VZCZCXRO9548
PP RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #2987 3180419
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 130419Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6139
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS KABUL 002987 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, S/CRS 
NSC FOR JWOOD 
OSD FOR MCGRAW 
CG CJTF-82, POLAD, JICCENT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL AF
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENT ASKS FOR ROLE IN RECONCILIATION TALKS 
 
REF: KABUL 2963 
 
¶1. (U) Members of Parliament are calling for a formal role in 
ongoing reconciliation talks in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. 
Farooq Wardak, recently appointed education minister and a 
key player in the Afghan-Pakistani peace jirgas, appeared 
before Parliament's Lower House Nov. 12 to explain the 
government's outreach to insurgent groups, but faced a stiff 
rebuke from legislators who accused the government of 
pursuing the talks outside of legal channels.  Some MPs, like 
many segments of Afghan society (reftel), are worried the 
government will make concessions to insurgent groups 
unwilling to respect the Constitution or that will refuse to 
disarm and recognize the sovereignty of the central 
government. 
 
¶2.    (U) MPs, mostly non-Pashtuns, said during the Nov. 12 
plenary session they did not trust government reconciliation 
efforts that included only negotiators close to President 
Karzai.  Ustad Mohammad Akbari (Bamyan, Hazara) complained to 
Wardak that Karzai was telling foreign governments, including 
the US, more about the talks than he told the Afghan 
legislature.  Fawzia Koofi (Badakhshan, Tajik) said by 
comparison to the Pakistani parliament, Afghanistan's MPs 
were largely left out of the discussions.  MPs asked Wardak 
to include input from Parliament in the government's 
reconciliation strategy ahead of future rounds of talks with 
the Taliban, HIG, or other insurgent groups. 
 
¶3.    (SBU) Wardak's response to the criticism has been less 
than conciliatory.  He told MPs the executive branch was 
pursuing its own agenda without the involvement of 
legislators because Parliament hadn't passed any law 
requiring the government to do otherwise.  He added that the 
negotiations are informal by default, since insurgent leaders 
such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar of HIG and Mullah Omar of the 
Taliban are not participating directly in the talks.  The 
government's response to Parliament's concerns is unlikely to 
satisfy its critics and could trigger more alarm among 
non-Pashtuns who contend that Karzai is pursuing 
reconciliation against the interests of northern ethnic 
groups in order to improve his support for reelection among 
his fellow Pashtuns. 
WOOD