Cablegate: Sayyaf Under Siege: Land Deals and Human Rights In

VZCZCXRO3262
PP RUEHDBU RUEHIK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBUL #5939/01 3580542
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 240542Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5048
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3462
RHMFIUU/COMSOCCENT MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 005939

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/FO DAS GASTRIGHT, SCA/A, S/CRS, SA/PB, S/CT
STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN
OSD FOR KIMMITT
CENTCOM FOR CFC-A, CG CJTF-76, POLAD, JICCENT

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PINR PINS PREL SOCI AF
SUBJECT: SAYYAF UNDER SIEGE: LAND DEALS AND HUMAN RIGHTS IN
AFGHANISTAN

1. (SBU) Begin summary: Member of Parliament and former
warlord Abdulrab al-Rasul Sayyaf has come under serious
attack in the media because of allegations of land-grabbing
as well as for his role in the civil war that almost
destroyed Kabul. Truth and facts in Afghanistan are always
difficult to determine, but Sayyaf's position as a major
jihad figure and his prominence in the Parliament make the
case against him especially complicated. The old warrior is
on the defensive, and whatever happens as a result of the
media attacks will resonate through Afghanistan's very
powerful mujaheddin circles. End summary.

ACCUSATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

2. (SBU) On 20 December, one day following renewed publicity
over the release of the Human Rights Watch report (SEPTEL)
listing Abdulrab al-Rasul Sayyaf as prominent in the pantheon
of present-day Afghan political leaders who had allegedly
committed serious abuses in the past and should be put on
trial, Poloff was called to meet with Sayyaf personally. The
private meeting lasted more than an hour, and Sayyaf opened
with a long monologue aimed against AIHRC (Afghan Independent
Human Rights Commission) Director Sima Simar, whom Sayyaf
assumes was somehow behind the Human Rights Watch report. He
believed that Simar was a Maoist and had instigated a
personal campaign to discredit him and all the former
mujaheddin. "She has called all the mujaheddin dogs, and has
insulted the Afghan nation", he claimed. Sayyaf insisted that
Sima Simar was a member of what he said was a
Maoist-influenced RAWA (Revolutionary Afghan Women's
Association), and that she was using her present position as
Director of AIHRC to both attack former mujaheddin and to try
to destabilize the present Afghan government. As his "proof"
that the Human Rights Watch Report was Communist-inspired,
Sayyaf noted that all the names of alleged human rights
abusers were mujaheddin, and that none of the Communist
leaders "who killed thousands and thousands of Afghans" were
listed. He said that this was a conflict between "those who
believed in God, and those who did not". Sayyaf described the
personal sacrifices he had made during the jihad, including
years of enforced separation from his family, and the death
of his mother in Kabul after he had not been able to see her
for many years. It was clear that he felt deeply aggrieved
over what he viewed as a personal attack in the media and in
the Human Rights Watch Report.

ACCUSATIONS OF LAND GRABBING: WHAT IS TRUTH?

3. (SBU) Over the past few months, Sayyaf has come under
strong criticism in the Afghan media for his alleged role in
a major land controversy in Paghman district of Kabul
Province, and the accusations have surfaced inside the
Parliament. At the request of MP Seyyed Ishaq Gailani, Poloff
met with a large group representing the allegedly
disenfranchised Paghman landowners. Their version of the land
squabble, which involves 7500 jerib (equivalent to
approximately 3705 acres) is that the land in question was
originally given to the local people (all Tajiks) by the then
Shah, Amanullah Khan, and that the local owners had decided
recently that the common area should be subdivided among the
six districts claiming ownership. They entrusted the original
deeds to Sayyaf - as a highly respected Pashtun
non-interested party - in order for him to divide it among
the large number of claimants. According to the delegation,
Sayyaf had repeatedly delayed responding to their request for
an equitable division among the six affected Tajik districts.
Land values in the area continued to rise (the area is within
easy reach of Kabul), and the original claimants realized
that parcels of the affected land were being sold off and
otherwise developed by Sayyaf's nephew, Momtaz, and by
Sayyaf's close colleague, Sher Alam, the former governor of
Ghazni and deputy to Sayyaf in the jihad-era Ittihad Party.
The delegation said that the present Minister of Interior
(Zarar Moqbel) and the Kabul Chief of Police (Guzar) also had

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financial interests in the land development and were
supporting Sher Alam. When Sayyaf continued to obfuscate,
demonstrations and armed clashes resulted, and several local
residents were arrested by the police. These demonstrations,
which resulted in deaths, injuries and the public destruction
of posters of Sayyaf, were covered by TOLO television, as was
a demonstration in front of the Parliament building. UNAMA
got involved, and Kabul Governor Din Mohammad allegedly
investigated and came out in support of the local residents.
The local residents claim that the police with whom the
locals fought were brought in from Ghazni by Sher Alam. The
Paghman delegation added that the Supreme Court, various
members of Parliament and even Karzai's office have all been
involved in the ongoing (and increasingly complicated)
investigations, taking various sides on the issue. The end
result was that despite official findings in the local
residents' favor, the land ownership was still in question,
parcels continue to be sold off by Sher Alem, there have been
a number of local residents killed and twelve prominent local
residents are in police and/or in National Directorate of
Security (NDS) custody.

4. (SBU) A second version of events was given Poloff by
Sayyaf's political advisor, Kutwal, in a private meeting. He
claimed that the land had been sold to Sayyaf's nephew and to
Sher Alam several years ago by the ostensible owners when the
prices were very low. The two new owners had started to
develop the area and sell off parcels, but more recently as
land values in the area rose steeply the people who had sold
the land decided they wanted to benefit from the new prices.
He claimed that the question of who actually owned the land
and whether the sale to Sher Alam and Sayyaf's nephew was
valid had gone to various courts as well as to the Attorney
General's office, but the people who opposed the original
sale had not been satisfied and had started to demonstrate in
order to get the land returned or to get more money on top of
their original sales price.

5. (SBU) On December 20, Sayyaf gave yet a third version of
the chain of events regarding the land. He explained that
the problem originated when six Tajik districts started to
squabble over the disposition of the 7,500 jerib of common
land, and noted that as relatively recent residents in the
area, neither he nor his family had any claim to this land.
The six districts sent representatives to him to ask that he
hold the various deeds until the various clans could reach a
consensus over who owned what. He accepted the trust despite
initial misgivings, because the local district governor
pleaded with him that it was the only way to stop the feuding
among the six Tajik groups. Time passed and the six continued
to squabble, until one family approached the AIHRC and TOLO
TV to complain that "Sayyaf was stealing their land". Sayyaf
says he tried to give all the deeds entrusted to him back,
but a series of delegations kept insisting he keep them
pending a full resolution of the problem. Events snowballed,
and the dissident family worked with AIHRC and TOLO TV to
arrange demonstrations in Paghman, causing Sayyaf to insist
that the six original delegations retrieve their deeds, thus
leading to accusations that he had given the deeds to his
fellow Ittihad party members, and on and on. Sayyaf claimed
that TOLO TV had announced the demonstrations in advance in
order to attract crowds, and that AIHRC employees had
actually taken part in the protests rather than simply
witnessing them as neutral observers. Sayyaf appeared
heartily tired of the whole chain of events, and ended by
saying "I swear to God that I do not even have one dollar of
my own money. Everything, even the clothes I am wearing,
belongs to the Party".

COMMENT

6. (SBU) Sayyaf, despite his controversial past, is a widely
respected figure in Afghan mujaheddin circles, and has played
a strong pro-government role in the Parliament. When he

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speaks out on issues in the plenary sessions, the room falls
silent and he is given careful attention. His comments tend
to be succinct and erudite. As Chairman of the Wolesi Jirga
Foreign Affairs Committee, he has done much to maintain
contact and good relations with foreign embassies in Kabul
and with USG officials. That being said, he has many enemies
in the Parliament and on the general Afghan political stage.
He is also highly controversial because of his role in the
jihad and especially because of his prominence in the violent
civil war that erupted after the fall of the Najibullah
government. Sayyaf is feeling beleaguered and very much on
the defensive, but whatever the facts are, attacks on him
will be seen as an attack on the mujaheddin as a whole.
Truth in Afghanistan is a many-splendored, but much-soiled
thing. All the versions of the Paghman land dispute ring
partially true and partially untrue as well. The full truth
is probably impossible to ascertain and depends on the
political leanings and profit motives of the parties
involved. End comment.

NORLAND

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