VZCZCXRO3969
PP RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHBUL #0211/01 0211212
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 211212Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4878
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3056
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL PRIORITY 0471

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000211 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PREL PGOV AF TU IR UK
SUBJECT: JANUARY 19 UNAMA MEETING: LONDON CONFERENCE, 
ISTANBUL REGIONAL SUMMIT, AND THE AFGHAN ELECTIONS 
 
REF: KABUL 187 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: At the UNAMA meeting on January 19 SRSG 
Eide led a discussion on the JCMB, the London Conference, and 
the Parliamentary elections.  The British do not yet have a 
formal agenda or speakers list for the London Conference and 
will work to circulate a draft communiqu in advance of the 
conference.  Eide reported that the Independent Elections 
Commission (IEC) will likely announce postponement of the 
Afghan Parliamentary elections before the London Conference. 
Meeting participants agreed that the international community 
should attempt to reach consensus with its recommendations 
for electoral reform.  Eide cited the Lower House of 
Parliament's list (reftel) as a positive example, but urged a 
realistic focus on those items that can be accomplished in 
time for a likely fall election.  The SRSG also requested 
donor help with focusing UN headquarters' attention on the 
urgent need for recruitment of UN personnel in Afghanistan to 
assist with the elections.  End Summary. 
 
 
London Conference 
----------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) The group briefly reviewed the status of 
Afghan-authored papers for the January 20 JCMB, held in Kabul 
(septel) in preparation for the London Conference.  The 
consensus was that the JCMB should not endorse, but only 
"take note," of those papers which the GIRoA had not yet made 
available in final form.  The British DCM noted that the 
London Conference agenda remained in flux and speakers are 
still being selected.  He expected a draft communiqu would 
be ready for discussion o/a January 23-24.  The conference 
will also include side events, including a conference for 
Afghan business leaders and a civil society event between 
British and Afghan NGOs.  Representatives from Afghan and 
British civil society will also brief the London Conference 
itself. The Japanese reported that they are planning an 
Afghan Reintegration Trust Fund (ARTF) event post-London. 
 
Istanbul Regional Summit 
------------------------ 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Turkish Ambassador briefed the group on a 
separate Regional Summit planned for Istanbul January 26.  In 
addition to Afghanistan, invitees include all of 
Afghanistan's immediate neighbors, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the 
United States, the UK, Russia, NATO, the Secretary General of 
the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the EU, and 
the EC.  The Turkish Ambassador said that President 
Ahmadinejad of Iran had not yet confirmed his attendance. 
The Turkish Ambassador specified that the focus would be on 
trilateral Af-Pak-Turkey issues and education. 
 
Parliamentary Elections 
----------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) SRSG Eide cited the recommendations regarding 
electoral reform submitted to the Judiciary and Executive 
branches by the Lower House of Parliament (Wolesi Jirga - WJ) 
on January 17.  The WJ noted that there were numerous 
"obstacles" to holding free and fair elections by May 22 and 
that only if these obstacles were removed would they support 
holding elections by that date.  The postponement should 
continue until the obstacles were removed.  The Parliament 
listed the need to ensure adequate security for the elections 
and disarm illegal groups; reform the IEC; amend the 
electoral law; and, if possible, distribute national ID 
cards. (Reftel) 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Eide recommended that the international community 
(IC) concentrate on pushing for accomplishable objectives: 1) 
making changes in IEC personnel and its mandate, to improve 
transparency; 2) adding preventative anti-fraud measures 
rather than concentrating just on fraud detection; 3) keeping 
the ECC's three international Commissioners (he specified 
that he wants at least one Muslim and to minimize the 
appearance of North American dominance).  On this score, Eide 
said his ECC Commissioner search had yielded a "good number 
of positive replies" and that he will soon present a list of 
nominees.  To the suggestion that international Afghans of 
respected caliber be selected, the SRSG said there were some 
dual-national Afghans on his list; 4) deciding earlier on 
where the polling centers will be; and 5) training the IEC 
Commissioners.  Eide said that the IC should not appear to 
back less ambitious reforms than the Afghan Parliament's list 
but he again stressed that the IC should focus on what 
realistically could be "do-able" by September. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The Canadian Ambassador raised the need to address 
 
KABUL 00000211  002 OF 002 
 
 
candidate vetting improvements and Single Non-Transferable 
Vote (SNTV) reform, to which Eide responded that these were 
important long term programs worthy of support but were not 
"do-able" by the fall.  UNDP ELECT Chief Electoral Advisor 
Margie Cook added that she felt a national ID card should be 
addressed as part of a "broader package of reform." 
Ambassador Ricciardone suggested that we discuss with Qanooni 
what he feels is "do-able" before we decide on our own 
minimum conditions.  Ambassador Eide responded that we could 
at least begin with the UNAMA list as he felt it was 
something we could all unite behind and noted that he would 
see Speaker Qanooni in a few hours.  When Ambassador 
Ricciardone suggested we agree as a group on a list of 
minimum conditions before the London Conference, Eide said 
that he would rather keep the process informal but that he 
was hoping President Karzai would refer to the need for 
reform in his speech at London.  He did not expect formal 
agreement on an electoral reform package from the GIRoA 
during the London Conference. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Eide reported that he had spoken to IEC officials 
on January 18, and that they expected to declare the 
postponement of the elections until some time after Ramadan 
(which ends around September 9), but he was unsure whether 
the IEC would  announce a specific date.  Ambassador 
Ricciardone asked if the IEC had explained what reason they 
would give.  According to Eide, when the IEC had cited the 
"lack of international funding," he had pressed the IEC not 
to blame the international community for the postponement, 
despite the 'evident temptation.' 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The British DCM asked what the UN will be offering 
in electoral support given the lack of a UNAMA mandate.  Eide 
did not respond.  Margie Cook said the IEC's budget 
submission of about 120 million USD was overestimated by 
about 20 million USD in one area and lacked about 60 million 
USD in other areas.  She expected to arrive at a total donor 
request of about 160 million USD for the Parliamentary 
elections after ELECT had finished its internal review of the 
IEC budget, which she expected after January 23.  DSRSG for 
Management Robert Watkins promised donors by next week a 
detailed financial report from ELECT on remaining funds from 
the 2008-09 basket of donor funds.  He also promised a set of 
scenarios regarding what ELECT could accomplish if it handled 
all electoral assistance in-house, and what it could 
accomplish if it contracted out some support elements. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Eide addressed the serious need for additional 
UNAMA and UNDP personnel in-country to provide even modest 
support to the elections.  He said that he had told UN 
headquarters that the placement process needed to be 
undertaken urgently.  He said that some UN agencies feel the 
current recruitment plan will put the UN even more "in the 
pocket of major donors."  He worried at the prospect of a 
UNAMA mandate without implementing capability or authority. 
He hoped to have these questions answered before his 
departure, on  March 6 (his successor is scheduled to arrive 
March 8).  He requested donor assistance in moving the 
process forward at UN HQ as the UN's attention was naturally 
focused on Haiti for the time being. 
EIKENBERRY