"¶5. (C) Further to the south, ostensibly peaceful Baghlan
Kabul 00001239 002.5 of 005
Province faces a different set of security challenges. As
the head of the UNAMA office for the region tells it, even
though Baghlan generally flies under the national radar, it
actually deserves to be labeled "the wild, wild west."
xxxxxxxxxxxx, behind-the-scenes
contests for power (including on the part of the provincial
chief of police); the influence of local strongmen and former
mujahedeen (particularly in northern Baghlan); unchecked
poppy cultivation in Andarab district; underlying
Tajik-Pashtun tensions; and criminality all combine to
undermine stability. Direct insurgent activity appears
limited, but criminal elements have fashioned links to the
Taliban. Locals have also made themselves available to
execute for-hire insurgent missions. The Hungarian PRT does
little to address any of these problems. They are not
permitted to fire their weapons except in self-defense, do
little more than patrol the main roads and undertake no
counter-narcotics activities. When two Hungarian de-miners
were killed doing their work, Budapest stopped sending mine
clearers to the PRT. When the security situation in
northeastern Bamyan Province was threatened by Baghlan-based
malefactors, it was the New Zealanders who had to cross into
Baghlan to address the problem. The PRT sees itself as
focused on humanitarian assistance and small-scale
development work. Again xxxxxxxxxxxx,
his nation's troops are looking to do their short stints in
Afghanistan and get back home unscathed.
¶6. (SBU) The head of the Provincial Council (PC) in
Baghlan sees one of the same factors cited by Governor Omar
in Kunduz as undermining stability in his province too )
namely the inability of the nascent formal legal system to
address people,s need for justice. In fact, he claims as
one of his PC's singular achievements its intervention to
settle legal disputes that the formal legal system failed to
resolve in a timely manner. According to the PC chairman,
one dispute over a murder had languished for 10 years but was
settled in two days once a Council member from the affected
district mediated. Another case involving a tribal killing
had been with prosecutors and the court for 18 months but was
settled in two hours with the Provincial Council's help. It
is questionable whether these cases were in fact "resolved"
in a way that met formal justice standards, but it is
noteworthy that these elected sub-national governance
officials clearly believe they have done a service to their
constituents and thereby brought the government and people
closer by their actions."
http://cablesearch.org/cable/view.php?id=09KABUL1239&hl=pri%3AOO