US embassy cable - 05NEWDELHI6308

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 006308 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR KURT AMEND 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/11/2015 
TAGS: PREL, EAID, KDEM, IN, AF, India-Afghanistan 
SUBJECT: INDIA READY TO WORK WITH US ON AFGHAN PARLIAMENT, 
DEMOCRACY 
 
REF: NEW DELHI 5446 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Geoff Pyatt for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) 
 
1.  (C) India stands ready to provide any assistance 
Afghanistan requests for elections and Parliamentary 
training, MEA Joint Secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran) 
Dilip Sinha told PolCouns on August 12.  The Prime Minister 
will lay the cornerstone of the Indian-constructed Parliament 
building during his visit to Kabul tentatively scheduled for 
August 28-29, and 30 Afghan Parliament Secretariat employees 
are currently in New Delhi taking training at India's Bureau 
of Parliamentary Affairs.  Sinha noted the GOI will run 
courses not only for secretariat employees, but also for new 
MPs coming from a wide variety of backgrounds, and welcomed 
the prospect of partnering with US or other donors to make 
these courses for Afghan Members of Parliament more useful. 
 
2.  (SBU) The GOI is moving ahead with plans for a vocational 
training program (reftel), Sinha reported, and the US, the UN 
Development Program, or any other international donor could 
fund supplies and training for this project once India kicks 
it off.  Sinha welcomed any other USG suggestions for 
cooperative projects, either under the US-India Democracy 
Initiative or otherwise. 
 
Status of Indian Projects 
------------------------- 
 
3.  (C) Sinha provided further detail on the status of 
several Indian reconstruction projects.  The contract for the 
Salma dam construction has just been awarded to the 
contractor KEC.  However, construction on the Zaranj-Delaram 
road has slipped due to Iranian foot-dragging on providing 
supplies and materials for the road construction.  The new 
completion target is December 2007, delayed from March 2007. 
 
4.  (C) MEA recently signed a contract with PowerGrid, the 
contractor for the Kabul to Pul-i-Khumri power transmission 
line, to open its office in Kabul and begin work there. 
While New Delhi's repeated requests to Pakistan for land 
transit rights for reconstruction supplies have fallen on 
deaf ears, Sinha reported a shift in Indian tactics: as the 
Pul-i-Khumri project requires supplies, the GOI will make 
individual requests to Pakistan to allow the transport of 
specified equipment by land, since the items are going to get 
to Afghanistan one way or another. 
 
5.  (U) India has also completed reconstructing the Habibia 
school, Sinha reported, despite delays in transporting the 
bulk of the furniture by sea and land to avoid Pakistan. 
India even resorted to flying in at great expense a 
bare-bones set of furnishings to allow classes to start.  As 
a promising symbol of US-India cooperation in Afghanistan, 
the Indian contractors refurbishing the school repaired a 
commemorative plaque placed at the school in 1954 to mark a 
previous American-provided renovation, and added reference to 
the current Indian role. 
 
Comment: We Need to Start Working Out Ideas 
------------------------------------------- 
 
6.  (C) The UN Democracy Fund kickoff in New York and 
Parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, both coming in 
September, will be significant and high-visibility 
opportunities to showcase our partnership in reconstruction 
in Afghanistan and the US-India Democracy Initiative.  We 
should quickly work out concrete proposals for collaboration, 
such as joint training of parliamentarians or stationing of 
Indian technical experts with PRTs, to have something to show 
by the time of these events.  India is ready and willing to 
work with us on the long term task of building democracy in 
Afghanistan.  We should make the most of it. 
MINIMIZE CONSIDERED. 
BLAKE