VZCZCXRO7091
PP RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #2245 2360537
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 230537Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5215
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS KABUL 002245 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, S/CRS 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG 
NSC FOR JWOOD 
OSD FOR SHIVERS 
CG CJTF-82, POLAD, JICCENT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV AF
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENT'S ABSENTEE MP PROBLEM 
 
REF: A. KABUL 2175 
     ¶B. KABUL 1193 
 
¶1. (SBU) Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of the 
National Assembly) has failed to make quorum on more than 
half of its business days since its new legislative session 
began July 22.  Moreover, members lose quorum before they 
finish the day's business on many other occasions.  The poor 
attendance record consistently leaves the National Assembly 
unable to resolve conflicts and vote on legislation, stalling 
progress on important issues ranging from the elections law 
to funding the country's higher education system.  Recent 
attempts by the Lower House's staff to shame members into 
reporting for work may have had some effect -- one day after 
the names of 21 chronically absent MPs appeared in the media, 
a nearly full house gathered for a mundane discussion of the 
Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS). 
 
¶2. (SBU) After passing two bills in its opening week in late 
July, the Lower House has not been able to hold votes on any 
bill and is only occasionally able to muster the attendance 
necessary for non-binding resolutions in the current session. 
 In the meantime, without the ability to vote on and settle 
issues, minor disputes drag on long after exhausting 
productive debate (ref A).  Committees, too, have had trouble 
with absenteeism, making it difficult to resolve disputes 
over legislation before the subject is brought up on the 
house floor.  As seen with last session's walkout by 
non-Pashtun MPs over a Kuchi Pashtun's ethno-nationalist 
remarks (ref B), MPs will also break quorum to antagonize 
their opponents or block unfavorable measures from reaching a 
vote.  The Upper House, which is less powerful and mainly 
ratifies decisions made in the Lower House, also has 
difficulty making quorum on most days.  Members of both 
houses include several former warlords, who others say lack 
the interest to attend sessions regularly and actively 
participate in the day-to-day business of legislating. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Parliament staff working closely with Lower House 
Speaker Yunus Qanooni began naming absent MPs this week in an 
effort to shame them in to showing up.  Staff reported more 
than 60 MPs had regularly missed sessions throughout August, 
while others make only cursory morning visits as the Lower 
House begins one of its three weekly sessions, then return 
home before lunch.  Still other MPs are nowhere to be found 
-- some suspected of requesting asylum in Europe, some likely 
on lengthy summer vacations.  However, Qanooni's efforts are 
couched in political strategy.  Among the 21 names he 
released this week is Abdul Qaum Karzai, brother of President 
Karzai, while many major players in Qanooni's opposition 
United Front coalition escaped the public exposure despite 
equally poor attendance.  In any case, the effort produced a 
short-term victory as  powerbrokers Burhanuddin Rabbani 
(Jamiat party leader and a former president) and Ustad Rasoul 
Sayyaf (a former Northern Alliance warlord) joined other 
long-absent MPs for Wednesday's ANDS discussion, an 
encouraging display of responsiveness to potentially negative 
media coverage. 
WOOD