VZCZCXRO5521
RR RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHBUL #1593 1730908
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 220908Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9606
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS KABUL 001593 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SRAP, SCA/FO, SCA/A, EUR/RPM 
STATE PASS TO AID FOR ASIA/SCAA 
USFOR-A FOR POLAD 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV AF
SUBJECT: HAZARA LEADERS SUPPORT KARZAI IN EXCHANGE FOR PROMISES OF 
MORE PROVINCES 
 
¶1.  Hazara political leaders backing President Karzai's re-election 
have asked Karzai to support the creation of more majority-Hazara 
provinces in exchange for their influential endorsements among the 
ethnic Hazara minority, which could constitute as much as 15 percent 
of the electorate in this summer's election.  Hazara leaders are 
asking for up to three new provinces created from majority-Hazara 
districts in other provinces.  Such a change would require approval 
from Parliament and executive branch entities, which has approved 
the creation of Panjshir and Daikundi provinces since the 
establishment of the post-Taliban government.  Bamyan and Daikundi 
are currently the only majority-Hazara provinces. 
 
¶2.  Bamyan Governor Habiba Sorabi recently told State PRT officer 
that most Bamyan residents have been waiting to learn which 
presidential candidate key Hazara leaders will support before 
deciding for themselves.  Populist leaders are hoping to exploit the 
issue of additional Hazara provinces.  Among those, Second Vice 
President Karim Khalili and Lower House MPs Haji Mohammad Mohaqqeq 
(Kabul) and Ustad Mohammad Akbari (Bamyan) have thrown their support 
behind Karzai.  These leaders have asked Karzai to form more 
provinces out of Behsud district in Wardak Province, Jaghori 
district and the surrounding region in Ghazni province, and several 
Hazara-populated districts north of Bamyan in Samangan, Sar-e-Pul, 
and Baghlan provinces.  The contiguous Behsud district and the 
Jaghori region could form a single province, or each become its own 
province.  Some Hazara leaders also want Karzai to revisit the 
recent decision to give the majority-Pashtun Gizab district from 
Daikundi to Uruzgan Province. 
 
¶3.  Mohaqqeq told PolOffs he had asked Karzai to sign an agreement 
exchanging his political party's endorsement in return for Karzai's 
support of the additional provinces.  Karzai declined to put the 
agreement in writing, though Mohaqqeq claims Karzai is committed to 
the idea.  Opposition candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Mirwais 
Yaseni also have told supporters they support the creation of more 
Hazara provinces.  Another presidential candidate, Ashraf Ghani, 
told journalists on June 20 that such a decision should be left to 
Parliament, and not be the price of political negotiations between 
individuals. 
 
¶4. Comment:  Mohaqqeq's desire to redraw multiple boundaries in 
order to provide Hazara areas their own administrative divisions is 
not new and an idea that has been largely dismissed by the 
Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) up to this point. 
  Granting such administrative changes would open up GIRoA to 
requests for redistricting from other minority groups.  End Comment. 
 
 
EIKENBERRY