A14 The WikiLeaks Cables BY KAREN DEYOUNG Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables
covering recent years of Afghani- stan policy portray an unremit- tingly bleak landscape in which U.S. officials have alternately ca- joled and pressured an erratic Afghan president, been repeated- ly exasperated by corruption and seemed destined to repeat the past. “What does it take to break out
of the cycle of ‘clear and clear again’ to achieve sustained suc- cess in an area of persistent insurgency?” U.S. Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry lamented in June 2009 cable to Washington about repeated coalition offen- sives followed by Taliban resur- gence in an area north of Kabul. The document was among doz- ens released to news organiza- tions by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. “No matter how effective mili-
tary performance may be, the insurgents will readily fill any vacuums of governance, and without political competence, lasting [counterinsurgency] suc- cess . . . will remain one more operation away,” Eikenberry con- cluded in an assessment that echoes concerns expressed over the current coalition offensive in the southern province of Kanda-
EZ SU
KLMNO
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2010 Leaked Afghan cables show U.S. frustration with leader
har. This spring, when Defense
SecretaryRobertM.Gates visited a town inHelmand province, site of a major Marine offensive this year, aides noted that his walk through the marketplace and chats with local residents would have been “unthinkable” barely six months earlier. In November 2008, U.S. Embassy officials re- ported a similarwalk, in a nearby town, by then-British Foreign Secretary DavidMiliband. “A large number of local elders
turned out,” the report noted, and Miliband “bought locally produced pomegranates. . .none of this would have been possible only a fewmonths ago.” While the overall impression
afforded by the selectively re- leased cables differed little from news reports about the Afghani- stan war, the publication of un- varnished diplomatic assess- ments is likely to prove problem- atic for the Obama administra- tion as it completes a newreview of its war strategy this month. Administration andmilitary offi- cials have described recent prog- ress throughout Afghanistan and indicated they see little need to change the strategy President Obama put in place a year ago with the deployment of an addi- tional 30,000 troops. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the
top U.S. commander, has dis- missed reports of problems, par- ticularly in Kandahar, saying that there has been a shift in momentum in favor of the coali- tion that has not yet been reflect- ed in official reporting from the field. But other officials, as well as
intelligence reports from the re- gion, have raised concerns about Taliban resilience and aworrying failure to translate military suc- cesses into improvements in gov- ernance in Kandahar. The criti- cism is similar to that voiced by Eikenberry regarding another part of the country in his June 2009 cable. WikiLeaks began releasing
State Department cables from throughout the world last week- end. Many of the Afghanistan documents made public Thurs- day, some from the George W. Bush administration but most since Obama’s inauguration nearly two years ago, recounted meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and other govern- ment officials from which U.S. officials emerged with the diplo- matic version of a headache. Many released earlier in the
week reflected similar doubts arising in conversations between U.S. officials and leaders in other capitals. NATO’s then-secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, wondered in a June 2008 cable which Karzai would attend an upcoming European conference on international aid to Afghani-
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stan, “the erratic Pashtun politi- cian or the rational national leader?” A year later, as Karzai pre-
pared to run for reelection, Eikenberry reported that the Af- ghan president “appeared to be- lieve conspiracy theories that the U.S. was working with the Irani- ans to unseat himin presidential elections.” In four meetings he held with Karzai during the first week in July 2009, Eikenberry wrote, “two contrasting portraits emerge.” “The first is of a paranoid and
weak individual unfamiliar with the basics of nation-building and overly self-conscious that his time in the spotlight of glowing reviews from the international community has passed. The oth- er is that of an ever-shrewd politician who sees himself as a nationalist herowho can save the country from being divided” by those running against him. In the tumultuous period be-
fore and after the inconclusive August 2009 election, Karzai re- peatedly accused the administra- tion of both supporting and funding his opponents. “I pushed back strongly on this misinfor- mation,” Eikenberry reported. “I then asked Karzai if he took me at my word on this issue,” he wrote. “Karzai, perhaps not wanting to back down in front of his advisers, said he did not. He said I should ‘consult my bud- dies’ on this issue,” apparently referring to the other presiden-
tial candidates. As theWhiteHousewas begin-
ning to formulate the newstrate- gy announced late last year, Eikenberry—in cables that were previously leaked and were not included in the latest cache of documents — cautioned that Karzai was not an “adequate strategic partner” and could not carry out the plans the adminis- tration was considering. This February, when the most
recent cables are dated, embassy officials reported some of Karzai’s most trusted aides had raised questions about him. In a cable describing a Feb. 24 meet- ing with Karzai chief of staff Omar Daudzai, the official “al- luded elliptically to his dinner meeting the previous evening with [then-]Minister of Interior [Hanif ] Atmar and other sup- porters of the President who shared ‘serious concerns’ about Karzai’s actions” regarding the holding of upcoming parliamen- tary elections. When Eikenberry visited the
next day with Finance Minister Umar Zakhilwal, the minister, “apparently echoing Daudzai . . . went on to speak candidly about Karzai, saying that he was an ‘extremely weak man’ who did not listen to facts butwas instead easily swayed by anyone who came to him to report even the most bizarre stories of plots against him.Whenever this hap- pened, Karzai would immediate- ly judge the person to be loyal
and would reward him.” Other documentsmade public
Thursday include aDec. 16, 2009, cable recounting a meeting be- tween Karzai and his senior na- tional security aides and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in which Mullen resisted Afghan entreat- ies for more “sophisticated mili- tary equipment” and “heavy weapons.” Their domestic securi- ty tasks,Mullen gently noted, did not require such weaponry. While published accounts of
Obama’s decision-making during the late 2009 strategy review have emphasized Pentagon resis- tance to the July 2011 date he set to begin a U.S. troop withdrawal, Mullen is quoted as telling the Afghans that “the 2011 draw- down date was not a political decision, but rather a U.S. mili- tary recommendation.” At the same meeting, which
took place as the administration was pressing other NATO coun- tries to send more troops to Afghanistan, Karzai reportedly noted that “if the commitments are small contingents frommany nations, it would be more of a ‘headache,’ ” Eikenberry wrote. “He quipped that if these coun- tries only announced their plan to deploy additional troops,with- out actually sending them, it would be easier.”
deyoungk@washpost.com
Staff writer Rajiv Chandrasekaran contributed to this report.
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Fresh revelations could jeopardize
Info or order: 202-785-3900 AT:GIANT FOOD&RODMAN’S
U.S. aid, war support BY GREG MILLER
Tens of millions of dollars are
carried out of Afghanistan each month,with no telling howmuch is illicit. The country’s dominant money exchange caters to “nar- co-traffickers, insurgents, and criminals.” All the while, U.S. officials walk a “thin tightrope” in efforts to root out corruption, working with Afghan officials who are awash in graft. Those grim assessments run
like a steady current through secret diplomatic cables sent from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul during the past two years. Re- leased to several news organiza- tion by WikiLeaks, the cables highlight a problemthat the U.S. government has sought to keep under wraps. The disclosures provide new
details showing how corruption has undermined progress in a country that is in many ways a
9-year-old project in nation- building for the United States. The fresh revelations could sap support for the war and the willingness of members of Con- gress to continue backing Af- ghanistan’s fledgling economy with billions of dollars in Ameri- can aid. Even apparent breakthroughs
in the fight against corruption are portrayed in the cables as cynical attempts engineered by PresidentHamidKarzai’s admin- istration to preserve the status quo. In a Jan. 5, 2010, document
labeled “A Tale of Two Mayors,” U.S. officials describe the ouster of former Kabul Mayor Abdul Ahad Sahebi over corruption charges as an apparent case of “kangaroo court justice.” When Sahebi was driven from
office after Karzai’s reelection, it was seen as the start of a prom- ised crackdown against dishon- est politicians. Sahebi had been convicted of “mismanagement of authority” in late 2009, in a case that was described as involving massive embezzlement. But behind the scenes, U.S. officials were saying in State
Department memos that they had not seen evidence to support the conviction, and speculated that Sahebi had been sacrificed byKarzai for political reasons. In meetings with U.S. officials, Sa- hebi said he was being punished not for taking money, but for renewing a lease on a parcel of city land for $16,000 less than another applicant was willing to pay. Other documents point to cor-
ruption across Afghan society and assess the magnitude of the problem. During a three-month stretch last year, one cable said, more than $190 million was car- ried out of the country in suitcas- es and other containers brought through the Kabul airport. How much of it was being
diverted illegally “is impossible to know,” the Oct. 19, 2009, cable said. “Drug traffickers, corrupt officials and to a large extent licit business owners do not benefit from keeping millions of dollars in Afghanistan.” The document cites a report
from officials in the United Arab Emirates — a destination for much of the cash — that Afghan Vice President Ahmad Zia
WIKILEAKS DIGEST LATINAMERICA
Cables reveal focus on the personal The State Department wanted
to knowwhether Argentine Presi- dentCristina Fernandez deKirch- nerwas onmedication. American diplomats in Brazil, meanwhile, heard that Bolivia’s indigenous president, Evo Morales, had a tu- mor. Andfarthernorth,U.S.officials
outlined how Venezuelan Presi- dent Hugo Chavez was isolating hiscountrybyaligninghisgovern-
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mentwithIran’s. A slew of diplomatic messages
from South America, where the United States has had testy rela- tions with several leaders, reveal U.S. concerns over issues ranging from terrorism to a spat over oil betweenArgentina andBritain. But dozens of privatemessages
released by WikiLeaks also high- light Washington’s focus on the personalitiesona continent large- ly ruledby leftistpresidents, some of them European-style techno- crats and others virulently anti- Americanpopulists. “There are some snarky and
personal observations,” said Adam Isacson, an analyst at the WashingtonOfficeonLatinAmer- ica, a group that tracksU.S. policy in the region. “There’s a strange preoccupation with the personal and mental health of leaders, but it doesn’t fit the stereotype of Americaplottingcoupsandcaring only about business interests and consorting with only the right wing.” On Thursday, State Depart-
ment
spokesmanP.J.Crowley said that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had called Fer- nandez de Kirchner to “express regret” about the 2009 cable ask- ingabouther “nervesandanxiety.” “Theydidtalk about the impor-
tance of our relationship,” Crow- ley said. Larry Birns, director of the
Council onHemisphericAffairs in Washington, which is critical of U.S. policy in the region, said the cables aboutArgentinawere “gar- ish” but, in the end, did not do majordamage todiplomacy inthe region. “This is low-grade stuff,” he
said. “It’s nothing that’s going to start World War III. It’s going to ignite a lot of belly laughs.” —JuanForero
IRAQ
HarmtoArab ties feared fromleaks Private conversations between
Sunni Arab leaders in theMiddle East andU.S. diplomats, leaked in confidential State Department documents this week, may push Iraq’s future Shiite-led govern- ment closer to Iran, analysts said. The country is already divided
along sectarian lines and, since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, has become the center of a regional power struggle between Shiite Iran to the east and Arab Sunni neighbors to thewest—a struggle that played out during Iraq’s par- liamentary elections inMarch. The first few hundred cables
leakedbyWikiLeakscouldfurther damage Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s weak relation- ship with Arab neighbors, coun- tries the United States had hoped would counter Iran’s influence in Iraq as the U.S. military prepares for a scheduled exit at the end of 2011. The cables reveal candid mo-
ments over the past two years in which King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called Maliki an “Iranian agent” and a “liar.” Egypt’s Presi- dent,HosniMubarak,advocateda military coupinIraqandsaidthat the United States should “forget democracy” and that the country shouldhave “adictator.” SunniArabhostility towardthe
growing Shiite power in Iraq is no revelation,but thesensitivecables are coming out just as the recently reappointedMaliki is cobbling to- gether a cabinet that may finally leadto a government. “Sunni Arab dislike of a Shiite
ascendancy in Iraq is well known byMaliki. But thiswill exacerbate the problem and may push him closer to the Iranians,” said Ryan
C.Crocker, a formerU.S. ambassa- dor to Iraq. “Tehran will certainly
try.” But Iraqi officialsdismissedthe
likelihoodof lasting effects. “Thesearenotsecrets.Weknow
this,” said Sami al-Askari, a Shiite legislator close toMaliki. “I think it has no effect at all. With Saudi Arabia our relationship is not good,andwithEgyptour relations are not that good. It’s more an embarrassment for the American establishment.”
—Leila Fadel JULIANASSANGE
Swedish courtwon’t hearwarrant appeal The Swedish Supreme Court
ruled Thursday that Julian As- sange, WikiLeaks’ founder and guiding spirit,must appearbefore a magistrate in Stockholm to an- sweraccusationsof rapeandsexu- al harassment brought by two Swedishwomen. Following the court’s refusal to
hear an appeal of the warrant, Swedish authorities said they were fine-tuning a “rednotice” for Assange’s arrest that is being re- layed to member countries by In- terpol, the international anti- crime cooperative. Police in Britain, where As-
sange is believed to be, had said they could not act on themandate withoutmore specifics on the po- tential charges and the penalties Assange might face under Swed- ishlaw. The lanky, 39-year-old Austra-
lian was staying out of sight this week. Two British newspapers re- ported that he was in Britain and that police there knew how to reach him. But a WikiLeaks spokesman, Kristinn Hrafnsson, told theReuters news agency that Assange was in a secret location working onhisnext revelations. —EdwardCody
Masood had entered the emirate with $52 million earlier that year, an amount he was allowed to keep “without revealing the money’s origin or destination.” At one point last year, U.S.
Deputy Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone formally com- plained to Afghan Attorney Gen- eral Muhammad Ishaq Aloqo that U.S. officials were alarmed at the number of alleged crimi- nals, including Afghan police implicated in narcotics traffick- ing, who were being released ahead of trial. The interventions benefited
defendants with political con- nections, and in some cases were allowing “dangerous individuals to go free or re-enter the battle- field without ever facing an Af- ghan court,” according to a cable issued in August 2009. Public exposure of the corrup-
tion problem became a political issue for the Obama administra- tion last summer, threatening relations with Karzai and trig- gering moves in Congress to withhold billions of dollars in Afghan aid.
millergreg@washpost.com
WP
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