VZCZCXRO4776
PP RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #1031/01 1870929
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 060929Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0617
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 2008
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1966
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 1891
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS 1233
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2415
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2186
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2176
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1823
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA 0163
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2145
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 1616
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 1639
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1782
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1992
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK NY
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 0172

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DUSHANBE 001031 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DOC FOR ITA/MAC/EHOUSE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD PGOV PREL TI
SUBJECT: AFGHAN VIEWS FROM NORTH OF THE BORDER: PROSPECTS FOR 
TAJIK-AFGHAN TRADE 
 
DUSHANBE 00001031  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  Summary.  Not far from the nearly-completed U.S.-funded 
Nizhniy Pyanj bridge at the Tajik-Afghan border, Afghan traders 
ferry goods from Pakistan, China, and Iran into southern 
Tajikistan.  The opening of the Nizhniy Pyanj bridge will open 
the door for more trade while decreasing the opportunity for 
corruption at the border.  However, Afghan officials worry that 
Tajik restrictions on Afghan businesspeople will limit potential 
economic development.  The United States can help facilitate 
Tajik-Afghan dialogue to resolve some of these issues.  End 
Summary. 
 
At the Ferry Crossing 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  Businessmen wait in the shade at the lazy ferry crossing on 
a hot and dusty afternoon.  Tajiks run the ferry, and charge 
$110 per truck to cross the river from Afghanistan, while trucks 
leaving Tajikistan pay only $60.  The ferry runs three times a 
day, carrying six trucks each way hauling food, construction 
materials, and medical supplies.  During the summer, as prices 
of goods within Tajikistan rise, trucks often return to 
Afghanistan empty. 
 
¶3.  One Tajik businessman, "Muhabbat," showed EconOffs ten 
trucks packed high with Pakistani cement.  He had been waiting 
two days for a Tajik standards official to take a sample of the 
cement 200 km to Dushanbe, certify its quality, and return with 
a certificate so he could haul the load into Tajikistan.  (Note: 
 TojikStandart is the government agency charged with regulating 
standards for all products and services in Tajikistan. End 
Note.)  A major housing and office construction boom and several 
major infrastructure projects have driven up the demand for 
cement and the monopoly state-owned construction company 
Tajikcement is failing miserably to keep up.  This summer, 
cement prices have tripled, and local customers have flocked to 
the lower quality Pakistani cement to fill their needs. 
 
¶4.  Muhabbat, despite close family connections to President 
Rahmon, has to negotiate with the border guards, customs, the 
sanitary service, and state standards agency on each 
transaction.  Once, Muhabbat dumped ten tons of eggs into the 
river after waiting for a week for the standards agency to 
certify his goods.  Customs officials charged another importer 
$18,000 to import twenty tons of meat into Tajikistan, a 100% 
customs duty.  Without storage facilities on either side of the 
border, transporting perishable goods is risky. 
 
¶5.  Still, some trade is fruitful.  Tajik businesspeople pay $3 
per 14 kilogram crate of mandarins in Afghanistan, and sell 
these crates for $20 on the Tajik market.  According to the 
Tajik Customs Committee, over $6 million in goods crossed the 
ferry at Nizhniy Pyanj in 2006 - $3.5 million imports to 
Tajikistan, and $2.5 million in exports.  Unofficial trade is 
likely even higher. 
 
Help for the Border Towns 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  The Tajik border region of Kumsangir has much to gain from 
improved infrastructure and relaxed trade restrictions.  Most 
trucks skip over the region's 4,500 citizens on their way to 
Dushanbe.  Besides lemons and produce that local entrepreneurs 
take up to Dushanbe, one sees little evidence of economic 
activity.  Kumsangir gets electricity five months of the year; 
and the government closes the water channel from the Vakhsh 
river, leaving residents without water from November to April as 
 
DUSHANBE 00001031  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
well.  The government provided little assistance after an 
earthquake last year rattled the mud-built walls of the city's 
buildings.  (Note: The U.S. Government provided emergency 
supplies and $50,000 in housing assistance.  End note.) 
 
¶7.  Further north in the small city of Kolkhozobad, home to 
140,000 people, between Dushanbe and the Nizhniy Pyanj bridge, 
business owners explained that they lack capital to start and 
expand their businesses.  Tajik and Afghan businessmen described 
concern over a 2002 Tajik governmental decree which regulates 
the types of goods allowed for export/import with Afghanistan, 
limiting expansion of trade with Afghanistan.  Businesspeople in 
both districts told EconOffs that they receive many products 
from Afghanistan, and they believe the Nizhniy Pyanj bridge will 
provide new opportunities for trade. 
 
Governor of Kunduz 
----------------------------- 
 
¶8.  In Kolkhozobad, EmbOffs happened upon Muhammad Omar 
Sulaimoni, governor of Kunduz province of Afghanistan, and Abdul 
Jafar Sadeed, head of the international department, at the 
Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs branch in Kunduz.  The 
governor was having lunch at the house of Dilbar Nurmatova, the 
head of the non-governmental organization Sapeda, which is 
implementing a State Department Business Facilitation Incentive 
Fund project on cross-border trade.  Declining the vodka toasts 
traditional in Tajikistan but not common in Afghanistan, 
Sulaimoni explained the troubles Afghans are having with their 
northern neighbor. 
 
¶9.  Sulaimoni complained about the unfair treatment Afghan 
traders receive in Tajikistan.  Tajiks see in every Afghan a 
potential terrorist and drug dealer, he explained.  The Afghan 
governor pointed out that Afghanistan accepted Tajik civil war 
refugees in the 1990s, allowing them to live in Kunduz, set up 
businesses, buy land and property, and get married.  According 
to Sulaimoni, Tajiks distrust Afghans who come to Tajikistan 
only to do business, treating them rudely at the border, and 
delaying the visa process.  Tajikistan and Afghanistan do not 
have a transit agreement, and Tajikistan does not allow Afghan 
vehicles to cross the Tajik border.  Businesspeople therefore 
use Tajik trucks for all cross-border trade. 
 
¶10.  Sulaimoni explained that last year Tajikistan offered to 
open a consular office in Kunduz so Afghans would not have to 
travel to Kabul to receive visas.  He claims that the Afghan 
side set up the office, provided security guarantees to the 
Tajiks, and settled all administrative issues, while the Tajiks 
have done nothing to move forward.  According to Sulaimoni, the 
Tajik consular office in Kabul is waiting for their superiors in 
Dushanbe to act, and the Afghans have not had luck pushing the 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs here. 
 
¶11.  In Dushanbe, Dr. Atta Ghaznawi, the Afghan trade 
representative to Tajikistan (and U.S. green card holder), 
supported Sulaimoni's points, noting that the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs has ignored his letters for months.  Recently, 
when the Afghan government requested visas for 15 Afghan 
businesspeople to attend a trade show in Eastern Tajikistan, the 
Tajik government flatly refused visas for the entire group. 
After the Tajik Consul insulted these businesspeople and kicked 
them out of the Tajik Embassy in Kabul, the group sent a letter 
of complaint to the Afghan-American Chamber of Commerce urging 
Afghan businesspeople to boycott trade with Tajikistan. 
 
 
DUSHANBE 00001031  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
Bringing Tajiks and Afghans Together 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶12.  Non-governmental organizations help bridge the gap between 
these two countries with historical and cultural ties by 
supporting businesspeople who typically lack knowledge of their 
rights and have no recourse against corrupt officials.  With 
U.S. support, non-governmental organization Sapeda will publish 
a brochure explaining key laws and regulations on Tajik-Afghan 
trade issues.  Sapeda conducted training in Afghanistan in 
cooperation with the International Labor Organization on how to 
start up a small business.  Sapeda would like to translate its 
Tajik language training brochures into Dari/Farsi, even though 
they estimate that over 95% of individuals in Kunduz cannot read 
or write.  Sapeda requested U.S. support for establishing an 
information resource center at the border to assist traders at 
the new bridge site.  In September 2007, Sapeda will organize a 
cross-border trade exhibition in Kunduz province. 
 
¶13.  The U.S. government can also play a useful role as direct 
facilitator between Tajikistan and Afghanistan to improve 
dialogue on economic relations.  Ghaznawi requested U.S. support 
for the Tajik-Afghan Chamber of Commerce, to showcase the 
potential for trade between the two countries.  He also noted 
the difficulty he is having with the Tajik Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, and suggested that we could help engage the Tajik 
government on what he sees as simple good business. 
 
¶14.  Securing the Tajik-Afghan border by training and equipping 
customs and border officials will help alleviate Tajik concerns. 
 Ghaznawi feels that beyond security concerns, Tajiks choose to 
limit trade in order to line their own pockets.  Ghaznawi 
recognizes the need for a strong border and the ability to keep 
narcotics out of Tajikistan, but does not see why this should 
interfere with trade that benefits both sides.  The Tajiks need 
to engage in constructive dialogue and move beyond general 
statements of historical friendship if they are going to take 
advantage of the $36 million Nizhniy Pyanj bridge. 
 
¶15.  Comment:  Tajikistan and Afghanistan should be natural 
trading partners, but it may take some confidence building steps 
to erase the Tajiks' bias against the Afghans.  Post is aware 
from its own discussions with Tajik officials of the distrust of 
Afghans -- including Foreign Minister Zarifi's June 20 assertion 
to the Ambassador that "Afghans want to be in Tajikistan only 
for drug trading."   Post will act on Ghaznawi's request to 
facilitate a more direct conversation between Afghan and Tajik 
trade representatives, and the Tajik Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs, perhaps starting with the incoming head of the Consular 
Department of the Foreign Ministry.  The opening of the bridge 
will provide an excellent opportunity for post, and high-level 
visitors to reinforce this message.  End Comment. 
JACOBSON