Immediate Concern 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) One of the Governor's most pressing concerns was the 
ongoing insurgent incursion in Bargimatal district, which borders 
Pakistan.  At the Governors' Conference, Nuristani officials as well 
as Afghan military and border police requested logistical support 
from the U.S. military, which was duly offered. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Governor also expressed concern about reports of 
civilian casualties in recent actions by Coalition and Afghan forces 
in Nuristan.  He said he had the names of civilians killed in the 
July 4 incident in Waigal district.  We noted that the U.S. 
military's action had come in response to attacks.  In addition, the 
July 13 attack on the U.S. positions in Wanat, which killed nine 
soldiers and wounded 15, indicated that there was considerable 
hostile activity in the area.  The Governor undertook to consult 
with us closely on such incidents. 
 
IDLG's "Man in Parun?" 
---------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) IDLG Director Popal made a point at the July 14 Governors' 
 
KABUL 00001828  002 OF 002 
 
 
Conference of listing three areas in which former Governor Tamim 
Nuristani had exhibited bad governance:  the excessive amount of 
time he spent outside the province; allegations of misuse of public 
funds; and a failure to travel enough to the districts of the 
province.  Popal said the new Governor needed to deal more 
effectively with the populace, and he urged the U.S. government, and 
especially the PRT, to help him get off to a strong start.  Popal 
also noted that Hazrat Din had the support of the Nuristani 
parliamentary delegation (MPs Dad Mohammad and Hawa Alam Nuristani 
and Senator Noorullah Mameed). 
 
¶9. (SBU) Popal's statements about the former Governor laid down 
clear markers for the new Governor.  For one thing, Kabul will 
assess Hazrat Din's performance on the basis of governance, first 
and foremost.  For another, IDLG will play an important role in 
judging the new Governor.  Finally, the governor must get along with 
the members of the parliamentary delegation. (Hazrat Din made an 
important statement by bringing Dad Mohammad with him to meetings 
with U.S. officials in Jalalabad.) 
 
Role of Religious Leaders 
------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Hazrat Din brought with him to the Jalalabad meetings the 
head of Nuristan's ulema council, Ayaullah Khayum.  The Governor 
also noted that district shuras should coordinate their activities 
with the ulema council.  It had been a matter of concern to many 
secular Nuristanis that former Governor Tamim had tried to work 
closely with the mullahs of the province.  This seems unlikely to 
change. 
 
Biographic Notes on Governor Hazrat Din 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Eng. Hazrat Din Noor Jalali, a native of the Titin Valley 
in Nuristan's Nurgram District, is 50-60 years old.  His father, 
Wakil Alef Din, represented Titin in the Laghman Provincial Council 
in the 1960s.  Hazrat Din's grandfather, Jalal Din, was locally 
prominent, and the Governor added the name "Jalali" in his honor. 
Hazrat Din studied engineering in Kabul, and he earned a degree in 
geology in Baku, Azerbaijan (then in the Soviet Union) during the 
Daoud regime (1973-1978).  He also earned a degree in international 
politics from an on-line university in King of Prussia, 
Pennsylvania. 
 
¶12. (SBU) During the anti-Soviet war, Hazrat Din was a commander in 
the Titin Valley under Abdul Rab Rasul Sayaf's Et-ihad Islami.  The 
government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani named him Governor of 
Nuristan in 1992, however, the province was never organized to any 
degree.  Later, he was District Administrator of Nurgram District 
during the governorship of Sher Gul, the first Governor of Nuristan 
in the Karzai administration. 
 
¶13. (SBU) He was Afghan Consul General in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from 
2002 to 2007.  He then came to Kabul to work in the cultural affairs 
section of the Afghan Foreign Ministry.  During this period, he 
became head of the NBCC construction company. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Hazrat Din speaks English, as well as Russian, Arabic, 
Dari, Pashto, and the local Nuristani language. 
 
¶15. (SBU) Addressed as:  Governor Hazrat Din.  (This is the 
Governor's stated preference.  Nuristanis have no family names.  If 
they require a name for official purposes, most assume the name 
"Nuristani" or "Noor," but prefer to use their given names.  "Din" 
is not a family name, but an honorific that modifies his proper 
name.) 
 
WOOD