US embassy cable - 05KABUL5025

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 005025 
 
SIPDIS 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INL/FO AND SA/FO AMB QUINN 
NSC FOR AHARRIMAN/KAMED 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, PGOV, PTER, PREL, KCRM, AF 
SUBJECT: CN ACTIVITIES IN THE JUSTICE SECTOR 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (U) Summary: Justice reform and law enforcement are key 
components of Embassy Kabul's Counter Narcotics 
Implementation Plan (CIP). Over the past two months, the DOJ 
prosecutors (assigned to the Embassy) have made significant 
progress in establishing legal institutions and reforming 
laws to ensure narcotics cases can be effectively prosecuted 
in Afghanistan. The Counter Narcotics (CN) law is currently 
being reviewed by the Afghan Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and 
should be forwarded to President Karzai on or around 
December 12 for his approval. Karzai will likely enact the 
law, by decree, during the third week of December. The 
Central Narcotics Tribunal (CNT) has moved into its 
temporary facility and is operational. The CNT judges 
petitioned the Supreme Court to transfer 10-12 previously 
assigned narcotics cases to the CNT, including the Misri 
Khan case. Similar petitions were filed by the Vertical 
Prosecution Task Force (VPTF), which continues to review and 
assign narcotics cases for prosecution. All high-level cases 
will now be forwarded to the CNT for prosecution. Work 
continues on the Counter Narcotics Justice Center. The 
expected completion date is August 2006. End Summary. 
 
Counter Narcotics Law 
--------------------- 
2. (U) Translation of the Counter Narcotics (CN) law was 
completed on December 2 and the law was sent to the Afghan 
Ministry of Justice/Taqnin for its review and approval. 
After the Taqnin reviews the law, it will be sent to 
President Karzai and his Cabinet which will convene on 
December 12. The CN law is likely to be enacted, by decree, 
during the third week of December. 
 
3. (SBU) While the CN law largely has the support of the 
international community, including the UK (lead nation on 
CN), the new law has not been fully endorsed by UNODC and 
UNAMA. To build consensus, DOJ prosecutors met with members 
of UNODC and UNAMA to discuss the draft CN law to try and 
allay their concerns that the law is too complex for the 
Afghans to implement. UNODC and UNAMA were also concerned 
that the draft procedural provisions of the CN law would 
extend to all criminal prosecutions, not just narcotics 
cases. UNODC and UNAMA also did not support the tougher 
sentencing provisions, the electronic surveillance features 
and certain aspects of the law regarding the use of 
informants.  UNODC's trepidation is surprising because many 
of the law's regulatory features are based on UNODC 
provisions that exist in other drug laws, and UNODC was 
consulted throughout the entire drafting process. As a 
result of DOJ's meetings with the UNODC and UNAMA lawyers, 
accommodation was reached and the two UN entities are 
supportive of the law's passage. (NOTE: The agreement 
reached by UNODC and UNAMA addresses the issues raised in 
UNVIE VIENNA 00749). 
 
4. (SBU) In addition, to address UNODC and UNAMA's concerns, 
the Afghans agreed to modify the penalties for second 
offenses, enhancing subsequent penalties only when the 
predicate convictions carried at least a five year minimum 
sentence. UNODC accepted this comprise and agreed that the 
existing code needed to be strengthened in order to improve 
GOA's ability to target medium-to-high value targets (MVTs 
and HVTs) and hence enforce the law more effectively. 
 
Central Narcotics Tribunal 
-------------------------- 
5. (U) The Central Narcotics Tribunal (CNT) relocated to its 
temporary facilities on November 24. The CNT is operational 
and has petitioned the Supreme Court to transfer all high- 
level narcotics cases (there are 10-12 cases in progress) to 
it from the Kabul Provincial Court. The Supreme Court has 
not responded to the petition.  The Chief of the Appellate 
Section and the Attorney General have also requested that 
the Supreme Court transfer the cases to the CNT. On November 
30, DOJ prosecutors met with Afghan Chief Prosecutor Fazley 
to discuss the Misri Khan case to determine how he can help 
ensure the case's transfer to the CNT. 
 
Vertical Prosecution Task Force 
------------------------------- 
6. (U) The 29 Afghan prosecutors assigned to the Vertical 
Prosecution Task Force (VPTF) are responsible for 
investigating and preparing cases for referral to the 
Central Narcotics Tribunal (CNT).  The VPTF is organized 
into four units: investigative, trial, appellate and Supreme 
Court.  There are also 36 investigators who assist the 
prosecutors.  To date, the VPTF prosecutors have opened more 
than 140 cases, a small number of which meet the criteria 
for transfer to the CNT. Recently, VPTF prosecutors 
petitioned the Supreme Court to transfer all medium to high 
value target cases to the CNT. 
 
Counter Narcotics Justice Center (CNJC) 
--------------------------------------- 
7. (U) The Counternarcotics Justice Center, once 
operational, will house the CNT and the VPTF and a detention 
facility. The contract for the CNJC has been let and the 
CNJC is slated for completion in August 2006. The interim 
VPTF renovation project has solicited bids and information 
technology project is almost complete.