VZCZCXYZ0002
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBUL #0083/01 0151457
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151457Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6705
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS KABUL 000083 
 
KABUL FOR USFOR-A COS 
DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, EUR/RPM 
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 KDEM AF
 
SUBJECT: PRT ZABUL: Who says Afghans don't believe in the ballot 
box? 
 
REF: Kabul 0063 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) A community's appeal to the Zabul Provincial 
Reconstruction team to support voter registration in two outlying 
areas demonstrates that even conservative, rural Afghans recognize 
the power of elections to choose their own government.  The district 
elders' ongoing attempts to establish remote registration sites 
indicate both the success of Phase 3 voter registration in Zabul 
province, as well as the shortcomings of the election official's 
planning and operations, and the behind-the-scenes politics that 
influence Zabul's election system.  Working with the Afghan security 
forces and UNAMA, the PRT will facilitate a plan to bring a mobile 
registration team to the elders' villages in the spring.  As noted 
in REFTEL, the Independent Election Commission plans to operate 
mobile teams in all provinces through July. The fact that these 
Afghans have faith in elections, and in ISAF and UNAMA to monitor 
the process, gives PRT a special charge to help in any way possible. 
 
 
"Voting is the Right of Every Afghan!" 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Traveling for up to 10 hours on single-lane, snow-covered 
dirt roads through Taliban country, 60 elders from the Shamulzai and 
Nawbahar districts in southern Zabul came to the provincial capital 
Qalat January 12 to advocate for their right to register and vote. 
It was not their first trip for this purpose - in December, they 
asked Provincial Election Officer (PEO) Qudratullah Naqashbandi to 
set up voter registration sites in two communities hours removed 
from the district centers where the main voter registration centers 
were located.  The elders said that the PEO and his Shamulzai 
district field coordinator (DFC) Nisah - who is from Qalat, not 
Shamulzai -- promised to look into the possibility, but delayed 
their response until early January.  The elders claim that despite 
security assurances from the tribal communities, and the Shamulzai 
police and army's willingness to move two of four district 
registration centers to Zanjir, the PEO refused, citing security 
concerns. (In October, the provincial Afghan security forces called 
that region one of Zabul's more dangerous, with only limited 
government presence.) 
 
¶3. (SBU)  A group of five elders - three from Zanjir in Shamulzai, 
and two from Lowgee in Nawbahar, called on the PRT January 12 after 
meeting with UNAMA's local head of office.  The elders complained 
that the Shamulzai district center was hours from Zanjir, and the 
long journey essentially disenfranchised more than one thousand male 
voters who could not make the trip for financial or other reasons. 
Women traveling this far is out of the question. "Voting is the 
right of every Afghan. It's a basic human right and the government 
has the responsibility to make sure all Afghans can vote," they 
argued. Without a local registration center or a mobile registration 
visit, most residents of Zanjir would not be able to vote in the 
upcoming election. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The two elders from Naubahar told a similar story - they 
had requested a voter registration site in Lowgee, three hours from 
the district center.  The elders didn't know the name of the 
Nawbahar DFC, who never visited their area, and said they had no 
recourse other than to appeal to UNAMA and the PRT for assistance. 
 
 
¶5. (SBU)  The representatives had two main requests: 1) push the PEO 
and IEC to send a mobile voter registration team to the outlying 
population centers; and 2) ensure that for the election, there will 
be polling sites outside the district centers, particularly in their 
population centers. 
 
¶6. (SBU) They also contended that voter registration and elections 
would be smoother if the district field coordinators and election 
officials were recruited from the district, not deployed from Qalat. 
 Despite the fact that the transportation and lodging of teams of 
outsiders cause serious logistic heartburn for the ANA, ANP and 
district governors across the province during voter registration, 
the Zabul PEO has long argued to the PRT and others that there are 
not qualified "educated" workers available in the districts. 
However, the elders disputed that claim and said that the PEO simply 
refused to visit or recruit outside the provincial capital. (One 
Shamulzai elder spoke decent English, and both sets of elders 
presented the PRT computer-written letters in basic English, 
suggesting that there were indeed some literate people available 
 
outside Qalat.) 
 
Politics in the provincial election office? 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶7. (SBU) The elders also alleged that PEO has political motivations 
to limit the number of voters from their district, which during the 
2004 parliamentary elections did not support his political patron, 
and Member of the Lower House, Hamidullah Tukhi.  (These elders are 
not the first to allege that PEO is closely tied to Tukhi. We have 
heard this from other government officials and NGO staff in Zabul.) 
They also suggested that the PEO's policy of recruiting and hiring 
workers primarily from Qalat supported his effort to control the 
elections. "Everyone in Zabul knows that two ballot boxes went 
missing from our district" in 2004 under PEO Qudratullah's watch, 
they said, indicating that the political stakes were high in their 
remote corner of the province. 
 
Next steps 
---------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Although Phase 3 of voter registration ended in Zabul 
January 11, the PRT will work with the PEO, UNAMA and authorities in 
Kabul to determine a mechanism to allow these communities the chance 
to vote.  The PEO's security concerns are real and must be addressed 
in cooperation with the Zabul police and Army, and a mobile team 
would likely not be deployed until the spring thaws allow more 
traffic in Shamulzai and Nawbahar districts.  We will raise the 
issues about polling stations locations and local recruitment of 
workers with the PEO, as well as with regional and national election 
authorities to ensure that the concerns are addressed in transparent 
and open manner. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) This is a good news story, despite the lack of a happy 
ending.  The travails of one rural community trying to register to 
vote demonstrate that despite significant security threats in the 
district, people in Zabul have a real interest in choosing their 
leaders via the electoral process.  Their saga also indicates the 
large amount of power that individual Provincial Election Officers 
have to influence the outcome of elections through registration and 
polling center placements.  PRT will continue to engage the PEO and 
UNAMA to ensure that voting procedures, including logistics, are as 
transparent and equitable as possible. 
 
WOOD