A contradictory chat with an Afghan governor

Mohammed Omar Sulaimani, the governor of the northern Afghanistan province of Kunduz, looked at home leisurely eating lunch on the sidelines of Prague's "Challenges of Reconstruction in Afghanistan" conference.

He moved at a languid pace, with little concern for time - that is, until he was being interviewed.

"Well, you see, the governor prefers to answer very quickly," the translator said about 20 minutes after we requested 20 minutes with Sulaimani.

After some more waiting, and then re-seeking the elusive translator, who had in the meantime decided to have a lunch of his own, even quick answers may have been satisfactory had they corresponded to any of the events reported out of Kunduz province, or even to what Sulaimani himself has been saying. As the interview began, Sulaimani's entourage hovered, as time was suddenly of the essence.     

"Five months ago, it was bad," Sulaimani said of the security in his province, where 85 percent of people make their living through farming. But now, things have improved "80 percent," he explained, and, by the spring, "our goal is to improve it by 100 percent."

In 2009, Uzbek, Tajik and Chechen fighters had made headway in Kunduz - which is home to a mix of all Afghanistan's ethnic groups and known for growing almonds, melons and grapes - their days are now numbered, Sulaimani said.

Kunduz is bordered by Tajikistan to the north and, according to Sulaimani, is home to 1.4 million people (the Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development says there are 820,000 people). Casual news observers may recall Kunduz as the site of a disastrous bombing called in by German commanders in September 2009, which according to NATO killed 142 people, including scores of civilians. Did that, perhaps, affect Afghan opinions of foreign troops?

 "The people that were killed were mostly Taliban, anyway," Sulaimani said.

Kunduz's chief public health officer, Azizullah Safar, thinks differently, and told the New York Times in September 2009 that "most of them were civilians."

German officers head the command structure for all of northern Afghanistan. A German Provincial Reconstruction Team works in Kunduz province.

"There is domestic pressure in Germany, but we have great cooperation with the Germans," Sulaimani said.

However, just days earlier, when Sulaimani was asked by the German News Agency (DPA) why U.S. troops were being deployed to the province, he seemed anything but satisfied with German efforts.

"We have an enemy that wants to kill us," Sulaimani said, referring to the Taliban. "Our friends observe that and don't rescue us. Now we have to ask our other friends to rescue us."

On the same day we spoke with Sulaimani, Agence France-Presse published a story detailing how the Taliban was increasingly mediating contractual disputes and administering law and order in Kunduz.

"Those who have to be punished are beaten up or put in detention in the tribal chiefs' homes," a Taliban official said. A drop in serious crime meant chopping off hands is no longer necessary, he added.

One had to be curious what Sulaimani thought about the flawed re-election of Afghan President Hamid Karzai in August 2009 and the decision to delay parliamentary elections this year until September. But, apparently, neither is cause for concern.

"Karzai is a national figure who has reconciled all these ethnic groups," he said.

At around this time, follow-up questions asking Sulaimani to clarify some if not all of his positions seemed in order, but on order for Sulaimani and his well-fed entourage was a rest at their hotel.

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com