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DE RUEHPW #0476/01 2730738
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FM AMCONSUL PESHAWAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7670
INFO RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 4708
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD IMMEDIATE 4443
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI IMMEDIATE 1646
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE IMMEDIATE 1639
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL IMMEDIATE 1274
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI IMMEDIATE 0923
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA IMMEDIATE 0545
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE IMMEDIATE 0593
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO IMMEDIATE 0546
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON IMMEDIATE 0681
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA IMMEDIATE 0635
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUMICEA/USSOCOM INTEL OPS CEN MACDILL AFB FL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PESHAWAR 000476 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  9/29/2018 
TAGS: PTER ASEC MOPS PGOV PK AF
SUBJECT: AFGHAN AMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE TO PAKISTAN KIDNAPPED OUTSIDE 
PESHAWAR 
 
REF: A) PESHAWAR 436, B) PESHAWAR 154 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Michael Via, Acting Principal Officer, U.S. 
Consulate Peshawar, Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (C) On September 22, the Afghan Ambassador-designate to 
Pakistan was abducted and his driver killed in a Peshawar 
suburb.  Three vehicles and at least six kidnappers were 
involved in the attack.  Police have set up barriers around the 
suburb of Hayatabad but are only stopping inbound vehicles. 
Another diplomat at the Afghan Consulate in Peshawar reported 
that a passing driver pulled a pistol on him the following day. 
Although no one has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, 
the Trade Commissioner at the Afghan Consulate believes that 
attack was politically motivated.  It resembled the incident on 
August 26 in which the vehicle of the Principal Officer at the 
U.S. Consulate was fired upon, though those who kidnapped the 
Afghan diplomat appear to have taken more elaborate measures. 
 
Diplomat Kidnapped, Driver Killed 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C) On September 22, the Afghan Ambassador-designate to 
Pakistan was kidnapped and his driver killed in Hayatabad, a 
western suburb of Peshawar.  The 51 year-old Abdul Khaliq Farahi 
worked as Consul General (CG) for approximately six years in the 
North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) capital but had received his 
ambassadorial credentials earlier in the day.  The Trade 
Commissioner at the Afghan Consulate, Engineer Mohammad Qasim 
Safi, met with Acting Principal Officer and provided details of 
the attack.  Safi asked the U.S. not to speak out about the case 
so that the CG's perceived value to the kidnappers does not rise. 
 
¶3.  (C) A pickup truck blocked the unarmored vehicle of the 
Afghan CG in Hayatabad's upscale phase III neighborhood as he 
returned home from the office at approximately 1300, as is 
typical during the Ramadan work schedule.  Two more vehicles 
blocked to the rear, one of which angled to keep traffic away. 
Four assailants carrying Kalashnikovs and pistols, dressed in 
camouflage with their faces masked by head scarves, exited the 
rear blocking vehicle and dragged the diplomat and his driver 
from their car.  When the driver tried to prevent the gunmen 
from taking away the CG, they shot him multiple times, at least 
once in the head, resulting in his death.  According to the 
eyewitnesses, the kidnappers acted in a calm and deliberate 
manner despite the busy surroundings.  One of the eyewitnesses 
is, according to Safi, a successful and well-respected 
businessman whom he personally has known for a year. 
 
Police Erect Barriers around Hayatabad 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) Safi said that Pakistani officials in Islamabad conveyed 
their concern by pointing to the erection of barriers around 
Hayatabad.  He noted, however, that the police only check 
inbound traffic.  He pointed out that such measures would not 
prevent the kidnappers from moving the CG out of Hayatabad into 
nearby tribal areas.  (Note: It is more likely that the barriers 
were designed to prevent unauthorized trucks from entering the 
city in the wake of the bombing at the Marriott Hotel in 
Islamabad on September 20.  End note.)   Even so, Safi suspects 
that the CG is still in town, since many of those previously 
kidnapped in Hayatabad have been held locally.  He believes the 
farthest the CG would likely be taken is Jamrud, approximately 
ten miles away in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas' 
(FATA) Khyber Agency.  Press reports on September 24 indicated 
that the police launched searches in the Peshawar area and 
Khyber Agency without turning up any leads and have turned their 
attention to Mohmand. 
 
Separate Harassment of Afghan Diplomat 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) On September 23, the Second Secretary at the Afghan 
Consulate in Peshawar filed a police report stating that the 
driver of a passing vehicle drew a pistol on him and verbally 
harassed him, saying that the problems in the area were because 
 
PESHAWAR 00000476  002 OF 002 
 
 
of Afghanistan.  The men against whom the diplomat filed a 
complaint went to the police station to file a counter-claim. 
 
Possible Motivations 
-------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C) Safi believes that the kidnapping was politically 
motivated.  He stated that the two probable reasons were to 
barter for the release of Pakistani nationals held in 
Afghanistan or to undermine good relations between Afghanistan 
and the new government in Pakistan.  Pakistan's former 
Ambassador to Afghanistan was abducted February 11 in Khyber 
Agency, and his kidnappers demanded the release of prisoners 
held in Pakistan (ref. B). 
 
¶7.  (C) There have been no claims of responsibility for the 
kidnapping.  Safi nevertheless speculated that Pakistani 
intelligence agencies or Maulvi Kabir, who openly moves in the 
area and is the son of the Mujaheddin-era Afghan commander 
Maulvi Khalis, may have been behind the attack.  Local warlord 
Mangal Bagh has publicly denied involvement in the abduction, 
and Safi mentioned that he was "too small a fry" to get involved 
in an action like this.  An ethnic Pashtun, Safi has lived in 
Peshawar for the past year.  He served as a deputy minister in 
the Afghan government in the early 1990s alongside President 
Hamid Karzai, but before and after those periods he has lived in 
Pakistan. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8.  The abduction of Farahi came two days after the Marriott 
bombing and a month after the attack on the convoy of the 
Principal Officer (PO) of the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar (ref. 
A).  This time the kidnappers appear to have taken more 
elaborate measures than in the previous attack on the PO. 
VIA