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Viewing cable 06KABUL5249, PRT PANJSHIR: PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER QANOONI OPENS

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06KABUL5249 2006-10-29 11:32 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Kabul
VZCZCXRO3225
PP RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #5249/01 3021132
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291132Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3794
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 3180
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSOCCENT MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 005249 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/FO DAS GASTRIGHT, SCA/A, S/CRS, S/CT 
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG 
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN 
OSD FOR FARA 
CENTCOM FOR CFC-A, CG CJTF-76, POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PRELAF AF
SUBJECT: PRT PANJSHIR: PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKER QANOONI OPENS 
SCHOOL AND BLASTS PAKISTAN 
 
REF: PARIS 6542 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  (SBU) The grand opening of the Teachers, Training 
College (TTC) October 10 in Panjshir combined several unusual 
features for a public ceremony:  a large Kabul delegation; a 
strong Afghan lead; some participation of women; and, for the 
first time, broad political themes dealing with regional 
issues.  Wolesei Jirga Speaker Qanooni, a Panjshiri, 
denounced Pakistan for representing the home of, and 
providing the base for, the Taliban.  He said any attempt to 
appease the Taliban, or cut secret deals with them, would 
backfire.  One of the attending parliamentarians told the PRT 
later that Qanooni,s speech was not so much a call to arms 
as a wake-up call for the Panjshiris -- and likely an attempt 
to burnish his credentials as an international player and 
presidential material. End Summary 
 
------- 
Setting 
------- 
 
2.  (U) Over five hundred Panjshiris, including one hundred 
women and representatives from the PRT, gathered October 10 
for the grand opening of the Teachers, Training College 
(TTC).  Under a blazing sun during Ramazan, the congregation 
sat through a two-and-a-half-hour ceremony that featured 
prayers from mullahs, speeches from politicians and chants 
from both male and female students. 
 
3.  (U) The Ministry of Defense had constructed the 40-room 
building amid old military barracks.  It represents one of 
the largest and finest structures in the whole province. 
Army Chief of Staff Bismullah Khan, a Panjshiri, reportedly 
after strong lobbying from provincial officials, had 
transferred it to the Ministry of Education.  Governor Bahlul 
spearheaded the effort, a reflection of his view of education 
as a top priority of development. 
 
------- 
Seating 
------- 
 
4.  (U) The program included a handful of Afghan officials 
and parliamentarians from Kabul.  In attendance from the 
capital were Yanus Qanooni, the Speaker of the Wolesei Jirga; 
Meshrano Jirga members Aref and Azatyar; Wolesei Jirga member 
Regestani; and the First Deputy Minister of Education 
Ghaznawi.  Provincial officials included Governor Bahlul, 
Education Director Rizai and other line directors. 
Organizers invited representatives from the PRT to be seated 
on the speakers, platform, but agreed to allow them to take 
places in the second row to emphasize the Afghan lead in the 
proceedings. 
 
--------------- 
Domestic Policy 
--------------- 
 
5.  (U) The speakers ) Governor Bahlul, Speaker Qanooni, 
Deputy Minister Ghaznawi, and Director Rizai ) all 
identified education as a central force for Afghan 
development.  They spoke of the social and economic 
devastation in recent years, of the importance of schools for 
the future and of the need to train teachers.  The Governor 
called education his top priority, urged parents to get 
involved to promote their children,s learning, underscored 
the role of science in the modern curriculum, and requested 
assistance from the Ministry of Education.  Speaker Qanooni 
echoed many of these themes, noting his standing as a 
Panjshiri and drawing on his previous tenure as Minister of 
Education.  Deputy Minister Ghaznawi pledged to help the TTC 
 
KABUL 00005249  002 OF 003 
 
 
and noted his proposal, now pending at the Finance Ministry, 
to raise teachers, salaries by ten-fold, from $80 to $800. 
Director Rizai outlined the function of the TTC, saying 48 
trainers would help professionalize 200 students aspiring to 
become teachers. 
 
-------------- 
Foreign Policy 
-------------- 
 
6.  (U) Qanooni, alone among the quartet of speakers, 
addressed themes beyond education.  He said the Taliban had 
demonstrated its hostility to education, especially for 
girls.  Afghans therefore needed to resist the Taliban, who 
represented a foreign force in the country.  Indeed, Qanooni 
said, the Taliban were not true Afghans; otherwise they would 
not play such a destructive role.  &There are no Afghan 
Taliban; they all come from Pakistan.8  The neighboring 
country was not just their base but also their home. 
 
7.  (U) Continuing, but without mentioning any leaders by 
name, Qanooni argued it was a strategic blunder to negotiate 
with the Taliban.  Any attempt to appease them, or cut secret 
deals, would ultimately backfire.  He noted that, as speaker 
of the Wolesei Jirga, parliamentarians from northern 
Afghanistan were approaching him with concerns that the 
Taliban insurgency was splitting the country once again into 
two, a north and a south.  Qanooni vowed to oppose this 
division.  &If we give them three provinces, they will 
insist on all thirty-four.8 
 
---------- 
PRT Policy 
---------- 
 
8.  (U) PRT representatives sought a low profile to 
accentuate the Afghan lead.  The PRT had worked earlier to 
promote the transfer of the building from the Ministry of 
Defense to the Ministry of Education.  PRT engineers had done 
a survey of the site.  We will pursue the options of using 
CERP funds for various complementary projects, including 
digging a well and providing a generator. 
 
9.  (U) After the ceremony, Qanooni and Bahlul called us over 
to confer.  Qanooni thanked the PRT for its commitment to 
Panjshir development.  He cited various projects, including 
the road, district centers and micro-hydros, as milestones of 
progress in the valley.  He also encouraged us to continue 
reaching out to the local community.  Our efforts in the 
past, he said, had garnered the respect of Panjshiris from 
all walks of life.  We responded that our partnership with 
Panjshiris was at the heart of our work. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
10. (SBU) The ceremony was unusual in several respects.  It 
featured a large Kabul delegation, a rarity for Panjshir. 
While the PRT had assisted earlier behind the scenes, the 
project was essentially Afghan.  It also included the 
participation of local women, both in the audience and as 
part of the program.  All of these aspects made the event 
noteworthy ) indeed, successful with a unique twist. 
 
11.  (SBU) Qanooni added a new element: public utterance of 
political themes we are more frequently hearing in private 
but which are rarely uttered in a large public gathering. 
Panjshiris heard them from him in a public setting for the 
first time.  Senator Aref told us later that Qanooni,s 
speech was a significant moment for the province ) not so 
much a call to arms, but a wake-up call.Qanooni sounded many 
of these notes in his recent visit to Paris (ref), and it may 
well be part of a longer-term campaign to establishing 
himself as presidential material. 
 
KABUL 00005249  003 OF 003 
 
 
NEUMANN