VZCZCXRO4500
PP RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #2942/01 3111042
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061042Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6072
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 002942 
 
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: PHASE 2 VOTER REGISTRATION OFF TO A GOOD START 
 
REF: A. KABUL 2939 
     ¶B. KABUL 2914 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Phase 2 voter registration for the eight northern 
provinces and Paktya and Kabul provinces began November 5. 
The Independent Elections Commission (IEC) reported that 322 
of the 326 Phase 2 sites are open.  Delays in delivery of 
supplies prevented four sites in remote areas of Badghis 
province, along the northwestern border with Turkmenistan, 
from opening on schedule.  The IEC estimates these sites will 
open by November 8. As expected, first-day turnout appeared 
to be light.  IEC Deputy Chief Technical Officer Zekria 
Barakzai noted that Phase 2 contains large population 
centers, including the cities of Kabul, Herat, 
Mazar-e-Sharif, Kunduz, and Gardez, and the IEC estimates as 
many as 1.5 million voters may register during Phase 2. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Mission officers on November 5 visited a smattering 
of voter registration sites in Kabul city, including schools, 
a Ministry of Women Affairs site, and a mosque.  The 
locations were clearly marked, fully staffed, and properly 
equipped.  IEC officials were cognizant of voter registration 
procedures, including politely asking the foreign guests for 
their IEC observer identification cards.  A PRT officer 
visited a voter registration center in Shebergan, capital of 
Jowzjan province, and reports operations were running 
smoothly on opening day. The Free and Fair Election 
Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) has organized some 350 local 
volunteer observers for Phase 2, as it did in Phase 1.  FEFA 
will use recently-obtained international funding to publish a 
formal Phase 2 report on data compiled from its observer 
checklist and follow-up interviews with voters. 
 
--------------------- 
SECURITY OUTLOOK GOOD 
--------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The Afghan security forces' coordinated assessment 
of security for Phase 2 provinces shows almost all areas as 
"low threat."  The analysis identifies only Paktya province 
and Sorobi district in Kabul as "high threat" areas. Phase 1, 
in contrast, contained areas "under enemy control," although 
no Phase 1 area reported deaths in connection with voter 
registration activities (REF A.)  The Baghlan provincial 
electoral officer praises the close cooperation he has 
enjoyed with his security counterparts; local police thwarted 
a suicide bomber targeting a voter registration security 
planning meeting in Puhl-i-Khumri.  Security coordination in 
Paktya and Kunduz provinces includes daily meetings.  Some 
Kunduz IEC staff have received threats; only one of the 27 
district field coordinators, however, has resigned as a 
result. With the assistance of the PRT, the Herat IEC has set 
up a small coordination center for voter registration 
operations. 
 
------------------------------------ 
IEC LOGISTICS BETTER BUT NOT PERFECT 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  In contrast to Phase 1 (REF B), all Phase 2 
provinces received registration kits and delivered them on 
time to their districts, excepting the four remote districts 
in Badghis province.  Delays in delivery of tents have left 
some sites operating in the open in all Phase 1 provinces; in 
Baghlan province (Phase 2) 50 percent of sites are without 
shelter until the tents arrive.  Regional IEC staff and 
provincial electoral officers cite Thuraya satellite phones 
as their next greatest need. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  IEC field staff continue to show ingenuity in 
devising solutions to logistical and supply problems.  In 
Herat, electoral officials adjusted their delivery plan to 
compensate for last-minute changes in site locations, whether 
requested by IEC headquarters, or, in one case, by local 
religious leaders.  Herat officials compensated for materials 
missing from some registration kits by assigning the complete 
kits to remote areas and using the incomplete kits in the 
city, where alternatives are easier to obtain.   In Archi 
district in Kunduz, the IEC recruited the 
culturally-acceptable alternative of a venerable greybeard to 
operate the women's registration center when no female 
district field coordinator could be found. 
 
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LINKING PEACE AND DEMOCRACY 
--------------------------- 
 
KABUL 00002942  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  The IEC held a press conference in the provincial 
electoral office of Kabul to mark the opening of Phase 2. 
Kabul governor Haji Din Mohammed, an ethnic Pashtun, told the 
media that "The time of Kalashnikovs is past" and democracy 
is Afghanistan's future. Other notables at the podium took up 
similar themes, describing elections as the way forward to 
peace and security, and voting as the duty of every Muslim. 
IEC Chief Technical Officer Daoud Ali Najafi said "these 
elections are directly the responsibility of every Afghan" 
and underlined Afghan, vice international,  leadership of the 
electoral process.  Najafi noted that popular support was key 
to the success of Phase 1 registration; he also congratulated 
the media on their important role in voter education. A 
similar IEC press conference took place in Herat. 
 
¶7.  (U) The 10 Phase 2 provinces are Kabul, Herat, Balkh, 
Kunduz, Badghis, Faryab, Jowzjan, Samangan, Baghlan, and 
Paktya. 
WOOD