VZCZCXRO9978
RR RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #0130/01 0191147
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 191147Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6848
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000130 
 
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STATE PASS TO AID FOR ASIA/SCAA 
NSC FOR WOOD 
OSD FOR WILKES 
CG CJTF-101 POLAD 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ETRD EAID AF
 
SUBJECT: Badghis Chief Prosecutor Alleges Widespread Corruption 
 
Ref:  08 Kabul 2436 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) During a recent meeting with the PRT, Badghis' chief 
prosecutor, Gaws Mohammad, detailed a disturbing portrait of 
wide-scale corruption and neglect within the province, singling out 
Governor Mohammad Ashraf Naseri, among several other provincial 
officials, for his alleged misappropriation of at least twenty-four 
thousand dollars in Independent Directorate for Local Governance 
(IDLG) funds.  Mohammad also advised of an alleged plot to kill him 
upon his return to Badghis province following a three-week stay in 
Kabul.  PRT has no independent verification of Mohammad's 
assertions. 
 
Portrait of an Advocate for Change 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Born in Qades district of Badghis province, Gaws Mohammad 
(Mohammad), a Tajik, has spent most of his career in Kabul.  He has 
extensive legal education, training, and experience.  Unlike most 
provincial officials in Badghis, he has demonstrated a sincere 
interest in working to improve governance and rule of law during his 
short tenure as prosecutor.  In October, for example, he traveled to 
Qades district to meet with the district governor, the local 
prosecutor and judge to discuss ways to improve their working 
conditions and to secure their participation in Department of 
Justice-sponsored training held in Qal-e-Naw in early November. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Mohammad served for two years as the chief prosecutor in 
Ghor province, working closely with the Lithuanian-led PRT to 
improve rule of law and to combat corruption in the underdeveloped 
western province.  He was appointed to Badghis in early October, 
replacing the former chief prosecutor who was widely regarded as 
corrupt. 
 
Harsh Criticism of Provincial Government 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Mohammad noted that during his initial two months as chief 
prosecutor, he had not yet observed any positive contributions by 
Governor Naseri.  He added that the Afghan National Police (ANP) is 
weak and ineffective in Badghis largely because the provincial 
police chief, General Ayub, lacks the requisite leadership for the 
job and also fails to support the prosecutor's office.  He summed up 
Governor Naseri's management of the province as "a feudal system 
with tribal leaders."  He described the provincial government as 
operating 95 percent outside the GIRoA-based processes.  He 
complained of a lack of support from the National Directorate of 
Security (NDS) representatives and lamented that no one in the 
province seemed to care about governance. 
 
Allegations of Corruption 
------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Refreshingly candid in his assessment of the weak links in 
the provincial government, Mohammad mentioned that while in Kabul he 
requested the Ministry of Justice send a team of prosecutors to 
Badghis to investigate Governor Naseri's potential misuse of 
government funds.  He estimated, at a minimum, that Naseri had 
misappropriated approximately twenty-four thousand dollars in IDLG 
funds.  He also identified several other provincial and district 
officials who he claims are engaged in corruption: Police Chief 
General Ayub, Line Minister for Agriculture Arifi(a former governor 
of Badghis), Line Minister for Rehabilitation and Rural Development 
(RRD) Said Rasoul Akbari, the Line Minister for Social Affairs, 
Deputy Governor Sabiri Abdul Ghani, every district administrator, 
and the Head of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) 
in Badghis, an Afghan national, who he claims  misallocates 
humanitarian food aid for personal gain. 
 
Alleged Assassination Plot 
-------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) During his absence from the province, Mohammad learned of 
an alleged plot to plant explosives in his new office located just 
around the corner from the PRT compound in the center of Qal-e-Naw. 
Two weeks before his return, he insisted that someone called him to 
inform him of the rumor that he was going to be killed when he 
returned to Badghis.  A week later, he received a letter from the 
police in Qal-e-Naw advising him of the alleged plot to kill him. 
He emphatically stated that insurgents were not behind the plot to 
kill him.  Instead, he explained that individuals within his office, 
 
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corrupt staff members, were conspiring to get rid of him.  He 
indicated that he had already ordered one cleaner who works in his 
office to be arrested. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Rumors of corruption are not new to Badghis province. 
Governor Naseri's predecessor was charged with misappropriation of 
government funds and served several months in jail in Kabul.  There 
have been persistent allegations of the Line Minister of 
Agriculture's involvement in and oversight of the illegal harvest of 
Badghis' public pistachio forests and general allegations of 
Governor Naseri's misuse of government funds.  A novel concept, 
however, in this largely ignored and undeveloped western province is 
the existence of an Afghan official like Mohammad who is willing to 
stand up to endemic corruption and use the judicial system to ferret 
out corrupt officials to improve governance and restore Afghans' 
faith in their government. 
 
WOOD