VZCZCXRO5366
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHBY #0541/01 1600651
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 090651Z JUN 09 ZDK MULTP SVC
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1598
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0337
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0284
RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE PRIORITY 6412
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH PRIORITY 4676
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY PRIORITY 4638
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 0873

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 000541 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/A, NEA/I, S/SRAP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID PHUM AS IZ AG PREL
SUBJECT: AUSTRALIAN CIVILIANS DEPLOYED BY AUSAID IN 
AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ -CORRECTED COPY, CAPTION - 
 
CANBERRA 00000541  001.12 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Currently, AusAID has six long-term 
civilian experts in Afghanistan, who are working on a range 
of educational, health, agricultural, and institutional 
development activities. Besides these there are seven 
Australians regularly in the country on short-term 
assignments. AusAID is planning to send two additional 
long-term workers to Afghanistan in the coming months, 
including a Counselor for Development at its Mission in 
Kabul. There is only one long-term AusAID worker in Iraq, but 
there are a number of training programs that bring Iraqis to 
Australia. End summary 
 
¶2. (SBU) Alistair Sherwin, Assistant Director General Middle 
East and West Asia Branch, AusAID supplied the following 
information about AusAid's civilian specialists/generalists 
working in Afghanistan and Iraq, mainly with government 
ministries. 
 
Afghanistan Staffing 
-------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Australia funds a small number of short and 
long-term specialists, and is in the early days of scaling up 
deployments while concentrating on quality versus quantity. 
AusAID tries to place Australians in specialist positions, 
but places others including Afghans, where that is the best 
fit and where there is the opportunity to build Afghan 
specialist expertise. There are a significant number of 
Australians known to be working in Kabul in key positions 
(e.g. senior adviser to Minister for Agriculture and the head 
of the election work for the UN Development Program), but 
they are under UN or NGO auspices rather than under the GOA. 
 
Long-term personnel 
------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) AusAID Development has two advisers at Kamp Holland, 
Tarin Kowt, Oruzgan Province. They are rotating in on a three 
month cycle. Both have worked previously in post-conflict 
environments and they are designated specialists although 
their work is generalist in the main. Neither of them travel 
except with military protection due to the danger. AusAID is 
currently recruiting a Dari speaking Afghan-Dutch water 
management specialist, who will be contracted for a twelve 
month tour and will work with the rotating personnel. 
 
¶5. (SBU) AusAID plans to place one person at the UN 
Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) to begin in August. 
The person is not an Australian national but AusAID sourced 
him and pays costs and, most importantly, he has about 20 
years experience working on agriculture in Afghanistan and 
speaks Dari. UNAMA and Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and 
Livestock (MAIL) welcomed this appointment. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The Development Assistance Facility for Afghanistan 
(DAFA) includes three development staff who are contracted to 
deliver a range of services targeted at ministries (MAIL, 
Ministry of Education (MoE), Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation 
and Development, Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the 
Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Energy and Water, 
with the latter having a focus on Oruzgan province). These 
Kabul-based Australians arrange for the contracting and 
implementation of initiatives in these Ministries. They 
largely provide short-term technical advice, assistance and 
training. They are not the deliverers of the training, but 
Qtraining. They are not the deliverers of the training, but 
they facilitate and manage for AusAID and advise on possible 
future programs. The head of DAFA has experience from working 
in Iraq. 
 
¶7. (SBU) AusAID is negotiating to place technical advisors 
into MAIL, MoE and MoPH. The number of people is being 
determined with the Ministries. DAFA will arrange the 
deployment of specialists. 
 
¶8. (SBU) There are contractors organized by the Australian 
Centre for International Agricultural Research--at present 
one Afghan working on wheat and maize research and crop 
management practices. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Long-term deployment planned, but subject to 
approval, includes an AusAID Counselor (development) in Kabul. 
 
CANBERRA 00000541  002.13 OF 002 
 
 
 
Short-term personnel 
-------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Malaysia-Australia Education Project for 
Afghanistan will deploy two Australian education specialists 
who are helping Malaysia and Afghanistan develop and 
implement a master teacher training program. Thirty Afghan 
teachers will go to Malaysia to learn additional skills so 
they can return to Afghanistan and train teacher trainers 
in-country. The teacher trainers will then train further 
teachers. These education specialists are going to Kabul to 
help develop the program and to help the Afghans, once they 
are trained, to implement the teacher training in-country. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Two specialists, both on AusAID's payroll, are 
re-designing the National Solidarity Program (NSP), which 
provides development funding to local village councils. 
 
¶12. (SBU) One scholarship specialist is undertaking a review 
of the Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) program for 
Afghanistan. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Two Australians specialists with expertise in 
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), 
Afghanistan, and Gender were deployed in May for one month to 
help development of the TVET missions in Kabul, Oruzgan and 
Kandahar. A further mission is likely. 
 
¶14. (SBU) All of these programs are on-going and will require 
further visits by AusAID specialists. 
 
Iraq Staffing 
------------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) AusAID recently deployed a First Secretary 
(Development Assistance) to Baghdad. There is very little 
scope for travel within Iraq or missions by specialists 
because of the security situation. 
 
¶16. (SBU) However, Australia has a large program of 
assistance in agriculture, which is conducted mostly outside 
of Iraq. This includes over 100 post-graduate scholarships in 
agriculture at Australian universities (a commitment by the 
Prime Minister to the Iraqi PM) plus short-term training at 
Australian agricultural/universities and institutions. 
 
¶17. (SBU) AusAID programs are usually based on bilateral 
agreements with the GoI. 
 
CLUNE