VZCZCXRO3577
PP RUEHDBU RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #0975/01 1091336
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 191336Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8453
RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RHEHOND/DIR ONDCP WASHDC
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/CJCS WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000975 
 
DEPT FOR INL, INL/AP, SCA, AF 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR KCRM PREL PINS IR AF
SUBJECT:  AFGHANISTAN/COUNTERNARCOTICS:  UNODC STRATEGY ROLLOUT AND 
IRANIAN INTEREST 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  On 16 April, UN Office on Drugs and Crime 
(UNODC)/Kabul hosted an event at the Norwegian embassy to roll out a 
draft of their new Afghanistan Country Strategy for 2009-2011. The 
strategy contains no new initiatives, but does attempt to tie 
existing programs more closely to regional initiatives as 
articulated in the UNODC's existing "Rainbow Strategy." The new 
Afghan strategy also calls for an increased emphasis on the western 
border provinces and interaction with Iran.  The Iranian Ambassador 
has spoken out twice in recent days in support of stronger Afghan 
National Police (ANP) Counter Narcotics (CN) capabilities.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  The April 16 event to announce UNODC's new Afghanistan 
Country Strategy was hosted at the Norwegian Embassy, and included 
participation by the Ambassador's of Iran, Turkmenistan and Pakistan 
as well as representatives from India, China, Russia and most 
western donor countries. Norwegian Ambassador Kare Aas opened the 
meeting by  emphasizing his country's support for CN efforts and 
announcing Norway's  commitment of between 500K to 1M USD to the 
Rainbow Strategy and 500K USD to help fund UNODC survey 
requirements. He then turned the meeting over to Jean-Luc Lemahieu, 
Director of the UNODC Afghan office. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Lemahieu stressed that the UNODC strategy was still in the 
"informal stage" and solicited feedback from all interested parties. 
The main goal is to achieve a higher level of continuity between the 
Afghan plan and other regional programs as spelled out in the 
Rainbow Strategy. The Rainbow Initiative, which includes such 
regional plans as the Triangular Initiative, Caspian Sea Initiative, 
and Operation TARCET grew out of a series of round tables over the 
past 5 years, themselves the result of the Paris Pact Initiative, an 
international partnership to counter trafficking and consumption of 
Afghan opiates. The new UNODC strategy focuses on strengthening 
interaction between local, national and regional authorities, 
securing border areas, increasing precursor chemical controls, 
anti-corruption measures, and other capacity building trainings. 
Although, no completely new initiatives were proposed, Lemahieu said 
that existing programs with broader regional implications such as 
border policing and cooperation with Iran on building a series of 
border posts through Nimroz, Farah and Hirat provinces would be 
given more emphasis. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) At the conclusion of the presentation by the UNODC staff, 
the Iranian Ambassador, Fida Hussein Maliki, stressed Iran's robust 
CN efforts, claiming 3,600 soldiers and police killed and 12,000 
wounded over the past few years.  He mentioned Iran was willing to 
work through the Tripartite Commission and would contract to build 
the first border post in Nimroz province. He also stated his 
willingness to work through UNODC to exchange CN information and 
intelligence. Ambassador Maliki criticized the current Afghan CN 
effort, stating that it was being marginalized by counterinsurgency 
efforts and especially singled out police training as ineffective. 
He further stated Iran was willing to help in other areas such as 
drug demand reduction and judicial training by training doctors and 
lawyers. He ended by inviting other ambassadors to visit a border 
post on the Iranian side of the border. NOTE: At the April 19 JCMB 
Conference, Maliki explicitly supported the consensus favoring 
increase in the official ANP manning by a further 15,000 police 
before the August elections. He also noted the importance of 
strengthening the ANP for CN purposes which is of great importance 
to Iran. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Lemahieu stressed the cooperation between UNODC, 
Afghanistan, and Iran on the building of at least 15 border posts 
and ended by asking for more involvement from other regional 
countries, singling out the Chinese representative. The meeting 
ended with the obligatory request for funding- UNODC is looking for 
51.2M USD to carry out their strategy, of which just under 25M USD 
has been pledged. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) COMMENT: The strategy, while short of specifics, shows a 
desire by UNODC to tie the Afghan piece into the overall picture of 
initiatives collectively called the Rainbow Strategy. Although still 
in the blueprint stage, the Afghan strategy appears to focus on 
areas and issues, currently seen as not receiving adequate attention 
from the International Community in Kabul such as the border areas, 
especially the Iranian-Afghan border, where the UNODC may be able to 
fill a useful niche. Strategy paper and slide show presentation have 
been forwarded to INL/AP. 
 
KABUL 00000975  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
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