VZCZCXRO3426
PP RUEHDBU RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #1100 1201415
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301415Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8692
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS KABUL 001100 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM AF
SUBJECT: ABDULLAH CAMPAIGN STUCK ON VP CHOICES 
 
REF: KABUL 1094 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Campaign staffers for United Front (UF) 
presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah hope to lock in vice 
presidential nominees by May 2 and register their candidate 
with the Independent Election Commission (IEC) by May 4. 
Several UF top choices for the First Vice President position 
have turned down the UF's offers, while its choice for 2nd 
Vice President, Hazara leader Haji Mohammed Mohaqqeq, has yet 
to commit.  Abdullah has moved to woo Nangarhar Governor Gul 
Aqa Sherzai to drop his own bid for the presidency and join 
the UF ticket. 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Former Lower House MP Saleh Registani, who resigned 
from Parliament last month to focus on the Abdullah campaign, 
told PolOff of the UF's thus far unsuccessful efforts to 
secure a strong candidate for the First Vice President slot. 
Registani noted Pashtun royalist Mustapha Zahir had turned 
down Abdullah's offer to join the campaign and now sided with 
President Karzai.  Registani said Abdullah would now approach 
Nangarhar Governor Sherzai, suggesting Abdullah might offer 
Sherzai significant influence over the "Loya Kandahar" 
region, specifically the authority to appoint local officials 
and direct security policy in the Kandahar area.  Sherzai 
will be in Kabul this week to discuss the UF's proposal. 
Registani admitted the defections of UF members Zahir and 
Marshall Fahim to Karzai's campaign hurt the vice 
presidential search (reftel). 
 
¶3. (SBU) Repeated UF efforts to merge campaigns with former 
Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, Lower House Deputy 
Speaker Mirwais Yaseni, and former Finance Ministers Ashraf 
Ghani and Anwarulhaq Ahadi have failed.  Although Karzai's 
team is expected to come out on top during the first round of 
balloting, the UF leadership now sees its best strategy as 
keeping major opposition candidates in the race to draw votes 
away from Karzai in the initial round, keeping him under 50 
percent of the total vote and thus forcing a second round. 
The UF believes Abdullah would capture second place in first 
round voting and would then move to resume negotiations with 
other major contenders during the period before the second 
round in October, with Abdullah angling to receive the lion's 
share of support from those candidates who did not make the 
cut. 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Registani did not expect any problems in formally 
registering Abdullah's campaign next week.  He and other top 
lieutenants had contacted UF offices in 17 provinces and 
requested each office collect 500-1,000 signatures.  Within 
three days, the campaign had well exceeded the necessary 
10,000.  The UF hopes to have campaign offices opened in all 
34 provinces within three weeks. 
RICCIARDONE