VZCZCXRO3583
PP RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #2939 3101236
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051236Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6070
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS KABUL 002939 
 
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 MCGRAW 
CG CJTF-101, POLAD, JICCENT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV AF
SUBJECT: FIRST PHASE OF VOTER REGISTRATION WRAPS UP WELL 
 
REF: A. KABUL 1701 
     ¶B. KABUL 2914 
     ¶C. KABUL 2708 
 
 ¶1.  (SBU) Phase 1 of the voter registration update for the 
14 central highland provinces reached its official end date 
on November 5 with 828,708 voters -- and counting -- added to 
the rolls (REF A).  Nuristan province and selected districts 
in Ghazni, Wardak, and Logar will remain open until 
mid-November to compensate for days lost to security problems 
and logistical delays (REF B).  Outlying areas are still 
transmitting data to the Kabul headquarters of the 
Independent Election Commission (IEC), but IEC Chief 
Technical Officer Daoud Ali Najafi expects that Phase 1 will 
wrap up with some 900,000 new voters registered.  IEC staff 
opened 257 of the planned 260 Phase 1 sites.  The IEC 
publicly acknowledged that registration could not proceed in 
three districts (two in Ghazni, one in Wardak) and explained 
alternative methods to allow these voters to register. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Phase 1 was remarkably free of violence despite 
Taliban threats against officials, sites, and voters.  No 
citizens or IEC staff were killed during Phase 1 -- an 
accomplishment that the IEC counts as one of its successes, 
and a credit to the Afghan security forces.  A mortar round 
landed near a voter registration site in the Rashidan 
district center in Ghanzi, but it is unclear whether the 
voter registration site was the target.  As reported REF C, 
"local Taliban" burned voter registration materials en route 
to Nuristan province. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The fledgling IEC substantially met the challenges 
of starting up operations in remote and difficult terrain 
where roads are few, internet connections are rare, phone 
service is intermittent, and armed opposition groups are 
active.  In less than three months, the Commission hired and 
trained more than 2,500 staff; procured forms, computers, 
furniture, and satellite phones; designed and published 
billboards and radio spots; and distributed materials by 
plane, helicopter, jingle truck, horse, and donkey.  The IEC 
is expanding its public outreach efforts beyond modern media, 
including staging on November 2 a successful and 
highly-publicized national meeting of mullahs who pronounced 
that voting is an Islamic privilege and obligation, and that 
women should be encouraged to participate.  The IEC developed 
an effective working relationship with UNDP ELECT and other 
donor technical advisors -- an international cadre now 
one-fifth the size of that on the ground in 2005 -- and 
retained a strong leadership role in key decisions.  Field 
staff in particular demonstrated commitment and initiative, 
facing down Taliban death threats and solving everyday 
problems with the resources to hand. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Afghan voters in the Phase 1 provinces appear 
eager to participate in the democratic process.  In Kunar 
province, for example, more than 97,000 new voters 
registered, adding about half again as many voters to the 
191,374 who enrolled in the baseline registration exercise in 
¶2004.  Thirty-eight percent of new voters thus far are women, 
a figure that compares favorably with 41 percent in the 
previous electoral cycle.  Local elders in many communities 
offered IEC workers their own security guarantees to 
facilitate registration in remote areas. In Parwan province, 
where IEC staff shared only one vehicle, community leaders 
volunteered to transport election workers so that more 
communities could register. 
 
¶4.  (U)  The 14 Phase 1 provinces are Ghor, Dai Kundi, 
Bamyan, Wardak, Panjsher, Kapisa, Badakhshan, Takhar, Ghazni, 
Nuristan, Kunar, Sar-i-Pul and Logar. 
WOOD