VZCZCXRO6858
PP RUEHSL
DE RUEHBUL #1560/01 1690440
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 180440Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9548
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBU/AMEMBASSY BUENOS AIRES PRIORITY 0112

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001560 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL AF
SUBJECT: QUIET START TO OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN SEASON 
 
KABUL 00001560  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. SUMMARY.  The presidential and provincial council 
campaigns for the Aug. 20 election officially kicked off June 
16, with a relatively subdued atmosphere in both Kabul and 
the outlying provinces.  Major and minor candidates alike 
plastered Kabul streets with campaign posters, though few 
held large rallies or took to the airwaves.  Campaigning was 
even quieter  in the provinces, with informational election 
advertising from the Independent Election Commission far 
outnumbering partisan candidate materials.  Representatives 
of major campaigns promised more visibility in the coming 
weeks. 
 
Plenty of Posters ... 
--------- 
 
¶2. Kabul residents awoke June 16 to a city covered in 
campaign posters and fliers, in several places plastered 
haphazardly over street signs and other candidates' 
materials.  President Karzai, Ashraf Ghani, and Mirwais 
Yaseni accounted for the most robust advertising efforts in 
the ethnically mixed, majority-Pashtun, and majority-Hazara 
neighborhoods visited by PolOff, though reports from Tajik 
neighborhoods cited heavy Abdullah Abdullah advertising as 
well.  Of the lower-tier candidates, Sayed Jalal, Hedayat 
Arsala, and Shahla Atta made the most visible efforts to 
publicize their campaigns.  Eccentric candidate and Lower 
House MP Ramazan Bashardost erected a giant banner outside 
his "office" (a tent across the street from Parliament) 
featuring his chosen ballot symbol, a dove on a green 
background.  A handful of provincial council candidates also 
made efforts to join the advertising fray, though on a much 
smaller scale. 
 
¶3. Less than two days into the campaign, many campaign 
materials showed signs of defacement, though observers were 
divided on whether the vandalism was random or the act of 
rival campaigns.  One stretch of road near Kabul University 
was showered with dozens of Karzai posters featuring the 
president and his two running mates.  Someone had 
meticulously removed the prominent nose from the image of 1st 
VP nominee Marshall Fahim in every poster.  Shopkeepers and 
other property owners refrained from displaying campaign 
posters, leaving public spaces, intersections, and security 
barriers to host the majority of campaign materials. 
Expensive-looking Karzai banners adorned many city street 
lights, presumably placed there by municipal work crews. 
Taxi drivers choosing to display their allegiances with 
window posters appeared divided between Karzai and Abdullah. 
 
... But Few Live Events 
--------- 
 
¶4. Despite the preponderance of posters, the candidates 
themselves kept low profiles.  As the campaign kicked off, 
Karzai remained in Russia for the Shanghai Cooperation 
Organization summit, while other major candidates held - at 
most - small rallies in various Kabul neighborhoods.  The 
Ghani, Yaseni, and Abdullah campaigns said their candidates 
would wait another week or two before making appearances 
outside of Kabul, with most looking to focus on the north, 
Jalalabad, and Herat first. 
 
¶5. Radio and TV airwaves were mostly devoid of partisan 
advertising, though one local staff reported seeing an 
Abdullah advertisement on Tolo TV.  Several Afghan contacts 
confirmed hearing IEC-sponsored informational radio ads on a 
variety of channels.  Karzai's absence from the country 
probably contributed to state-run media downplaying the start 
of the campaign.  Yaseni and four minor candidates 
participated in a debate on Radio Azadi on the campaign's 
inaugural day.  Candidates took questions from call-in 
listeners, who demanded more specific policy platforms.  One 
caller asked the 1st VP running mate of former Army chief 
Shanawaz Tanai, who led a failed coup in 1990, whether 
"Tanai's new policies will include the killing of as many 
people as his old policies did." 
 
Slow Start in the Provinces 
--------- 
 
¶6. PRTs reported a generally subdued campaign atmosphere 
outside of Kabul, with campaign materials and activities 
surfacing in only a few provinces.  Nangarhar saw 
comparatively more action, with Karzai campaign manager and 
Kabul Governor Haji Din Mohammed organizing a 1,000-person 
rally in Jalalabad June 16.  The PRTOff in Jalalabad also 
reported a small Abdullah rally and radio ads for both Karzai 
and Abdullah.  The IEC's voter education posters shared 
display space in Herat with a smattering of candidates' 
campaign posters.  Reports from Ghor, Kunar, Kunduz, 
Daikundi, Paktia, Panjshir, and Uruzgan showed little public 
activities in the first two days of campaigning, with 
 
KABUL 00001560  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
presidential and provincial council candidates alike possibly 
waiting for more direction from Kabul-based campaign managers 
before taking their activities public. 
EIKENBERRY