VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHBUL #3165 2801018
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071018Z OCT 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1995
INFO RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 7972

UNCLAS KABUL 003165 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SRAP AND SCA/A 
DEPT PASS AID/ASIA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON PGOV AF
SUBJECT: AFGHAN WATER AND ENERGY MINISTER ISMAIL KHAN ON 
INFRASTRUCTURE PRIORITIES 
 
¶1.  Ismail Khan, AfghanistanQs Minister of Water and Energy, 
said there has to be more emphasis on building dams and water 
projects in his Sept. 29 meeting with Coordinating Director 
for Development and Economic Affairs, Ambassador E. Anthony 
Wayne and USAID Director William Frej.  Wayne and Frej 
promised continued USG partnership and praised KhanQs 
agreement to proceed with further QcommercializationQ of the 
Afghan electricity distribution system (which took place 
September 30).  Ismail Khan has been working to postpone this 
transfer (Septel). 
 
¶2. Also participating in the meeting were Deputy Minister for 
Water Sholauddin Ziaie, Embassy KabulQs Senior Deputy 
Coordinating Director, the Director of Embassy KabulQs USAID 
Infrastructure Office, and the Senior Water Advisor also 
participated.  KhanQs comments on the Afghan security 
situation are reported Septel. 
 
PROGRESS ON ELECTRICITY 
 
 
¶3.  Ambassador Wayne noted the Afghan GovernmentQs decision to 
proceed with the transfer of assets from the old government 
electrical utility DABM to a new state commercial entity, 
DABS, and the importance the move has for undercutting 
corruption and for promoting the growth of AfghanistanQs 
electrical system.  The U.S., World Bank, Asian Development 
Bank, and other international donors have strongly advocated 
for the assets transfer.  Ismail Khan and his ministry had 
previously been working to block the transfer of assets to the 
new electricity corporation.  Note: the assets transfer took 
place Sept. 30, with Minister Khan participating (Septel). 
End note. 
 
¶4.  Khan appreciated the observation a visiting delegation 
from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation had made. 
Eighteen months earlier when some of the delegation members 
had visited Kabul, the houses on the mountainsides around the 
city were dark.  Now, they had electricity, dramatically 
changing the way the city looks at night and showing how 
peopleQs lives are improving.  Khan noted that much of the 
increased electricity supply results from the new connection 
between Uzbekistan with Afghanistan and discussed the plans 
for shifting supplies in the coming months from other parts of 
the country to Kabul.  The Minister also pressed USAID for 
faster progress on the USG- funded power generation plant 
outside Kabul. 
 
BUT LOOKING FOR MORE FOCUS ON DEVELOPING WATER SUPPLIES 
 
 
¶5.  Answering Ambassador WayneQs questions about what the top 
priorities in the MinisterQs portfolio should be, Khan said 
Qdams.Q  Technical and economic feasibility studies have been 
completed for small, medium, and large dams at various sites 
in Afghanistan.  Their construction is essential, the Minister 
continued, for development and also to build the publicQs 
confidence in the Government.  Regulating water supplies is 
also key to developing the countryQs agricultural potential as 
well as hydroelectricity.  Khan also reiterated a point he has 
made in previous meetings, i.e., that the USG has done 
excellent work in helping develop AfghanistanQs road network, 
but our attention should shift to water systems development. 
(Note: the draft USG water strategy contains over a dozen 
small to medium multipurpose dams and the possibility of one 
large multipurpose dam in the North or West in addition to 
ongoing work in Kajaki and Darunta (South and East). 
 
¶6.  Minister Khan noted that the Ministry has identified 17 
priority dams with a total cost of over $7 billion.  (USAID 
already had the list of these projects.)  He closed by 
expressing his strong confidence in the Afghan GovernmentQs 
partnership with the USG and he hoped his dream of managing 
AfghanistanQs water resources will be realized.  Wayne and 
Frej said that the USG looked forward to continuing 
partnership with the Ministry and explained that the new 
Kabul-based US infrastructure team of USAID and USACE was 
bringing to bear the expertise of US civilian and military 
engineers to identify high priority water and energy projects 
we could support. 
 
EIKENBERRY