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### Viewing cable 10KABUL62, A TALE OF TWO KABUL MAYORS

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
10KABUL62 | 2010-01-07 13:01 | 2010-12-02 21:09 | SECRET//NOFORN | Embassy Kabul

`

    VZCZCXRO3557
    OO RUEHDBU RUEHPW RUEHSL
    DE RUEHBUL #0062/01 0071320
    ZNY SSSSS ZZH (ADX08F306 MSI7676 532A)
    O 071320Z JAN 10 ZDS
    FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4590
    INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

` `

    S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 000062

    C O R R E C T E D COPY (HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS)

    NOFORN
    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/05/2020
    TAGS: FBI JUS PGOV PINR PREL
    SUBJECT: A TALE OF TWO KABUL MAYORS

    REF: 09 KABUL 4066

    KABUL 00000062  001.4 OF 002

    Classified By: Polcouns Annie Pforzheimer, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

    ¶1.  Summary:  (C) President Karzai has appointed a new mayor
    of Kabul, Engineer Mohammad Yunos Novandish. This follows the
    December 7, 2009 'mismanagement of authority' conviction and
    the December 8, 2009 release pending appeal of former Kabul
    Mayor Abdul Ahad Sahebi (Reftel.)  The Novandish appointment
    portends controversy because he is not from Kabul; the Sahebi
    case suggests kangaroo court justice. Bio information on
    Novandish is in paras 3 and 4.  End Summary.

    --------------------
    New Mayor - Old Ties
    --------------------

    ¶2.  (C) President Karzai issued a January 3 decree appointing
    Engineer Mohammad Yunos Novandish  the new mayor of Kabul.
    Controversy over the appointment may arise for two reasons:
    First, according to Article 141 of the Constitution, mayors
    shall be elected, not appointed. Some Afghan MPs went on TOLO
    TV January 5 to challenge the appointment on constitutional
    grounds.   Second, according to embassy contacts among the
    National Democratic Front (NDF), Mayor Novandish is not a
    native Kabuli and the NDF is planning to try and organize
    protests within the month. (Note:  The NDF is a loosely
    organized coalition of urban civil society groups and members
    of parliament.)

    ¶3.  (U)  According to media reports and embassy contacts,
    Novandish, an Uzbek from Saripol, graduated from the
    engineering faculty of Kabul Polytechnic University in civil
    engineering and did post-graduate studies in the Ukraine.  He
    served as a lecturer at Balkh University from 1994 to 1996,
    lived primarily in Central Asia during the Taliban years, and
    was Deputy Minister of Water and Energy from 2004-2006.
    Novandish resigned his post when Ismail Khan was appointed
    Minister of Water and Energy. After 2006 he worked as a
    consultant for USAID-funded programs such as International
    Development Relief and Development, Inc. (IRD) and Advanced
    Engineering Institute Associates (AEIA).  In 2009 he opened
    his own engineering firm, Energy and Power Construction
    Company, which has allegedly done extensive subcontracting
    work in the energy sector. (Note: alternate transliterations
    of his name include Noandesh, Novandesh, and Nawandaish.)

    ¶4.  (S/NF)  Sensitive reporting indicates that warlord and
    leader of the Junbesh Party General Dostum pushed Novandish
    for the Kabul Mayor appointment.  Although Novandish claims
    publicly that he is politically independent, this reported
    Dostum support has credibility given that Novandish was
    Deputy Minister of Water and Energy when current MP and
    Junbesh Party member Shakar Kargar (Uzbek, Jowzjan) was
    Minister.  Kargar reportedly owed his own ministerial
    appointment at that time to Dostum. Although Kargar is an
    intra-party rival of Dostum, they often unite to further
    party interests.  Dostum has been publicly vocal in his
    criticism of the January 2 ministerial confirmation process
    in which all three Junbesh nominees were rejected.  The
    appointment of an apparent Dostum supporter to the mayor's
    office may well be President Karzai's attempt to placate
    Dostum and Junbesh.

    ----------------------------
    Old Mayor - Yesterday's News
    ----------------------------

    ¶5.  (C)  Media coverage of the new mayor's appointment has
    included condemnation of his predecessor, Abdul Ahad Sahebi,
    for "massive embezzlement of funds and brazen misuse of
    authority."  The ex-mayor's December 7 conviction and almost
    immediate release from jail on bail pending appeal generated
    a media frenzy and intense speculation over President
    Karzai's role in Sahebi's release. (Reftel.)  USG officials
    met with Sahebi on December 25, 2009 and January 2 and 3,
    ¶2010.  Sahebi produced the December 6 summons he received to
    appear at primary court and obtain a date for his preliminary
    hearing.  Sahebi contended that normal procedure requires a
    minimum of 5 days between summons and hearing date, but when
    he presented himself to the court on December 7, his lawyer
    was handed not a hearing date, but his sentence - four years
    in jail and a USD 16,000 fine.

    ¶6.  (C)  Concerning the actual charge of poor oversight of
    contracting authority, Sahebi laid out his version of the
    case:  In 2007 Sahebi's predecessor signed a one-year
    contract leasing some city property to two individuals who
    had shops on the site.  When the contract came up for
    renewal, the City Hall financial department assigned three
    people to study the continued use of the land.  The financial
    department recommended the contract be renewed, with mention
    of the city's future plans for the site.  Sahebi's deputy

    KABUL 00000062  002.2 OF 002

    signed the renewal.  Three months later, a higher bid for the
    site came in.  Had that bid been accepted, the city would
    have gained about USD 16,000 more for the lease and this
    "loss" was the basis of the case against him.  Embassy
    officials have not been privy to the prosecution's case
    against Sahebi.
    ¶7.  (C)  Regarding his job perfomance, Sahebi also mentioned
    to USG officials that in his less than two years as mayor he
    had found files for approximately 32,000 applicants who paid
    for non-existent plots of land in Kabul city.  He said he
    ordered a halt to the distribution of residential and
    commercial land until claims could be sorted out and
    invalidated the illegal claims of some important people like
    Engineer Ahmed Shah, who is close to the fundamentalist
    former warlord MP, Rasoul Sayyaf (Pashtun, Kabul).  This
    claim supports information reported reftel that some of
    Sahebi's official decisions may have antagonized powerful
    people who then sought to use the power of the state to
    discredit him.

    ------------------------------
    Karzai's Motives Still Unclear
    ------------------------------

    ¶8.  (C)  Comment: Metaphorically speaking (there is no jury
    trial in Afghanistan) the jury is still out on Sahebi, the
    first high-profile case of official corruption following
    Karzai's re-election.  Sahebi's case is on appeal, but no
    hearing date has been set.  Unfortunately for the former
    mayor, he has already been tried in the press and condemned
    as an embezzler, a charge that apparently was not even
    brought and for which we have seen no evidence.  As for the
    formal process itself, it appears that Sahebi may have been
    convicted without having been accorded what little due
    process there is under Afghan law.

    ¶9.  (C)  The Novandish appointment may indicate that Karzai
    concluded, despite his initial forceful defense of Sahebi,
    that it was more politically expedient to sacrifice him.
    Karzai may hope both to satisfy international expectations
    that he will act to clean up his government and at the same
    time to placate powerful Afghan players who wanted the
    ex-mayor gone for their own mercenary reasons.  End Comment.

    EIKENBERRY

`