Cablegate: Update On Turkey's Contribution to Afghanistan

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS ANKARA 008150

SIPDIS

EB/IFD/ODF, SA/AR, SA/PAB AND EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EFIN EAID PREL AF TU
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON TURKEY'S CONTRIBUTION TO AFGHANISTAN
RECONSTRUCTION

REF: A. ANKARA 7410
B. SECSTATE 200660

1. EmbOffs met with MFA's Afghan Reconstruction Coordinator
Ambassador Refat Okcun 11/12 for an update on Turkey's
reconstruction efforts.

2. Okcun confirmed that Turkey's completed reconstruction
efforts now total $1.8 million, up from $1.6 reported Ref A.
By year's end, that figure should reach $2.5 million, well
ahead of Turkey's pledge of $5 million over five years.
Okcun holds another $4.5 million aside, should he be unable
to drum up outside sources that keep Turkey apace or ahead of
its projected giving schedule.

3. A number of projects are in Healthcare. Turkey is about
to build its fourth hospital in Afghanistan (including
Kabul's Children's Hospital, which Turkey built in 1980) and
is seeking approval for a clinic in Bamiyan. The Bamiyan
clinic will increase the number of Turkish healthcare
facilities to nine, including ones in Herat, Jalalabad and
Kandahar. The Turks also continue to train medical
professionals (another 41 doctors just trained in Turkey) and
will send three teams of three Turkish physicians each (a
surgeon, an internal medicine specialist, an ob/gyn) to
Afghanistan soon.

4. Turkey is considering diverting one of its two satellites
towards Afghanistan to provide a television signal that can
bring information, news, educational and other programming to
Afghans. No decision has been made yet on how to transmit
the signal on the ground -- via local transmitting stations
or through the purchase of individual dishes. In any case,
television programming will have to wait until electrical
power becomes more universally available.
PEARSON

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