VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBUL #2434/01 2320346
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200346Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0943
INFO RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 7764
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 3791
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC

UNCLAS KABUL 002434 
 
DEPT FOR AFGHAN ELECTIONS TASK FORCE 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM AF
 
SUBJECT: Afghan Elections Situation Report Three - 0800 Local, 
August 20, 2009 
 
¶1. (SBU) The next sitrep is scheduled for 1200 local on August 20. 
 
 
--------- 
Security 
--------- 
 
¶2. Post heard from General Amiri of the Afghan National Police, who 
clarified earlier reports of an alleged ban on all weapons in Kabul. 
 The General said the order only applied to carrying weapons at the 
polling sites, and did not apply to protective details for 
international observers.  Post has received no reports of any 
observers being barred from entry to polling sites for having armed 
escorts, or for any other reason.  The European Union observer 
mission's 86-member team has reported no abnormalities at any of the 
sites it is currently observing. 
 
Provincial reports by region follow: 
 
Regional Command (RC) - North: No update from sitrep three. 
 
RC South: No update from sitrep three. 
 
RC-East: 
Ghazni - There are multiple reports of violence in the province on 
the morning of August 20.  OCC-P also reported five rockets were 
launched in Khogyani district around 0530 hours local time, three of 
which landed near the District Center.  There is no further 
information on this incident available at this time.  At 0650 hours 
local time, OCC-P reported a single rocket strike destroyed a shop 
in Ghazni City with no injuries or deaths.  The ANP is already on 
scene.  At 0705 hours local time, OCC-P reported a single rocket hit 
behind FOB Vulcan with no injuries or deaths.  OCC-P reported an 
attack on Rashidan District Center at 0730 hours local time.  OCC-P 
has requested air support from Task Force White Eagle.  At 0740 
OCC-P reported that a joint ANA-ANP convoy carrying election 
materials was attacked by AAF in Warra village in Gelan district. 
We await further information. 
 
Insurgents attacked a polling site with small arms fire in 
Nangarhar/Khogyani.  No casualties or damage reported. 
 
Insurgents attacked a polling site with small arms fire in 
Khowst/Mando Zayi.  No damage or casualties reported. 
 
Insurgents attacked a polling site with small arms fire in 
Khowst/Tani. No casualties or damage reported. 
 
Insurgents attacked a polling site with small arms fire in 
Paktia/Jaji.  No further information was immediately available. 
 
Insurgents attacked a polling site with small arms fire and rocket 
propelled grenades in Nangarhar/Bati.  No further information was 
immediately available. 
 
Insurgents attacked a polling station with small arms fire in 
Laghman/Alishing.  No further information was immediately 
available. 
 
Insurgents attacked a polling site with small arms fire in 
Lowgar/Baraki Barak.  No casualties or damage reported. 
 
Insurgents attacked a polling station with small arms fire in 
Kunar/Ghaziabad.  No further information was immediately available. 
 
Insurgents attacked a school/polling center with an IED in 
Kabul/Kabul.  No casualties or damage reported. 
 
RC-West:  No update from sitrep three. 
 
 
---------------------------- 
Voting & Counting Activities 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) According to Embassy observer teams and news reports, polling 
sites have opened as scheduled across the country, with no current 
reports of any sites not opening as planned. 
 
¶4. (U) Ghazni IEC has delivered the supplemental election materials 
for Jaghato district for air delivery, including 50 ballot boxes, 25 
polling kits, 25 screens. The materials were unloaded and stored for 
possible air delivery if helo support can be obtained. 
 
¶5. (U) Post has received reports that holepunches at polling 
 
stations 182 and 183 (located in Kabul) have malfunctioned.  Due to 
the malfunctions, four of six polling stations at site 183 have 
stopped functioning pending repair of the punches.  Observers report 
growing lines as the IEC officers await a solution. 
 
------------- 
Voter Turnout 
------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Polling has begun, with President Karzai and Independent 
Election Commission Chairman Ludin having been televised casting 
their votes on local and international television. 
 
----- 
Fraud 
----- 
 
¶7. (SBU) No updates from sitrep two. 
 
 
------------ 
Atmospherics 
------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) Paktika OCC-P reports robust voter turnout in Sharana, 
leading ANP to request additional ANSF support to handle the large 
crowds.  PEO Taj Ali reports all polling sites in Paktika opened as 
scheduled this morning and that there is "good turnout" throughout 
the province.  He confirmed OCC-P's report of large voter turnout in 
Sharana, and said that there has been no attack or threat 
perpetuated against the province's polling sites overnight or this 
morning. 
 
Pam Constable of the Washington Post called to report a 1 AM US SF/ 
Afghan raid on the Park Palace hotel, where several male 
journalists' rooms were searched and a Japanese journalist was 
reportedly taken away.  The Public Affairs Section will follow up 
with the Japanese embassy. 
 
 
-------------- 
Public Affairs 
-------------- 
 
¶9.  AFGHAN MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS: 
 
VOA reported on comments by the State Department spokesman in which 
he said that the Taliban campaign to disrupt Afghan elections will 
fail. 
 
RTA and Ariana TV reported on an announcement by the MOI that 
carrying of weapons in Kabul would be banned on Election Day. 
According to the report, anyone caught carrying a weapon will be 
arrested, their weapons confiscated and their license revoked; only 
security personnel and institutions would be excepted. 
VOA reported that a poll by The Washington Post shows that most 
Americans think that war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting. 
 
Tolo TV reported that UNAMA expressed concern over mounting problems 
with the 20 August elections in Afghanistan. The UN special envoy to 
Afghanistan also reportedly expressed concern over lack of security 
and fears of limited participation in the elections by women. 
 
Many media outlets reported that U.S. Senator John McCain, on a 
visit to Afghanistan, said the United States and the international 
community will be successful in the war on terror in Afghanistan, 
and the Taliban will lose. He reportedly said the U.S. does not 
support any particular presidential candidate in the 20 August 
elections, and called for an upsurge in Afghan security forces. 
 
Radio Arman reported that U.S. President Barack Obama recently 
stressed the importance of security for the Afghan elections, saying 
that U.S. forces will try to ensure security at the polling stations 
so that people can vote. The U.S. says the elections should be 
legitimate and they will cooperate with the new Afghan president. 
 
Numerous Afghan media outlets reported that militants attacked a 
vehicle carrying election officials and electoral materials to a 
polling station in the eastern province of Nuristan on Wednesday, 
injuring three workers and setting afire the materials. The Deputy 
Police Chief of Nuristan, Colonel Mohammad Farooq Badr, said the 
militants intercepted the vehicle in the Mandol district. Governor 
Jamaluddin Badr said the workers did not inform police prior to 
transferring the materials. He added the wounded officials have been 
shifted to a facility of the Provincial Reconstruction Team. IEC 
 
provincial chief Omar Sami confirmed the incident, and warned that 
if the security personnel do not shift electoral materials 
immediately to the district, people will be deprived of their right 
to vote. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. 
Another report says that an overnight rocket attack by insurgents 
killed a worker of Afghanistan Independent Election Commission 
(AIEC) and wounded another in Jawzjan province. Regional IEC head, 
Amanullah Habibi has confirmed the incident. 
 
Pajhwok Afghan News Agency reported that 10 people were arrested on 
Wednesday on charges of distributing night letters in Paktia 
province. Police Chief Brigadier General Aziz Ahmad Wardak said four 
people were arrested in Ahmadabad district and six others were 
arrested in Gardez, where they were spreading the night letters, 
which said "the election is an American project and people should 
not participate in it, otherwise they will be targeted by the 
Taliban." Wardak said some explosives were also seized from the 
detainees. Meanwhile, Taliban attacked a border police check-post 
from across the border in Patan district. A police official, Mirza 
Gull Abakhel, said that two policemen were seriously injured in the 
90-minute clash, and one later died in a hospital in Samkani 
district. 
 
Tolo TV showed a new video clip in which Gulbudin Hikmatyar, the 
leader of Hizb-e Islami, sets conditions for bringing an end to the 
war in Afghanistan: the unconditional withdrawal of international 
troops; establishment of a provisional government; holding of free 
and transparent elections. 
 
Radio Salam Watandar reported that an IED hit a vehicle in Maqor 
district of Badghis province, killing 13 civilians and wounding six 
others, including women and children. Provincial spokesperson Abdul 
Ghani Saber confirmed the incident; no one has claimed 
responsibility. 
 
Afghan media outlets reported five family members were killed when a 
roadside bomb struck their vehicle in the Sra Kala area of Sharana, 
the capital of Paktika province. According to the reports the family 
was taking a pregnant woman to the Civil Hospital of Sharana to give 
birth. 
 
An editorial published by Pajhwok News Agency summarized security 
and human rights concerns, concerns, the recent candidate 
withdrawals, and UN Special Representative Kai Eide's and Secretary 
of State Hillary Clinton's statements on the Afghan Elections. 
 
¶10. (SBU) MESSAGING: 
 
Messaging remains consistent with Afghan Elections Situation Report 
One.  We will review and update as necessary for the next report. 
 
EIKENBERRY