R 110643Z AUG 09 
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL 
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0746 
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 002303 
 
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: HERAT ELECTIONS UPDATE 
 
Ref: 09 Kabul 2260; 09 Kabul 1663; 09 Kabul 1662 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Presidential candidate activities in Herat, 
especially of President Karzai, continue. Other candidates have 
become more active in the province, as well. According to the 
provincial leader of Harakat-e Islami, the party has split. One 
faction now supports Abdullah Abdullah, while the original group 
continues to support Karzai. The IEC's Provincial Election Officer 
(PEO) has made notable progress in hiring and training of election 
officials down to the district level, but said more hiring is to 
come in the days leading up to August 20. A minimum contingent of 
long-term observers has already arrived and set up in the province. 
End summary. 
 
Presidential Campaigns Robust, but PC Candidates Notably Absent 
--------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Following Abdullah Abdullah's campaigning in Herat, two more 
major presidential candidates, Ashraf Ghani and Mirwais Yasini, have 
personally campaigned in the province. Both conducted rallies in 
the largest conference hall of the province, the "2000 seat hall," 
filling it with supporters. Ghani has some support among the very 
well-educated and intellectuals of Herat, who consider him the best 
qualified and smartest of the candidates, but acknowledge he has 
little chance of achieving the second most number of votes after 
Karzai to challenge in a second round. Yasini has fewer supporters 
in Herat but appears to have a fairly well-financed campaign with as 
many posters and banners up as Ghani. 
 
¶3. (U) One minor presidential candidate also brought his campaign to 
Herat. Sayyed Jalal Karim (nicknamed Genius, or "Nabagha" because 
he reportedly completed high school at age eight) spoke to about 
3000 persons in the Herat Stadium on July 31. Young male 
supporters, distinctively dressed in gray suits and green shirts, 
after the rally said they support him because of his intellect, 
youth, and platform. Karim is one of the few candidates to 
distribute brochures with a full-blown platform, divided by sectors. 
Local media also reported in the past two weeks continuing campaign 
rallies for Karzai (including Kuchis who came to Herat city), 
Abdullah, and Ghani in Herat city and some districts, and for 
hometown presidential candidate, Mutsembellah Mazhabi (500 women 
gathered in Herat city). 
 
¶4. (U) Of all the candidates, Karzai has the largest number and 
greatest variety of campaign posters and banners, and they are still 
proliferating on the streets of Herat in expectation of his campaign 
visit the week of August 8. However, one theme dominates, "Karzai 
-- the symbol of national unity," stated over and over in his 
campaign paraphernalia. The Karzai campaign has also promoted 
education, especially a subtheme that only educated Afghans -- not 
foreign consultants, engineers, and aid workers - can develop 
Afghanistan. Local news depicted about fifty young men zooming 
around Herat city on motorcycles. They wore white T-shirts and caps 
emblazoned with Karzai's portrait, a map of Afghanistan, and the 
words "A vote for Karzai equals a vote for peace and prosperity in 
Afghanistan." One of these young men spoke with PRT officer. He 
had a hard time articulating why he supported Karzai but liked the 
shirt. 
 
A Party Splits, as Abdullah Gains Votes 
----------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Aug 9, Dr. Mesbah, a medical doctor, prominent Hazara 
community leader in Herat, and former Director of the Western Zone 
Afghanistan National Disaster Management Agency (ANDMA), discussed 
Harakat-e Islami Afghanistan activities in Herat. He explained his 
party opened an office three weeks ago in Herat, which he heads. 
His party has split (again), with former Herat Governor (and former 
Kabul Governor and former Minister of Agriculture) Sayyed Hussein 
Anwari and seven other Central Council members splitting off to form 
a new party, "Harakat-e Islami Mardom-e Afghanistan." Anwari and 
this new party support Abdullah Abdullah, while the core Harakat-e 
Islami Afghanistan under Kazemi and a majority of the Central 
Council members support Karzai. Pressed to cite a figure, Dr. 
Mesbah estimated that Harakat-e Islami Afghanistan has about 5,000 
to 10,000 supporters in Herat province, mostly Hazara, and mostly in 
Herat city. He stated Abdullah has a lot of support in Herat city, 
probably a majority of the population, but not among Hazara, who 
solidly support Karzai and whose second choice is Bashardoost. He 
added that outside of Herat city Karzai has more support than 
Abdullah. Harakat-e Islami plans to field a small number of election 
observers in Jibril, the overwhelmingly Hazara section of Herat 
city. 
 
Elections Preparations Continue and Observers Arrive 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) The Provincial Election Officer (PEO) has hired 85 percent of 
the almost 11,000 needed staff and the rest are in process. Those 
needing training have all been hired. A special push is being made 
to hire two female checkers per female polling site. Afghan 
National Police (ANP) staff will check the men, while IEC new-hires 
will check the women. There are 180 district field coordinators, 
consisting of 90 teams of two, to cover the 467 polling sites. Each 
team will cover on average five polling sites, with some in Herat 
and other urban centers covering more because of geographic 
proximity, and teams in remote areas covering fewer because of 
distance and more difficult access. Most election materials have 
been received. 
 
¶7. (U) After a five-day closure due to runway repairs, Herat airport 
received several flights with election materials for the western 
region. Herat province is fortunate that neither donkeys nor 
airplanes are required to distribute election materials within the 
province. PEO staff is busy registering political party and 
candidate observers, many of whom are getting training as observers 
by NDI in Herat. Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan 
(FEFA) is active also in recruiting observers, but suffers from lack 
of capacity in Herat, staffed with only one paid employee who has 
another job. PEO staff have been distributing educational posters 
in Dari and Pashto, as well as mock ballots, to civic educators. 
 
¶8. (U) Two EU observers - an Italian and a Portuguese - and two NDI 
observers - a Kazakh and a Paraguayan - arrived in Herat. The EU 
observers expressed frustration because they fall under the UN 
security blanket and are unable to travel to the districts. PEO 
welcomed international observers and told PRT he wished there were 
more in Herat province. 
 
¶9. (U) Herat PRT representative visited NDI's observer training 
sessions on August 9; some 30 sessions are scheduled over 15 days in 
Herat city. Although the training is meant for all provinces in 
Western Afghanistan, all but one registered observer has been from 
Herat. NDI staff attributed the lack of participation of observers 
from Badghis, Ghor, or Farah to the high cost of transport (NDI does 
not pay travel costs or subsidize participation in any way for the 
observer trainees) and security, which makes it difficult for 
observers to get to Herat city. During PRT rep's visit trainees 
were attentive and their questions reflected they understood the 
material covered in the session. The August 3 IED attack on the 
Injil District Police Chief, which killed 14 and wounded 
approximately 30 persons, had a noticeable impact on NDI's observer 
training. Projected attendance was down for a couple days after Aug 
3, but seems to have rebounded. More than 2200 political parties' 
and candidates' observers, all credentialed by the PEO, have been 
trained as of Aug 9, with several thousand more expected to be 
trained the final week of training. 
 
¶10. (U) Comment: While Karzai still appears to dominate the field in 
Herat, there are indications that other candidates are gaining 
traction. At least outwardly, candidate activity seems to be more 
varied than at the beginning of the campaign season in Herat. 
 
 
EIKENBERRY