VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB
DE RUCNDT #1209 3662115
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 312115Z DEC 08
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5607
INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL IMMEDIATE 0252
UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001209
SIPDIS
FOR S, D, P, AND SCA
EMBASSY KABUL FOR AMBASSADOR WOOD
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL AF
SUBJECT: COPY OF LETTER SENT TO AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD FROM
GRAND CONFERENCE OF THE AFGHANS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
REF: A. CHRISTENSEN EMAIL 10/14/08 TO D P AND SCA
ASSISTANTS (ZK DISCUSSION WITH AFGHAN
FIRST VICE PRESIDENT -
B. INFORMATION ABOUT BONN II-LIKE MEETING)
1. (SBU) Ambassador Khalilzad received the following letter
from the Grand Conference of the Afghans Organizing
Committee, forwarded to him by Hekmatyar's son-in-law, Mr.
Jarir. The text of the correspondence is included below.
2. (SBU) Begin text:
Dear Excellency,
Some time ago Mr. Jarir, a member of the Organizing Committee
to convene a Grand Conference of the Afghans, has provided
you with a concept paper. In the meantime we discussed this
concept will all the concerned parties. The response was very
positive. The two opposition groups, Taliban and Hikmatyar,
appointed their representatives and agreed to send them to
such a meeting if and when it is convened outside Afghanistan
and to discuss along the principles contained in the concept
paper. Other Groups also appointed their representatives and
wanted to have some preparatory meetings in Kabul to discuss
the concept and the Agenda of the Conference. The President
had been informed in the early stages about the conference
and was given a copy of the concept paper when it was
available. H. E.'s response was to some extent neutral, being
not against it but also having doubts about its results.
Considering these positions the Organizing Committee convened
two sessions of a working group comprising of the
representatives of the relevant groups, some people close to
Taliban and Hikmatyar (in order to have a reflex ion of the
mentality of these groups) and the members of the Organizing
Committee. During these meetings the Dari language of the
concept paper has been modified in order to accommodate the
various tastes of the participants. The only modification of
substance is concerning the point dealing with the present
Constitution. The beginning of point 2 is now as follows:
"Support for the prevailing Constitution of the Country and
trying to win the agreement of the important political groups
to support The Constitution and to secure its implementation
knowing that this constitution has been adopted in a special
time under certain circumstances and as it is clear from its
content, it can be modified in accordance with changes in the
circumstances through a mechanism which is identified in it.
This includes... "
While all the participants are enthusiastic about convening
the actual Conference the position of The President is now
basically changed. H. E. condemns the meeting as being a
conspiracy of Iran and ISI against the legitimacy of the
Government (which is completely baseless ) and believes that
the USA will also be against it. Thus H. E. forbids the
convention of the Conference to the extent that no government
official is allowed to take part in it and other participants
will also be interrogated as conspirators.
Under the circumstances we wanted to update Your Excellency
and ask for support. If Your Excellency and the USA find the
idea worth supporting, so we expect two things:
--Through proper channels to let the Government of
Afghanistan know that the USA favors the convention of the
Conference.
--As it is now impossible to get the financial support of the
Afghan Merchants who had promised to do so, and in order to
annihilate any doubt in regard of the financial resources of
the Conference, we would like to ask the USA to provide
financial and logistic support for the working group meetings
as well as the convention of the Conference. For the
preliminary steps so far we spent US$ 5.000,00 from our own
resources, but we cannot afford the expenses of the next
steps.
Looking forward to have your positive response very soon, we
remain,
Yours truly,
The Organising Committee
End text.
Khalilzad