VZCZCXRO7510
PP RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHPOD RUEHPW RUEHSL RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #2270/01 2191340
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071340Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0697
INFO RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC 0871
RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KABUL 002270 
 
DEPT FOR SRAP, SCA/FO, SCA/RA, AND SCA/A 
CENTCOM FOR CSTC-A 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.  12958 N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON EAID EFIN EAGR AF
SUBJECT: Key GIRoA Ministers Plan Sub-National Governance 
Interventions in South and East 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Planning for coordinated U.S./ISAF/UNAMA/GIRoA sub-national 
governance interventions in the South and East took shape at an 
August 1 meeting of key ministers, senior ISAF and UNAMA 
representatives, and Ambassador Eikenberry that was hosted by the 
Ministry of Rural Reconstruction and Development (MRRD).  The 
Ministers of Finance, Agriculture, Education, Health Care, MRRD, and 
the Director of the Independent Directorate for Local Government 
(IDLG) agreed to convene a high-level Working Group August 8 to 
develop approaches to more effective sub-national interventions and 
cooperation with the U.S. and international community, including 
possibly via providing the provision of "standard packages" of GIRoA 
support at the district level.  These packages could include 
immediate health services and education interventions, as well as 
longer terms development and governance projects.  Ministers also 
underscored the importance of integrating security considerations 
into any district or community level assistance interventions, and 
the Minister of Interior may be invited to participate in future 
deliberations.  Participants recognized limited GIRoA ministry 
capacity and debated both the appropriate levels for sub-national 
interventions (regional, provincial, or district) and appropriate 
local implementing partners (e.g. IDLG-controlled Afghanistan Social 
Outreach Program district councils vs. MRRD-sponsored District 
Development Assemblies).  Ministers welcomed the potential for rapid 
response assistance from nascent U.S. District Support Teams in the 
South and East but agreed that successful rapid response 
interventions ultimately must have an Afghan lead. 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Ambassador Eikenberry emphasized the U.S. principle of 
working in partnership with ministries at all levels.  He outlined 
the U.S. Mission's expanding civilian presence in southern and 
eastern regions and the devolution of development funding authority 
to our regional platforms that will make our field staff more 
responsive to GIRoA priorities and to the parallel civilian staffing 
and liaison structures that government ministries may establish. 
ISAF and UNAMA reps echoed the U.S. intent to support increased 
cooperation with GIRoA at sub-national levels.  Active 
multi-ministerial engagement in this first high-level multi-lateral 
planning session, and in upcoming high-level Working Group meetings, 
should focus GIRoA energies on the need to push more qualified 
ministry staff to the regional, provincial and district levels now. 
End Summary 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Agreement on Integrated Sub-National Interventions 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶3. (U) At U.S. recommendation, Ministry of Rural Reconstruction and 
Development (MRRD) Minister Ehsan Zia convened an August 1 meeting 
of key Afghan Government (GIRoA) ministers and U.S. Ambassador, and 
UNAMA and ISAF principals to begin to strategize on sub-national 
government interventions country-wide that will build more effective 
partnerships with the U.S. regional, provincial and district level 
uplift, and with ongoing ISAF and UNAMA programs.  Attendees 
included Finance Minister Omar Zakhiwahl, Agriculture Irrigation and 
Livestock Minister Muhammad Asif Rahimi, Public Health Minister 
Mohammad Amin Fatemi, Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak, IDLG 
Director General Jelani Popal, UNAMA Deputy SRSG Richard Wagner, and 
ISAF Deputy Chief of Staff Stability RADM Borsboom.  Ambassador 
Eikenberry, Coordinating Director for Development and Economic 
Affairs Ambassador Wayne, USAID Director Frej and Interagency 
Provincial Affairs Coordinator Liberi represented the U.S. 
 
¶4. (SBU) MRRD Minister Zia emphasized that recent experience in 
newly liberated areas in the South made very clear the need for 
rapid, coordinated GIRoA efforts to build trust at the community 
level by identifying and delivering needed services to the 
populations through a combination of "flexible mechanisms" and 
high-level, hands-on ministerial involvement.  Without quick action 
on district and community-level service delivery, he cautioned, 
post-kinetic momentum will be lost.  Existing community-level 
development resources like the National Solidarity Plan (NSP), while 
valuable and successful, are too bound by bureaucratic and budget 
constraints to be mobilized quickly.  Zia encouraged ministers to 
consider both the type of civilian resources and assistance they 
need to ensure their leadership of the development process in the 
field as well as the appropriate degree to which they should devolve 
authority to the provincial and district levels to ensure their 
efforts are successful.  In a later intervention, Zia emphasized the 
importance of integrating Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), 
 
KABUL 00002270  002 OF 004 
 
 
both police and military, into any district or community level 
assistance intervention.  He also noted the immediate need to 
coordinate U.S. support for GIRoA ministries planning sub-national 
interventions in the south and east, pointing out there are 
currently no civilian flights from Kabul to Helmand capital Lashkar 
Gah. He concluded on an upbeat and determined note:  "An integrated 
GIRoA and U.S. district and community-level approach is possible -- 
and MRRD has the capacity to coordinate it." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Ambassador Eikenberry supported Minister Zia's call for 
Afghan leadership in delivering immediate services and developing 
sub-national governance capacity.  He emphasized the U.S. principle 
of working in partnership with ministries and said the most 
important lesson of our ongoing mission to build ANSF is that 
success is a function of combined effort.  The U.S. and GIRoA concur 
that more and better Afghan civilian resources in the field are 
fundamental to improve the government's ability to deliver key 
services at the sub-national level.  Eikenberry recalled his July 16 
visit to Helmand province with Minister Zia which made clear that 
the government is absent from many districts. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Beyond developing mechanisms to work together at the 
regional, provincial and district levels, Eikenberry said, the U.S. 
remains fully committed to helping GIRoA ministries build national 
level capacity.  At both the regional and national level, the Obama 
administration's new Afghan strategy has empowered the U.S. Mission 
to initiate programs locally and so operate with greater 
flexibility.  Such flexibility will allow us to coordinate our 
significantly expanding civilian presence at the regional, 
provincial and district levels in parallel with GIRoA ministers' 
development of civilian liaison structures.  Eikenberry emphasized, 
however, that the degree of devolution of GIRoA authority from the 
federal to the regional, provincial and district levels is an 
inherently political decision that only GIRoA can make.  "We will 
partner with you but will not get involved in this political 
debate," he concluded. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Health Minister Fatemi described his Ministry's early July 
in-house efforts to brainstorm how best to actively engage in the 
South and East, dividing the region's 18 provinces into first and 
secondary priority provinces.  (Note: According to Fatimi, the 
Health Ministry has long divided Afghanistan into eight regional 
zones, with specialized medical facilities and equipment positioned 
to serve several provinces).  First priority provinces, including 
Helmand, Kandahar, Farah and Nimroz, are targeted for "immediate 
interventions" over the coming six months, with critical supplies, 
including vaccines being sent to local administrators.  154 District 
Health Office (DHO) administrators have been recruited and appointed 
over the past 18 months in accordance with GIRoA Pay and Rank Reform 
(PRR) standards to augment staff in the field.  They report to their 
respective Provincial Health Office (PHO) administrators, who in 
turn report directly to the Minister.  DHOs, he said, are the 
appropriate platforms to liaise with U.S. District Support Teams. 
"Count on us," Fatemi concluded, "to come in after the military 
clears priority districts." 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
Appropriate Level/Focus of Sub-National Governance 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶8. (SBU) IDLG Director Popal praised the MRRD's Community 
Development Councils (CDCs) as a "success story."  With over 22,000 
village-level CDCs currently in place, he said he hoped that IDLG 
and MRRD would approach the Independent Election Commission (IEC) 
after Presidential elections to suggest that the Commission 
recognize CDCs as elected village councils.  He poQnted to the 
unlikelihood of the IEC being able to organize village council 
elections in 2011 as a justification for this approach.  (Note: MRRD 
Minister Zia later took issue with Popol's call for CDCs to be 
recognized as elected village councils.  Zia argued that, given the 
security environment, CDCs could not function in some areas if they 
were to be seen having anything other than a purely development 
function.) 
 
¶9. (SBU) Regarding GIRoA interventions and support at the district 
level, Popal recalled the UNAMA-driven Integrated Approach 
initiative, aimed at identifying "tipping point districts" where 
combined security/development/governance interventions were thought 
to be able to turn a deteriorating situation around.  Some such 
districts had already been identified, with pilots launched in 
Ghormach, Badghis and Tagab, Kapisa.  As a stopgap until district 
council elections are held next year, Popal proposed that, where 
there are good MRRD-created District Development Assemblies (DDAs - 
 
KABUL 00002270  003 OF 004 
 
 
these feed CDC input into the provincial development planning 
process), these might serve as partners for U.S. District Support 
Teams in the field.  The IDLG could provide them with 
capacity-building programs, while MRRD continues providing direct 
support.  Where DDAs are not up to the task, district-level councils 
created under the IDLG's Afghanistan Social Outreach Program (ASOP) 
might substitute.  Popal pointed to the lack of any linkage between 
CDCs and security and governance and called for this to change.  He 
encouraged the provision of block grants to such designated 
districts to ensure the necessary development component is also 
covered. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Finance Minister Zakhiwahl called the lack of rural 
security a function of the lack of GIRoA focus on local governance. 
He praised the rapid response capacity of U.S. District Support 
Teams that are being stood up but said that, to be successful, such 
rapid response interventions must have an Afghan lead.  As an 
outcome of this MRRD-hosted meeting, he called for meeting 
participants to establish a Working Group (WG) to develop a 
logistical and financial framework for providing "standard packages" 
of GIRoA support to districts, to include immediate health services 
and education, as well as longer terms plans for development and 
governance.  To address security aspects of these district level 
interventions, the Ministry of Interior must be involved in the WG. 
Finally, he noted that an important initial task for this WG would 
be to define responsible Ministry counterparts for U.S. field 
officers. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Agriculture Minister Rahimi said that in Helmand and 
Kandahar provinces, ISAF and Afghan military have done a commendable 
"clearing" job but there has been no credible GIRoA follow-on 
presence to deliver services to post-conflict constituents "still in 
a state of shock."  District Support Teams, he said, remain in a 
formative stage and often must "operate behind walls," which 
sustains local suspicions of their ability and intent.  Despite 
GIRoA discussion and planning for district-level governance that 
dates from 2006, he said, there remains little capacity to deliver 
services.  His own Agriculture Ministry is present in less than 1% 
of Afghanistan's 364 districts.  Districts are close to "farmers, 
mosques and trouble makers" he said and any Kabul-led governance 
effort is doomed to fail without a strong and sustained district 
presence as a "front line of communications" with Afghan citizens. 
Currently the government provides districts "only a corrupt judge 
and a few cops," he said. 
 
¶12. (SBU) For U.S. and Afghan civilian teams to succeed, the 
military, ministries and foreign missions must come together to 
provide logistical support, Rahimi said.  Furthermore, ministries 
need to put their best people in the field, "not just those fired 
from Kabul headquarters for incompetence," and 5-10 of the best 
District Governors in Helmand should be selected to lead pilot 
governance programs.  Rahimi agreed with Minister Zakhiwahl that the 
government needs to design "complete" packages of district services, 
to include both quick impact projects and longer term governance 
initiatives.  Finally, he suggested that District Development Funds 
be created to demonstrate GIRoA capacity to district constituents. 
Each should be providing provided with up to US$ 500,000 in 
resources, with governing boards structured to include District 
Governors and other interested local actors.  Governing boards 
should be authorized to evaluate and approve community-based quick 
impact projects on a competitive merit basis. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Education Minister Wardak acknowledged the weak linkage 
between GIRoA and district-level governance and supported the idea 
of strengthening DDAs, including via establishing mechanisms to 
identify and finance appropriate projects.  He argued that, while 
education services are key to cementing a sense of shared community, 
a combined rather than ministry-specific engagement strategy at the 
district level is needed to move forward. 
 
¶14. (SBU) ISAF Deputy Chief of Staff Stability RADM Borsboom offered 
that, given manifestly inadequate GIRoA capacity at the district 
level, ISAF has focused its development initiatives to date 
primarily at the provincial level.  Any future integrated 
GIRoA/UNAMA/ISAF approach to district governance could focus on a 
number of select pilot districts to determine whether devolution to 
this level is viable.  Like Popal, he referred back to the UNAMA-led 
Integrated Approach initiative.  While District Support Teams may be 
an appropriate platform from which to explore district-level 
interventions, Borsboom offered his personal observation that 
establishing adequate government capacity at the provincial level is 
a pre-requisite for expanding engagement at the district level. 
UNAMA Deputy SRSG Richard Wagner agreed that the success of a 
 
KABUL 00002270  004 OF 004 
 
 
district-level approach will be dependent on ministries putting 
their best people in the field and that the hardships associated 
with district-level work will require that appropriate incentive 
packages be put in place.  Wagner supported the concept of an 
inter-ministry "package" of district-level interventions.  On the 
issue of government coordination with District Support Teams, he 
noted that some NGO implementing partners with whom UNAMA works are 
reluctant to get involved in initiatives directly linked to the 
military. 
 
¶15. (SBU) Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs 
Ambassador Wayne noted the developing consensus on the need to 
define and develop an integrated "package" of inter-ministry 
district-level interventions and spoke to the need for the Working 
Group follow-up to this first meeting deliver concrete results.  The 
U.S. is expanding its civilian officer presence in targeted southern 
and eastern districts now and many more civilians will be deployed 
in the coming months.  Simultaneously, the U.S. is devolving 
development funding authority to the field to enhance flexibility 
and make our field staff more responsive to district priorities 
established by the government.  As a result, the U.S. Mission needs 
to engage government ministries in an ongoing and concrete dialogue 
on district priorities and on the government's own plans for 
district and regional level civilian staffing that integrates 
logistics and security concerns within broader development 
strategies.  Ambassador Eikenberry closed, noting our Senior 
Civilian Representative presence at Regional Command South and East 
and our hope to see a robust and integrated government ministry 
presence in the field. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Next Steps:  August 8 Working Group 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶16. (SBU) We will follow up with a meeting at the Deputy Minister 
level on August 8, with the inclusion of  Ministry of Interior 
representative. 
 
¶17. (SBU) There was some discussion of suggestions by Health 
Minister Fatemi and UNAMA DSRSG Wagner that other donors be invited 
to join early Working Group discussions.  Finance Minister 
Zakhiwahl, supported by Ambassadors Eikenberry and Wayne, argued 
that the Working Group's first priority should be to focus on 
developing the logistical and financing mechanisms required for the 
GIRoA to deliver district-level services with donors who have the 
capacity and intent to directly involve themselves in district-level 
interventions.  Other donors could be briefed and broader donor 
buy-in sought through the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board 
(JCMB) mechanism. 
 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶18. (SBU) MRRD's Zia hosted this first sub-national governance 
gathering of key ministers at the encouragement of the U.S. Mission. 
 His organization, enthusiasm and substantive interventions were 
impressive and potential friction between MRRD and IDLG over 
sub-national governance authority was muted.  Popal's call for 
Community Development Councils (structured as vehicles to direct 
National Solidarity Program funding) and District Development 
Assemblies to take on a more political role and link in more closely 
with Afghan governance was not new, nor was MRRD Minister Zia's 
comeback that CDCs simply could not function in some areas if they 
are seen as having anything other than a purely development 
function. 
 
¶19. (SBU) The consensus of participants that the Ministry of 
Interior should participate in future Working Group discussions was 
a welcome acknowledgement of the central importance of security to 
the delivery of government services at the local level.  Concrete 
interventions by the Finance and Agriculture Ministers on the need 
to quickly develop ministry-specific district-level staffing plans 
offers promise that upcoming Working Group meetings will focus GIRoA 
attention on the need to get qualified ministry staff to the 
regional and district levels now. 
 
EIKENBERRY