VZCZCXRO7963
PP RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #0313/01 0420426
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 110426Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7327
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 000313 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
KABUL FOR COS USFOR-A 
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: IEC "SATISFIED" WITH VOTER REGISTRATION AFTER 
VISIT TO SOUTH 
 
REF: A. KABUL 000237 
     ¶B. 08 KABUL 003280 
     ¶C. KABUL 000083 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Two senior officials of the Independent Election 
Commission (IEC), with ISAF support, traveled February 2-4 to 
Helmand, Kandahar, and Uruzgan to monitor voter registration 
operations, reach out to voters and key political figures, 
and assess the neuralgic question of equitable Pashtun 
participation in the electoral process.  At the visit's 
conclusion, Zekria Barakzai, the IEC's Deputy Chief Technical 
Officer, pronounced that he and acting head of field 
operations Zamari Qalamiar weQ "satisfied" with voter 
registration in the south.  Barakzai identified immediate 
measures the IEC will take to increase women's participation 
and explore the possibility of voter registration in Baghran, 
a populous Helmand district inaccessible to the government. 
Barakzai also noted "lessons learned" for election operations 
in provinces where anti-government forces are active. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The trip allowed IEC headquarters officials to 
meet with regional and provincial election staff, inspect 
provincial office operations, and observe voter registration 
at sites in the capitals.  The IEC in each province also met 
with the governor or deputy governor, provincial council 
members, Afghan police and army chiefs, and, except in 
Kandahar, local community leaders.  Noor Ali Jaberkhail, who 
manages relations with governors for the Independent 
Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) and who worked as a 
technical expert on previous elections, accompanied the IEC 
officials.  Diplomats from the US, UK, and Netherlands 
Embassies in Kabul, as well as a USAID representative, joined 
the delegation for selected meetings in Helmand, and had 
separate meetings in Kandahar and Uruzgan. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
ADAPTING VOTER OUTREACH TO SUIT THE SOUTH 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  "I tell my people that the voter registration card 
is a political weapon," a tribal leader announced to the 
delegation in Lashkar Gah.  "It can be used against your 
enemy and for your friend."  The senior judge in Tarin Kowt 
led an audience of local dignitaries in reciting Koran verses 
saying Islam forbids changing political leaders by the sword. 
As a result of such colorful exchanges, the IEC resolved to 
adjust its outreach and education campaign in the south, 
focusing on simple, direct messages and emphasizing 
interviews and dialogs on key broadcast stations over the 
more abstract media spots and printed materials developed at 
IEC headquarters.  Barakzai authorized provincial staff to 
immediately contract additional jingle truck loudspeaker 
broadcasts in Kandahar and Uruzgan.  On February 10, Kandahar 
and Helmand radio stations, with US Embassy funding, will 
begin broadcasting spots featuring interviews with the Deputy 
Minister of Haj, the Minister of Women Affairs, and a 
religious scholar. The Australian government is funding 
additional outreach for women voters in Uruzgan. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Barakzai praised Governor Mangal as "a blessing 
from God" for his frequent travel to Helmand's outlying 
districts to encourage voters to participate, and asked 
Jaberkhail to have IDLG push other Phase 4 governors to be 
more active in outreach.   IEC local officials reported the 
strategy of using religious leaders as civic educators has 
proved successful; in Kandahar, the chief and deputy chief of 
the council of religious scholars (ulema) are IEC staff. 
Two Kandahar council members, not employed by the IEC, were 
killed after preaching mosque sermons encouraging women to 
register to vote, but local observors are not certain whether 
voter registration or the continuing campaign against 
moderate religious figures was the cause. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  Barakzai pressed forward several measures the IEC 
will adopt to facilitate women's participation in voter 
registration and elections given the region's restrictive 
social norms.  The IEC will provide women-only transportation 
for female election workers in urban areas, for example, and 
fund the travel of the socially-obligatory male guardians 
(muharrams) for women workers in remote areas.  The Kandahar 
PRT provided portable toilets for female staff, removing 
another key constraint.  Sahima Sahafee, a Helmandi 
provincial council member, stressed that mobile teams are key 
to women's ability to participate.  The IEC instructed the 
 
KABUL 00000313  002 OF 003 
 
 
Helmand provincial office to assign more mobile teams to 
women, and in both Helmand and Kandahar election staff will 
advertise more widely the procedure communities use to 
request a mobile team. 
 
-------------------- 
COUNTING PASHTUNS IN 
-------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In the Phase 4 provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, 
Uruzgan, and Nimroz, 259,925 new voters joined the rolls by 
February 8, putting this Pashtun-dominated region on track to 
parallel the participation rate in other regions (REF A.) 
Demand to register to vote remains high despite the risk of 
violence and voter intimidation.  In the remote and unstable 
district of Khas Uruzgan, new voters are lining up in the 
snow. Helmandi tribal leaders report that residents of remote 
Taliban-dominated areas are coming to Lashkar Gah to 
register, even though the city sites are so busy the farmers 
sometimes must wait two or three days to sign up. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  In Musa Qala, Afghan and international observers 
quietly agree that local Taliban are registering to vote.  In 
Kandahar city, rural voters aQ storing their cards with 
trusted trading partners to thwart Taliban efforts to 
confiscate the document.  The south's Regional Electoral 
Officer (REO), Washi Alikozai, notes that some 100 Afghans 
cross the Iranian border each day to register in Zaranj, and 
as many as 300 each day cross the Pakistani border to 
register in Spin Boldak.  In Spin Boldak demand is so high 
the IEC is opening an additional site. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Kandahari political rivalry among supporters of 
Ahmad Wali Karzai, the President's brother, and Gul Agha 
Sherzai, now Governor of Nangarhar, is prompting both tribes 
to rally to register to vote, experts say.  So far, the IEC 
appears to be managing well enough the demand for equal 
access produced by the region's complex web of tribes. 
Barakzai, the IEC's number two administrator, intimately 
understands the politics of Pashtuns (REF B); he belongs to a 
southern Pashtun tribe, attended high school in Kandahar, and 
has large family landholdings in Farah.  Barakzai spoke more 
than two hours to rebut the skepticism of Kandahar provincial 
council members about election security, and left the 
gathering with a promise that each member of this diverse 
group would encourage constituents to register. 
Representatives of nine different tribes in Helmand all 
confirmed they, and their extended family networks, have 
voter cards.  The IEC delegation heard out the complaints of 
tribal elders from the five inaccessible Helmand districts, 
and is planning to engage the leader of Baghran, the most 
populous area, to secure access for a mobile registration 
team. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  As in other regions (REF C), equal access will 
continue to be a thorny issue.  REO Washi, who earns high 
marks from IEC headquarters for his understanding of local 
tribal politics, notes that in "mixed" areas still more work 
is needed.  Some Kandaharis complain all the election workers 
are from the REO's Alikozai tribe.  In Uruzgan, the IEC 
belatedly is working to open a center in Ghandab for the 
small Hazara community living some 40 kilometers from the 
site in Khas Uruzgan district.  In Helmand, the Hazara deputy 
chief of the provincial council complained he had not seen 
even one Hazara working at the IEC provincial office. 
 
--------------------------- 
THINKING AHEAD TO ELECTIONS 
--------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  The IEC delegation identified three points for 
future cooperation with Afghan security forces and ISAF on 
election security.  First, the region's election officials 
and security force chiefs agree a "good environment" across 
the south is key to building public confidence in the run-up 
to voting day.  Second, the police are too few and lack 
leadership and resources, especially in Uruzgan; Barakzai 
plans to let the Interior Ministry and the Palace know of 
this concern.  Intelligence and military representatives in 
Uruzgan were especially disgusted that, after a suicide 
bomber disguised as a policeman attacked a police station on 
February 2, the police stood by and refused even to remove 
the corpses from the scene. Third, the IEC wants to see 
closer and more timely cooperation between itself, Afghan 
 
KABUL 00000313  003 OF 003 
 
 
security forces, and ISAF for logistics and security support, 
especially at the headquarters level. 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  To improve election operations, the IEC 
headquarters hopes to use ISAF transportation support to 
conduct more oversight missions in the south and elsewhere. 
The IEC also plans to supervise staff training more closely, 
forestalling procedural errors such as the underage 
registrations detected in Uruzgan.  IEC officials note that, 
across the region, a shortage of skilled, literate workers 
poses a challenge; if possible, it may develop incentives to 
allow it to transfer in staff from other Pashto-speaking 
areas.  For women staff, especially, the IEC plans to raise 
salaries, now set at $200 per month, to attract more workers 
from the small pool of suitable candidates.  At the 
provincial level, for the vote count, IEC offices need to add 
storage space, purchase more satellite phones to transmit 
results to headquarters, and replace some unreliable 
equipment from the voter registration process. 
WOOD