VZCZCXRO3457
PP RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHBUL #3362/01 2921304
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 191304Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2378
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 003362 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON EIND ETRD PHUM PREL SOCI
SUBJECT: IRANIAN AID AND CHILD LABOR KEY LABOR MINISTRY 
CONCERNS 
 
REF: A. STATE 92560 
     ¶B. STATE 03076 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  In a review of child labor issues, 
Afghanistan Ministry of Labor Director of International 
Relations Ahmad Komail focused on issues of foreign criminals 
preying on the children of the poor, foreign government 
influence on his ministry, and ineffective staffing policies 
pursued within his ministry.  He also noted that 
Afghanistan,s 10 private orphanages were caring for their 
children much more effectively than the 54 government-run 
orphanages. Describing his ministry as subject to Iranian 
&manipulations,8 Komail hinted broadly at the need for 
increased support from the United States to check this 
influence and improve the Ministry,s social outreach.  End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Afghanistan Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs 
and Disabled (MoL) Director of International Relations Komail 
met with Poloff October 15 as a follow-up to our demarche on 
DOL,s child labor report.  Komail,s office had prepared an 
eight-page response to questions we had posed in our last 
meeting on September 30.  His paper, however, largely 
extolled the virtues of Ministry projects and his oral 
comments contradicted this paper.  Speaking at length on the 
vulnerability of the desperately poor to criminal influence, 
he identified worsening conditions for children, including 
child neglect, runaways, and the selling of children abroad 
for forced labor and organ harvesting, as serious problems. 
 
----------------------------- 
Pernicious Foreign Influences 
----------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Komail said the ministry identifies 23 categories of 
child labor.  He noted that girls are particularly vulnerable 
in two ways: when sold for forced marriages, and when 
kidnapped and sold for sexual abuse or third-party marriage. 
He believed the latter cases to be particularly appalling, as 
some families sell their daughters to Pakistanis for a mere 
USD 200-300.  Boys, said Komail, are especially vulnerable to 
foreign military recruitment. He reported rumors that the 
Iranian government had offered entire families visas in 
exchange for sending their sons to fight in Gaza.  The poor 
fall prey to numerous schemes, and in Komail,s view, the 
predator influences are usually foreign. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Komail complained at length about a current missed 
opportunity for training: he said that the Iranian government 
has offered USD 400,000 to the MoL for capacity-training, but 
that his minister had rejected the offer, fearing that the 
United States would look askance at such direct Iranian 
influence on the Afghan government.  The opportunity to 
accept the offer extends until next week; Komail was clearly 
seeking our assistance to either persuade his Minister to 
accept the deal, or submit a counter-offer.  He regaled us 
with stories of attempts by the Iranian embassy to bribe, 
pressure, and win favor with members of his ministry, 
undesirable from his point of view, as he personally dislikes 
the Iranians. 
 
-------------------------- 
A Potential for Corruption 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Komail claims his work is hampered both by a lack of 
budget and by ineffective colleagues.  He said most members 
of his ministry are political appointees; most lack money and 
are susceptible to bribery; and some actively avoid the 
media, seeking to squelch discussion of sensitive issues or 
to raise awareness of social problems within the country.  He 
believes the MoL has difficulty attracting qualified people 
with the necessary skills and background, and therefore, 
capacity-building is crucial.  He also identified some 
directors as inappropriate choices for their jobs, implying 
they had been selected deliberately for their lack of 
interest or background. Emphasizing that most ministerial 
employees lack wealth and are thus easily corruptible, he 
took pains to underscore that he did not need money, and so 
would avoid that fate, but that at any time his colleagues 
might succumb to the ongoing temptation. 
 
---------- 
Solutions? 
---------- 
 
¶6. (U) Dejectedly, Komail advised us to look to civil society 
rather than the government for solutions to problems such as 
child labor.  By way of example, he described the superior 
living conditions for children living in the ten private 
orphanages in country, compared to the 54 government-run 
 
KABUL 00003362  002 OF 002 
 
 
orphanages. The private facilities provided better food, 
clothing, and education to their wards; he could do little to 
match them. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Apparently contradicting his position on NGO,s, 
Komail went on to suggest the lack of progress to date in 
solving many Afghan social problems rests with the failure of 
donors to empower ministries through direct funding. He 
asserted that donor funding for MoL-related development 
projects must be passed through his office; only with 
ministerial oversight could international donor efforts be 
effectively utilized and proper priorities identified.  Then, 
contradicting his views on the Iranians, he implied that he 
would encourage their funding if necessary. 
 
¶8. (SBU) COMMENT:  Komail,s relaxed attitude and easy 
demeanor belied the intensity of his critical comments on the 
functioning of his ministry.  He took pains to highlight the 
Iranian aid offer and explicitly cited it as a reason for 
increasing U.S. assistance to check Iranian 
&influence.8  However, Komail did not make a convincing 
case for doing more than building capacity within his 
ministry, since, by his own admission, the MoL faces 
significant problems in formulating and implementing policy. 
EIKENBERRY 
EIKENBERRY