VZCZCXRO1786
RR RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHBUL #3100/01 2781324
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051324Z OCT 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1834
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 003100 
 
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:  AFGHANISTAN: VIGNETTES FROM THE FIELD 
 
REF: (A) KABUL 2939, (B) Kabul 2996, (C) Kabul 3057 
 
¶1. (SBU) Begin Summary. U.S. civilians in the field continue to work 
closely with the Afghan Government and their military colleagues to 
support governance, economic development, and security.  New 
structures and strategies have been integral to placing our people 
in key positions in the field where they can work through Afghan 
government structures in close collaboration with coalition military 
partners, consistent with the Integrated Civilian-Military Campaign 
Plan for Support to Afghanistan.  This cable includes a number of 
vignettes.  A key focus of civilian efforts has been to support the 
agricultural sector, Afghanistan's leading source of revenue (see 
Ref A).  Many civilians, particularly in the South, have been at the 
front lines to bring governance and basic services to communities 
immediately following military operations.  Additionally, programs 
to develop capacity to improve governance and the rule of law are 
part of the daily activities of most officers in the field. 
Continued progress on these and other efforts, and on civilian 
increase, will require additional resources and support from 
Washington, including for security, mobility and "life support" 
(Reftels B and C).  End Summary. 
 
Creating Structures for Enhanced Civilian Effort 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The creation of Senior Civilian Representative (SCR) 
positions in the East and South in July 2009 has been essential to 
bringing increased management, direction, and oversight to civilian 
officers working in the field and has dramatically strengthened the 
civil-military unity of effort.  Since the SCR is the U.S. civilian 
counterpart to the military commander in the Regional Command (RC) 
and coordinates the work of all U.S. civilian personnel in his or 
her region, these officers are able to ensure that civilian and 
military capabilities are working together to advance our strategic 
goals.  Similar positions are being created in the North and West to 
enhance the unity of effort in those regions (septel). 
 
¶3. (U) An additional area of enhanced unity of effort has been 
tested in the East at the brigade level through the creation of a 
"Board of Directors" approach.  In that case, the Defense, State, 
USAID, USDA lead representatives each serve on the Board and 
coordinate all activities under his/her assigned line of operation 
(e.g. governance for State) across the brigade's entire area of 
responsibility (AOR).  Under this "hub and spoke" model, one 
civilian supports and directs the efforts of company commanders, 
military civil affairs teams, Agricultural Development Teams (ADTs), 
and others on governance work in multiple districts throughout the 
AOR.  The State officer is also a source of information for those in 
his chain as he provides reach back to the PRT, the Brigade, and 
ultimately the Embassy. 
 
¶4. (U) Civilian lash-up at ISAF headquarters is also key to 
advancing civil-military integration.  For example, State and USAID 
officers have worked directly with ISAF Headquarters in development 
of ISAF's operational planning and orders, providing vital civilian 
input on how to make rapid gains in governance and development. 
Integrated civilian-military working groups at the Embassy provide 
real-time guidance to teams in the field on issues from 
infrastructure to border management.  This kind of civil-military 
collaboration at all levels of the military structure has made a 
difference.  A Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) Civil Affairs 
Officer told Ambassador Eikenberry that the MEB depended on civilian 
personnel for their expertise, skills (e.g. governance and 
agriculture), and the civilian perspective essential for effective 
counter-insurgency efforts, noting that a conversation between an 
Afghan civilian and a U.S. civilian is qualitatively different than 
with a U.S. soldier. 
 
Augmenting the Afghan Agricultural Sector 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶5. (U) The agricultural sector has been a key area of focus for U.S. 
civilians.  From infrastructure, to capacity building, to training, 
the work has helped augment Afghan capacity.  State and USAID 
representatives, working with local officials in Helmand, assisted 
with the construction of Bost civilian airfield.  The completion of 
the airfield in the center of one of Afghanistan's key agricultural 
regions has resulted in the return of local passenger air service to 
and from Helmand, as well as a commercial air service hub for the 
shipment of local agricultural produce.  The agricultural voucher 
and cash for work program is having good positive impacts in the 
same province (see Reftel A).  In nearby Zabul province, the USDA 
representative created an extension agent training program for 
agricultural workers from Zabul's remote districts so that thousands 
of subsistence farmers would have access to improved seeds and 
agriculture techniques. 
 
¶6. (U) In the northeastern province of Nuristan, the USDA 
representative worked with UN and local experts to train 
 
KABUL 00003100  002 OF 003 
 
 
district-level government officials and community representatives 
from across the province in agricultural, forestry, and natural 
resource management techniques.  In RC- East's Kapisa province, 
State, USAID, and USDA officers working with U.S. military were 
instrumental in facilitating the formation of a pomegranate 
cooperative in the critical district of Tagab.  As a result of this 
promising initiative, pomegranate sales could quadruple from 
$800,000 to over $5.6 million.  In Kunar to the North, USDA 
representative supports farmer workshops that are assisting 260 
farmers in nine districts this year on orchard management, crop 
production, composting, forest management, and livestock 
management. 
 
On the Front Lines: Working in Conflicted Areas 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Often, State, USAID, and USDA officers are called upon to 
work in districts just days after military operations have secured 
an area.  A Marine Expeditionary Brigade commander in the Southern 
Province of Helmand's Nawa district told Ambassador Eikenberry that 
civilians were essential to the mission, and that a small number 
could make a huge difference.  A few USAID personnel armed with the 
right expertise and programs were invaluable, he said.  USAID and 
State officers in Helmand Province, worked closely with the Marines 
and the UK to develop planning for governance immediately following 
Marine operations in the districts of Nawa and Khaneshin, and were 
instrumental in helping the GIRoA reestablish district governance 
and basic services following the operations.  For example, just 48 
hours after U.S. Marines had cleared Khaneshin, a USAID rapid 
response team arrived to begin stabilization efforts.  In Farah 
Province in southwestern Afghanistan, State, USAID, and USDA 
officers worked in conjunction with the Marines to help local 
government officials establish basic services as part of the 
clear-and-hold phase in Golistan and Baqwa districts. 
 
¶8. (U) In the West in Herat Province's problematic Guzara district, 
the USAID representative and deputy field officer are facilitating a 
joint U.S. Special Forces - Herat Health Department Medical Combat 
Assistance Patrol (MEDCAP) and potentially a Basic Health Center. 
The State representative, working with the PRT Commander in the 
eastern province of Paktya, accompanied Paktya's Deputy Governor 
Mangal to a shura meeting in the Chamkani district to help resolve a 
two-year conflict that has re-emerged on the Paktya/Pakistan Border 
between the Shi'a Turi tribe and the Sunni Bushara tribe.  Joined by 
UNAMA and UNHCR at the shura, the delegation was successful in 
helping stabilize the fragile situation through direct interaction 
with local leadership. 
 
Advancing Governance and Developing Afghan Capacity 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) Civilians in the field are daily interacting with and 
assisting the development of provincial and district governance.   A 
brigade commander in Parwan, adjacent to Kabul, informed Ambassador 
Eikenberry in September that State Department officers are critical 
to the success of the brigade's work with the local government. 
Foreign Service Officers have training and experience not available 
to soldiers, he said.  The work of our officers can take many forms. 
 For example, the State representative at the brigade level in Logar 
Province in eastern Afghanistan notes that joint civilian and 
military engagements have fostered security, governance, 
development, and communications, including helping to establish the 
pilot Afghan Public Protection Program (AP3) and revitalize the 
provincial development councils.  In the remote eastern province of 
Nuristan, the State officer recently kicked off a "model district" 
program, which transfers to Afghan officials the responsibility for 
planning, prioritizing, and budgeting for Commander's Emergency 
Response Program (CERP)-funded projects in their districts. 
 
¶10. (U) Capacity building is a key element of the work of civilians 
in the field.  In the northeastern province of Kunar, USAID and 
State representatives have worked with the military to train 
students via the Kunar Construction Company.  This program teaches 
fighting age males marketable job skills such as electrical wiring, 
plumbing, rebar bending, woodworking, painting, and masonry.  A ROL 
coordinator in the East is working with military partners to 
facilitate Huqoq legal training, which will train members of the 
Huqoq courts (a civil law mediation and arbitration system headed by 
the Ministry of Justice that relies on some elements of the local 
informal justice system) in order to enhance the Huqoq courts as 
dispute-resolving mechanisms and develop public awareness of legal 
rights and the GIRoA role.  In the South's Helmand Province, the 
Rule of Law Coordinator has been working with the PRT, Marines and 
UK Military to enhance GIRoA capacity to investigate and prosecute 
insurgent violence.  In the northern Province of Kunduz, the State 
PRT Officer is working closely with U.S. Police Mentor Teams to 
design and implement a community-oriented policing strategy focused 
 
KABUL 00003100  003 OF 003 
 
 
on getting ANP into the community and building trust and cooperation 
with the population.  In Mazar-e Sharif, in northern Balk Province, 
USAID and State officers worked with the Embassy to help the Islamic 
Investment Finance Corporation (IIFC) establish a loan system that 
so far has provided some 31,000 Shariat-compliant loans to deserving 
applicants, amounting to about $20 million. 
 
Advancing Women's Issues 
-------------------- 
 
¶11. (U) Advancing opportunities and protections for women also has 
been a key focus of efforts in Afghanistan's provinces.  In Kunar, 
USDA and USAID representatives coordinated with Afghan Conservation 
Corps to hold trainings for women on home poultry production.  In 
the northern province of Kunduz as well as in Badghis to the west, 
State and USAID PRT Officers are working with a U.S.-based NGO to 
secure funding to build a shelter for abused women, which will 
significantly improve the situation of women suffering from domestic 
violence. 
 
Comment 
----- 
 
¶12. (SBU) As illustrated by these vignettes, U.S. civilians and 
military in the field, working closely with Afghan and coalition 
counterparts, are advancing U.S. policy in Afghanistan despite 
formidable challenges.  Continued progress on governance, economic 
development and security efforts, as well as our civilian increase 
in the field, will depend in large part on additional resources and 
support from Washington, including for security, mobility, housing 
and other life support in the field (details provided in reftels B 
and C). 
 
EIKENBERRY