VZCZCXRO4235
RR RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
DE RUEHBUL #0582/01 0470931
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160931Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5621
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000582 
 
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: PREL MOPS PGOV EAID AF
 
SUBJECT:  OPERATION MOSHTARAK - SITUATIONAL REPORT FOR FEBRUARY 15, 
2010 
 
REF:  (A) KABUL 567, (B) KABUL 554, (C) KABUL 543, (D) KABUL 466, 
(E) KABUL 115, (F) 09 KABUL 4187 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  Operation Moshtarak continued on February 15 in 
Nad Ali district; however, reports throughout the operational area 
indicate that the situation was relatively quiet.  ISAF Commander, 
along with Ministers of Defense and Interior, visited the northern 
Nad Ali area of Showal where they received briefings from ANA and 
ANP Commanders as well as conducted a walk through the village to 
meet with locals.  In a successful press conference in Lashkar Gah, 
the ministers called upon the Taliban to lay down their arms and to 
rejoin their country.  After receiving briefings at FOB Dwyer and a 
meeting with Nad Ali Deputy District Governor, seven members of the 
Marjah shura traveled to Marjah on the evening of February 15 to 
work on establishing governance and reintegration efforts there. 
Governor Mangal traveled to another area of Nad Ali to launch his 
Governor's Led Eradication Campaign by deploying 20 tractors to the 
district for the counter-narcotics fight.  The numbers of internally 
displaced persons (IDPs) remain steady at 941 families registered in 
Lashkar Gah. End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Operation Moshtarak continued on February 15 in Nad Ali 
district; however, reports throughout the operational area indicate 
that the situation was relatively quiet.  The civilian component of 
the operation stands ready and willing to go into Marjah once 
conditions permit.  This report is a situational update, reflecting 
the activities that took place in conjunction with Operation 
Moshtarak on February 15, 2010. 
 
POLITICAL UPDATE 
---------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) ISAF Commander met with federal, provincial and district 
leadership during his visit to Lashkar Gah and areas within the 
conflict zone on February 15.  In the north Nad Ali area of Showal, 
Interior Minister Atmar, Defense Minister Wardak, Governor Mangal, 
General Za Zai (205 Commander Hero Corps of the ANA) and COMISAF 
were briefed by ANA and ANP commanders on the latest on the 
operations within Showal.  The ANA commanders noted that they 
discovered approximately 45 IEDs on the first day of the operations 
and praised the coordination taking place among the ANA, the ANP and 
the ISAF.  ANP Commander Colonel Tariq said that the resistance in 
Showal lasted less than an hour and that most of the insurgents 
escaped to the areas still unsecured to the northwest and northeast. 
 According to the ANSF leadership, the next mission was to pave the 
way for the arrival of the police, as well as to clear the road of 
IEDs so that the area's residents had freedom of movement to and 
from Lashkar Gah. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Following the briefing, the ministerial delegation, 
including Commander of Regional Command-South (RC-S) and PRT Lashkar 
Gah, accompanied by international press, conducted a walking tour of 
Showal village.  The UK Battle group based in Showal reported that 
the community had held a number of shuras over the past few days and 
the atmospherics of the area (such as women again in the streets) 
were extremely good.  Under a waving GIRoA flag where a Taliban flag 
had been flying just days before, RC-S Commander spoke with a group 
of local young men, who stressed to the Major General that, above 
all, they needed the ANSF and ISAF to remain in the area to keep 
them safe and not abandon them. 
 
¶5. (SBU)  In a February 15 briefing for Deputy Defense Minister 
Bismullah Khan, Deputy Interior Minister Mangal and Commander of 
ISAF Joint Command (COMIJC), Nad Ali District Governor Habibullah 
explained his thoughts on how his district would develop following 
Operation Moshtarak.  Habibullah explained that in order for Nad Ali 
to succeed, it would need greater support from the central 
government for district governance, better command and control for 
the ANP, and greater numbers of ANA.  Following the briefing, 
Bismullah Khan told Habibullah he would commend him highly to the 
Minister of the Independent Directorate for Local Governance and 
request every possible support be sent to Nad Ali to ensure GIRoA 
continues to be successful.  (Note:  Early next week, Habibullah is 
planning a shura of elders from across the District. End Note.) 
 
¶6.  (SBU) At the Regimental Combat Team (RCT) at FOB Dwyer, seven 
Marjah elders from the 34 Marjah "executive committee" arrived and 
met with Nad Ali Deputy District Governor Haji Zahir and various 
civilian and military personnel in preparation for their visit to 
Marjah that evening.  (Note: Although not present at the RCT, the 
Marjah shura is chaired by Abdul Rahman Jan (ARJ), former Helmand 
Chief of Police, who remains highly interested in the governance 
formation of Marjah.  ARJ's nephew is also on the shura, and he made 
the trip to Marjah.  End Note.)  The shura will stay in the area for 
at least the next several days and may play a leading role if there 
are Taliban coming forward to reintegrate.  We will continue to work 
 
KABUL 00000582  002 OF 002 
 
 
with Haji Zahir, the sub-district governor for Marjah, as our 
primary point of contact on governance issues there. 
 
MEDIA UPDATES 
------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The February 15 COMISAF press conference at the Helmand 
Governor's Media Centre received significant coverage from the local 
press corps, with approximately thirty Kabul-based Afghan 
journalists and reporters from the New York Times, the Wall Street 
Journal, USA Today, the Financial Times and The Times (UK). 
Minister of Defense Wardak called on insurgents to reconcile, 
saying, "We are calling on all Afghan opposition groups - this is 
your country, this is your soil... Without you, we cannot achieve 
national unity."  While Interior Minister Atmar put a lot of 
emphasis on the civilian casualty issue, he said, "We may have lost 
nine people, but we managed to liberate thousands of others." 
Later, he gave an interview on CNN in which he attributed 
responsibility for the casualties to "our forces," and made no 
mention of ISAF or foreign forces with respect to the incident.  He 
added, "It's not just a military operation.  It is an integrated 
civilian, military and development operation." 
COUNTER-NARCOTICS 
----------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) On February 15 in the Grupi Shesh area of Nad Ali district, 
Governor Mangal announced the beginning of the Governor's Led 
Eradication (GLE) Campaign for Nad Ali.  (Background: The UK-funded 
GLE Campaign acts as the "stick" to the alternative livelihood 
program's "carrot" for farmers when the poppy planting season comes 
around in late summer/fall.)  Accompanied by the Helmand Director of 
Agriculture, other line ministers, and a number of Afghan media 
outlets, Mangal deployed twenty eradication tractors, with 
provincially-hired drivers, from his fleet of approximately 110 
tractors to clear Nad Ali.   In a statement to the media, Mangal 
stated that poppy cultivation within Helmand would be reduced by 50 
percent this year.  (Note: The UN Office of Drug Control projects 
that poppy cultivation levels to remain stable in Helmand this year. 
End Note.) 
 
IDP Update 
----------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) According to the Department of Refugees and Repatriation in 
Lashkar Gah, the number of internally displaced families remains at 
941 for February 15.  According to unofficial reports, the 
International Committee of the Red Cross in Marjah has seen the 
return of some families back into the area and ISAF troops have 
helped look after these returnees. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Marjah shura is a collection of elders who have 
pledged their support to the operation and Governor Mangal.  They 
have shown initiative in working toward the future of Marjah and Nad 
Ali district as a whole, but Mangal and many local residents 
understand these elders place their interests first and this must be 
kept in mind.  Mangal and Atmar both stated that these men have an 
immediate use but it remains unclear whether GIRoA will be strong 
enough to have a lasting control over this body. 
 
EIKENBERRY