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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KABUL 005181

SENSITIVE

SUBJECT: KUNDUZ POLITICS OF CORRUPTION IN THE

BAGHLAN POLICE FORCES

¶1. (U) Summary: Highway Police forces

throughout the north and northeast and Afghan
National Police (ANP) forces in Baghlan province
are both dominated by Tajik warlords and drug
traffickers. General Abdul Khalil has assigned
former jihadi/Hezb-i-Islami loyalists from
Baghlans Andarab District to the majority of
positions in the Highway Police. Under General
Mustafas influence, General Mir Alam and other
Tajik warlords also dominate the ANP in Baghlan.
Patrons in the Afghan Ministry of Interior
support and reinforce competing power players in
Baghlan without regard to corruption and drug
trafficking. END SUMMARY.

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 HIGHWAY POLICE NETWORK
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¶2. (SBU) Since 2003, General Abdul Khalil

Andarabi has been leading a government condoned
drug cartel known as the North and Northeast
Highway Police Brigade (also known as Second
Brigade), controlling the roads and much of the
narco-trafficking from Faryab to Badakhshan
provinces. Khalil, a former Tajik jihadi from
Baghlans Andarab District, was a Jumbesh
battalion commander under the Ishmaelite leader
Sayyed Jafar Naderi. Khalils father, Juma Khan,
was an eminent commander of Hezb-i-Islami in the
Andarab area, hence the influence of his fathrs
supporters in the North and Northeast Highway
Police Department.

¶3. (SBU) General Khalil reportedly has had the

support of two very influential Ministry of
Interior (MoI) officials: the Acting Minister of
Interior, Mr. Zarar, and a former Deputy
Minister, General Helaluddin. Mr. Helaluddin,
also a Tajik from Andarab, was a military pilot
during Najibullahs time, and was then linked to
Jumbesh. He became Deputy Minister during the
first transitional government. Helaluddin
recently won a seat in the Wolesi Jirga
representing Baghlan Province. General Khalil
was allegedly an active supporter of Helaluddins
campaign.

¶4. (SBU) Since Khalils appointment, eight of

the 12 (67 percent) most influential positions
in the Highway police department have been given
to the people from Andarab, and a total of eight
(out of 12) people are the former Hezb-i Islami
activists and sympathizers of Khalils father.
Khalils cronyism has resulted in an ethnic
repartition of the department. At the highest
level in the Highway Police Department
(battalion commanders and general staff), 11 out
of 12 are Tajik, while only one person, the
Deputy Highway Police Chief, is a Pashtun. The
latter is professional and seems to be without
political affiliation. (Nevertheless, the Deputy
Highway Police Chief, Colonel Nasser, does not
have a spotless reputation, as he, too, worked a
number of months for Bashir Baghlani when the
latter was Baghlans provincial governor under
the Taliban regime.) Khalils cronyism is readily
evident in the fact that two of 12 important
positions, namely the Reconnaissance Officer and
the Commander of the First Battalion, were
openly offered to Khalils uncle and to the
nephew of General Helaluddin, respectively.
¶5. (SBU) Political connections between Baghlan
and Kabul have proven lucrative for Helaluddin
and Khalil (both from Andarab), and to some
extent Acting Minister of Interior Zarar. This
political web of support has been highly
influential in the narco-trafficking throughout
the North and Northeast regions from Badakhshan
(the regions main producer of opium and heroin)
to Faryab. However, this political network of
drug traffickers faces stiff competition in
Baghlan and Kunduz. General Mustafa is another
native of Andarab who, along with his group of
merry men affiliated with Hezb-i-Naween
(HNA)/Jamiat, runs the competing trafficking
rings in the Northeast Region. Mustafa is joined
in this endeavor by the native of Kunduz and
former commander of the 54th Division, current
Baghlan Chief of Police Mir Alam.

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PROVINCIAL POLICE NETWORK
-------------------------

¶6. (SBU) General Mir Alam. The situation in

Baghlan started to deteriorate after the June
2005 appointment of General Mir Alam as
Provincial Chief of Police. Mir Alam is a Tajik,
former Jihadi and former commander of 54th
Division, affiliated to HNA and still linked to
various armed groups. Apparently, the decision
to appoint Mir Alam as Chief of Police was taken
without consulting Mr. Jalali, the former
Minister of Interior. Since the collapse of
Taliban regime, the followers of General
Mustafa, former commander of the 20th Division,
and people linked to HNA/Jamiat have acted as
the primary decision-making group within the
provincial police headquarters. Mir Alam is but
the most recent to join this brotherhood under
Mustafa. Mir Alam is linked to Qanooni and
Marshal Fahim and is also said to share a very
good relationship with Acting Minister of
Interior Zarar.

¶7. (SBU) With Mir Alams new police

administration and the dismissal of most of the
local authorities (district and provincial), 12
of 16 (75 percent) of the new chiefs of police
in the province (District Chiefs of Police and
the Provincial Chief of Police) are the
followers of HNA/Jamiat. Of the 16 principal
officers, 11 are Tajik, four are Pashtun, and
one is Uzbek.

¶8. (SBU) Unlike the highway police, there is

more diversity among the senior officers of the
ANP in Baghlan: two of the seven most
influential authorities in this department are
professional police officers, apparently without
political affiliation; three are linked to the
Andarabi commanders (HNA/Jamiat); but, most
intriguing, is that two of the seven senior
officers are closely linked to the Chief of
Highway Police, General Khalil. The ethnic
breakdown for senior leadership in the Baghlan
Police Headquarters is 86 percent Tajik and 14
percent Pashtun.

¶9. (SBU) The June 2005 appointment of General

Mir Alam (linked to Hezb-i-Naween), followed by
the September 2005 appointment of Mohammad Alam
Rasekh as the Baghlan provincial governor
(linked to Jamiat), has definitely reinforced
the Tajik dominance within the province and
specifically within the police department. Due
to the continued vacancy of the Minister of
Interior position, MoI Deputies like General
Dawud and Acting Minister Zarar are able to
exert great influence in Baghlan and reinforce
HNA/Jamiat control over all aspects of society,
especially the riches of narco-trafficking.

¶10. (SBU) PRT COMMENT: The rivalry between the

ANP and the highway police is becoming more and
more pronounced, particularly over the control
of drug trafficking and the general domination
of Baghlan province. Rather than providing
stability, the police forces are among the
principal destabilizing factors in the province.
The recurrent theme in the northeast region
remains Kabuls lack of political will to remove
known warlords and drug traffickers from office,
especially police chiefs. Dominant figures such
as Khalil and Mir Alam continually undermine the
legitimacy of the Afghan central government, yet
wield enough influence with powerful figures in
Kabul to maintain positions of authority
indefinitely. If the security reform, DIAG and
counter narcotics efforts are to succeed, the
police forces of Northeast Afghanistan must be
purged of their corrupt officers.
END PRT COMMENT.

(Edited and reformatted by Andres for ease of

reading.)