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Viewing cable 06KABUL64, HAZARAJAT FEELING NEGLECTED AGAIN; ACTING DAI

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06KABUL64 2006-01-05 13:15 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Kabul
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000064 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/FO AMBASSADOR QUINN, S/CT, SA/A 
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN, KAMEND 
CENTCOM FOR POLAD, CG CFA-A, CG CJTF-76 
USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KDEM AF
SUBJECT: HAZARAJAT FEELING NEGLECTED AGAIN; ACTING DAI 
KUNDI GOVERNOR VOICES A COMMON REFRAIN 
 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY: Acting Governor of Dai Kundi Province 
Ahmadullah Nawid and Hazara political activist Zulfiqar Omid 
were pleased on January 5 to once again voice their 
complaints to a USG PolOff about the lack of development 
attention being given to the Hazarajat region.  Describing 
the region as united in its desire for change but 
overwhelmingly influenced by Iranian-backed politicians, 
Nawid asked that the USG consider providing additional 
cultural programming to counter a growing influence from 
Iran.  Meanwhile, Omid lamented that President Karzai's 
administration has been plagued by corruption and lack of a 
clear policy since its optimistic inception in 2002.  He 
believes that the GOA is deferring to fundamentalist 
religious leaders as it has throughout modern history, rather 
than using the Bonn process as an opportunity for positive 
change.  Nawid and Omid are both highly educated, 
well-spoken, and amicable politicians, and their message 
echos what Hazaras have been repeating for years - that 
Hazara Afghans feel distinctly discriminated against by both 
the GOA and the international community.  END SUMMARY. 
 
TWO PLEASANT MEN WITH AN UNPLEASANT MESSAGE 
------------------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) At a January 5 meeting with PolOff and long-time 
political contact Zulfiqar Omid, it was the Acting Governor 
of Dai Kundi Province, Ahmadullah Nawid, who spoke the 
harshest message about continued Hazara neglect.  The Hazara 
population of central Afghanistan, he argued, has been 
extremely disappointed by the lack of interest from both the 
Karzai government and the international community (IC) in 
furthering the goals of development in the Hazarajat region. 
As in all of Afghanistan, however, Nawid believes that the 
Hazaras are united in two thoughts: (1) the region is 
dominated by Iranian money and politicians who are eager to 
divide the country; and (2) Hazaras desire change and are 
eager to work together to bring peace.  Nawid's purpose in 
explaining this thought process was revealed by his final 
point - that the US should consider delivering more cultural, 
political, and developmental assistance to the Hazarajat 
region as a means of countering growing Iranian influence. 
 
3. (U) Zulfiqar Omid, meanwhile, took a slightly different 
tack, focusing his comments on his general disappointment 
with the Karzai administration rather than its neglect of the 
Hazara people.  To him, the Bonn process provided an 
opportunity to unite the country, but instead the people have 
grown disaffected by corruption and the lack of clear 
policies coming from Karzai's palace.  Omid believes that, 
rather than taking advantage of the Bonn opportunity, 
President Karzai is doing what decades of Afghan leaders have 
done before him by deferring to fundamentalist religious 
leaders like Sayyaf and Rabbani, either because: (a) he is 
afraid of them; (b) he feels a tribal affiliation with them; 
or (c) because he is secretly a fundamentalist himself.  By 
marginalizing the educated elites as he is doing now, Omid 
believes, Karzai will only continue the cycle of corruption 
and dysfunction within the government. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
4. (SBU) While opinions differ on the reality of the 
oft-lamented Hazara persecution in Afghanistan, the fact 
remains that the "Hazara neglect" message has been a common 
refrain here since shortly after 9/11.  As such, Nawid's 
comments mirror what Hazara leaders - from Bamiyan Governor 
Sorabi to Kabul MP Haji Mohammad Mohaqqeq - have lamented for 
years about the lack of attention by the IC to 
Hazara-dominated provinces.  This feeling of persecution is 
so ingrained among Hazara interlocutors that it is likely 
that no amount of additional development aid will ever 
completely mollify the population.  That said, however, 
Nawid's point about growing Iranian influence is worth 
exploring further.  If what he says is true - and it likely 
is - then an overwhelming Iranian influence in the near term 
could indeed have a negative effect on US goals in the 
central region in the long term. 
 
BIO INFORMATION - Zulfiqar Omid 
------------------------------- 
 
5. (U) A good friend of several Embassy PolOffs over the past 
three years, Omid is the leader of the Liberal Democratic 
Party (LDP) and the head of his own NGO foundation, which is 
currently working to assist women and children in the 
Hazarajat region under a grant from the government of the 
Netherlands.  Omid claims that he lost the race for 
Parliament in Dai Kundi because the three male winners were 
backed by Iranian money.  (NOTE: Omid was the fourth-highest 
male vote-getter in a province with three male seats. END 
NOTE.)  That said, his smiling eyes, bubbling laughter, and 
mastery of English make him an easy conversationalist and an 
ideal representative of the Hazara people who continues to 
voice the Hazara cause in an educated manner to anyone in 
Kabul who cares to listen. 
NEUMANN