VZCZCXRO5019
RR RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHBUL #1838/01 1930703
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 120703Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0106
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001838 
 
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: KDEM PGOV AF
SUBJECT:  WITH DEEP POCKETS, GOVERNOR ATTA LEADS CHARGE FOR 
ABDULLAH 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Balkh Governor Atta is increasingly confident that 
his influence in the north will continue to attract supporters to 
Dr. Abdullah's campaign.  He claims to have wrested Turkmen, Uzbek, 
Arab, and Hazara support from under the noses of ethnic Turkmen 
Minister Qarqin, Junbesh-e-Milli Chairman Sayed Noorullah, and 
Wahdat-e-Mardum leader Mohaqqeq.  Atta confirmed that he is 
bankrolling Abdullah's campaign and mentioned that he had encouraged 
Zalmay Khalilzad to join their camp.  Atta called into question the 
scrutiny of Independent Directorate for Local Governance (IDLG) over 
his support for Abdullah while seemingly giving other government 
officials a pass for supporting Karzai, saying he doubted IDLG's 
impartial stance in enforcing the Presidential Decree on the 
Non-interference of Government Officials in Electoral Matters.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
Seeking Support from New Places 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Atta told State PRT officer July 5 that he is making 
progress in extracting pledges of support for Abdullah's campaign 
from influential persons in the north.  He said ethnic Turkmen 
Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Qarqin recently visited Turkmen 
communities in an effort to shore up support for Karzai, but that 
those Turkmen villagers turned their backs on him and announced 
their support for Abdullah.  Even three of four Turkmen Members of 
Parliament (Rozi Geldi Auichi "Khojein" and Shah Mardan Qul from 
Balkh province, and Haji Abdul Wahab, from Jowzhan province) have 
declared their support for Abdullah - a point conceded by Junbesh 
Party Chairman Noorullah.  Atta refused to meet Qarqin during his 
stay in Mazar, leaving the minister no recourse other than to "cry 
all the way back to Kabul." 
 
¶3. (SBU) Atta's poaching of supporters from other political leaders 
did not confine itself to Turkmen areas.  He claimed that he has 
convinced several of Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum's ex-commanders to 
vote for Abdullah instead of Karzai, who the Junbesh Party is 
endorsing.  Member of Parliament Haji Payenda Khan (Sar-e-pul, Arab) 
is one of them, and he will lead the Abdullah charge there. 
Fatiullah Khan and Shaikh Ahmad, both Junbesh MPs from Faryab, and 
Senator Haji Akbar Wahdat, are also with Abdullah, Atta claimed. 
Uzbek MP Ahmad Khan from Samangan, who leads a Junbesh Party 
faction, is apparently hedging his bets.  Atta admits to having 
given Khan a large sum of money ("but not as much as he asked for") 
to campaign for Abdullah.  However, MP Ghazanfar, a top Karzai 
campaign operative in the north as well as a Dostum supporter, 
regards Khan as Karzai's campaign manager in Samangan. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Atta said some smaller ethnic Hazara political parties, 
like Harakat-e-Islami and Ensejam-e-Milli have also endorsed 
Abdullah (Harakat's Kabul-based leaders remain split between Karzai 
and Abdullah, while Ensejam is headed by United Front spokesman 
Sangcharaki).  Atta said that even some members of Mohaqqeq's Wahdat 
faction - with the tacit consent of Mohaqqeq, no less - have 
switched their loyalties to Abdullah.  More significant is the 
support Abdullah has garnered from Ustad Jafari, head of the Shia 
Ulema Council in Balkh. 
 
¶5. (SBU) According to Atta, several northern female MPs are also 
campaigning for Abdullah.  Among them are Habiba Danesh (Takhar), 
Fawzia Kofi (Badakhshan), Fahima Sadat (Jowzjan), and Saifora Niazi 
(Balkh).  As is common in Afghan politics, other reports put some of 
those MPs in the Karzai camp. 
 
Financial Resources in Play 
------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Atta confirmed that he and Zalmay Khalilzad had met three 
weeks ago in Kabul after he had declined several earlier invitations 
by the former U.S. ambassador to meet.  Reportedly, Khalilzad had 
seen President Karzai the day before meeting Atta, to "see if Karzai 
could reform his ways," but left the meeting convinced that Karzai 
could not.  Atta tried selling Khalilzad on the benefits of teaming 
up with him to support Abdullah - an offer Khalilzad said he would 
have to ponder.  He has not been back in touch with Atta about the 
matter. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Atta volunteered that he is heavily bankrolling Abdullah's 
campaign, and recently sent him a second tranche of money to cover 
expenses.  He has even put up some of his properties as collateral 
for bank loans.  For Atta, there is no going back to the Karzai 
camp, regardless of what they offer him.  It would be "shameful" if 
he were to do so, he explained. 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Atta chuckled when State PRT officer asked about the letter 
sent by the IDLG, which warned Atta against using government 
resources to support political candidates.  His response to the IDLG 
 
KABUL 00001838  002 OF 002 
 
 
rebutted allegations that he had ever done so.  Atta instructed the 
IDLG to look within the Karzai administration to find those who are 
really guilty of using their government positions for campaign 
purposes, such as Palace Chief of Staff Mohammed Omar Daoudzai; 
Office of Administrative Affairs chief Sadeq Mudaber; Assadullah 
Khalid, Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs; Hanif Atmar, Minister 
of Interior; and Paktiya Governor Juma Khan Hamdard, among others. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Closer to home, Atta noted that his own deputy governor, 
Zahir Wahdat, who is a Wahdat-Mardum supporter, had attended the 
pro-Karzai campaign rally at the Blue Mosque on July 3.  Balkh TV 
even captured footage of the deputy governor seated next to 
Mohaqqeq, but there has been nary a peep from the IDLG about that, 
Atta asserted. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Atta confirmed that he had recently received two letters 
signed by Karzai asking the Balkh Customs Department to exempt MP 
Ghazanfar's company from paying duty on the import of first 50,000 
metric tons (MT) of fuel and then later, on another 30,000 MTs. 
Atta said the letters were cleverly worded to make the exemptions 
seem legitimate.  At USD 160/MT, the exemptions total USD 12.8 
million in customs revenues that will not enter government coffers. 
Atta suspects that some of that money will make its way back to 
Karzai himself in the form of campaign contributions from 
Ghazanfar. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Atta has put Abdullah on the map in the north while 
refraining from criticizing Karzai publicly and from attending 
pro-Abdullah rallies.  Given how easily political loyalties are 
swayed by wads of cash, we can expect that some of the individuals 
Atta counts in his corner may switch sides yet again.  In Atta's 
view, the IDLG, tainted by politics, is practicing a double standard 
in its selective application of the Presidential Decree on the 
Non-interference of Government Employees in Electoral Affairs.  The 
mission has emphasized to IDLG Director Popal the importance of the 
need to develop a consistent standard to enforce that decree, lest 
the IDLG subject itself to further allegations of partiality. 
 
EIKENBERRY