VZCZCXRO0905
RR RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #1093/01 2051342
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 241342Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0693
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2201
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2212
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2170
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2507

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001093 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON EAID EAGR TI
SUBJECT: TAJIK REGION STILL GRAPPLES WITH POST-WAR DECAY 
 
 
DUSHANBE 00001093  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  A July 18 trip to the southern Tajik city of 
Vakhsh revealed a range of economic problems, including unpaid 
teachers and impoverished cotton farmers.  While thousands fled 
Vakhsh during the 1992-1997 Tajik civil war, the government has 
attempted to lure refugees back to the area.  However, adverse 
economic conditions have made it difficult for some of them to 
stay.  Local officials described a close working relationship 
between the government and active political parties, but 
requested direct foreign assistance to cotton farmers to offset 
the current disparity between wealthy creditors and indebted 
farmers, and to increase the standard of living for the local 
population.  End summary. 
 
ECONOMIC WOES 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Abdujadol Huseinov, Deputy Chairman of Vakhsh 
district, spoke openly with PolOffs about the magnitude of 
existing problems in his district, including a lack of money to 
pay local teachers and old Soviet-era farming equipment which 
hinders the region's cotton production.  While the area received 
a constant supply of electricity in the summer, during winter 
months the city only received six hours per day.  The seasonal 
shortages prevented residents from heating their homes in the 
winter and farmers from taking advantage of mechanization during 
the cotton harvest.  He added that between 35 and 50 percent of 
the local population worked in cotton production, many receiving 
extremely low salaries --  when the local government had funds 
to pay them at all.  The local drinking water does not meet 
acceptable standards; the region's water pipes have not been 
cleaned or renovated in 20 years, forcing many people to drink 
river water.  Given the number of cows and other animals grazing 
along this river, the quality ranges from unpotable to 
dangerous. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The deputy chairman is desperately attempting to 
attract foreign investment in the region's cotton industry and 
asked the U.S. Embassy for help.  According to official figures, 
approximately 15,000 locals have fled to Russia to become 
migrant workers; however the local government estimated the true 
numbers to be higher.  He argued that if his region were to 
successfully attract foreign investment, this would improve the 
local economic situation and standard of living, and produce 
greater incentive for locals to stay in Vakhsh, rather than flee 
to Russia to support their families.  Local authorities were 
grateful to the Japanese Embassy, the United Nations Development 
Program (UNDP) and U.S.-funded non-governmental organization 
Save the Children, all of whom had previously completed 
renovation projects in Vakhsh.  These organizations had also 
provided training course to local entities.  While grateful for 
this assistance, local officials stated that their true need was 
additional money and foreign investment. (Comment:  This 
response is discouragingly common in Tajikistan, where many 
officials view capacity building training programs as less 
important than new equipment or funds. End Comment.) 
 
STATE OF THE SCHOOLS 
 
¶4.  (SBU) PolOffs visited two local schools in austere 
condition; the ubiquitous holes in windows, cracks in the walls, 
and drooping ceilings gave the schools the appearance of having 
survived a recent bombing raid.  The school director reported 
that if the area experienced even a minor earthquake, many area 
schools would collapse outright.  The local government did not 
have enough money to pay teachers, let alone renovate schools, 
and had formed a parents' committee to solicit donations for 
teacher salaries.  The number of students now exceeds available 
school space; and some teachers are holding classes in old train 
cars in the absence of additional classrooms.  A growing number 
of parents preferred home schooling rather than subjecting their 
children to these conditions. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) A Vakhsh boarding school with 300 students, mainly 
orphans or children of criminals, was in better physical 
condition, since the local government subsidized its costs. 
According to local officials, these students studied for free, 
and most of them also received a free college education in 
Dushanbe, Russia or other parts of the former Soviet Union. 
 
EFFECTS OF DISPLACEMENT... 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The current population of Vakhsh is 138,000 people. 
Approximately 90,000 refugees fled Vakhsh during the Tajik civil 
war.  Following the war, the government instituted programs in 
1999 and 2001 to attempt to lure Tajik refugees back to their 
 
DUSHANBE 00001093  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
homeland; as a result, 15,000 Tajiks returned from Afghanistan, 
and others returned from Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and 
Turkmenistan.  Approximately 130 Tajiks returned home from 
Pakistan, where they had been studying at a madrassa.  Dismayed 
at the poor economic conditions, many wanted to return to 
Pakistan.  Approximately 500 Tajiks never came home, and the 
Tajik government currently considers them "missing."  Some fear 
that they may have joined radical or terrorist groups in 
Pakistan.  While all eight political parties are registered in 
the region, only three actively work with the population: the 
Communist Party, President Rahmon's People's Democratic Party of 
Tajikistan (PDPT) and the Islamic Renaissance Party of 
Tajikistan (IRPT). 
 
... AND DEBT 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Local officials outlined the disparity of wealth 
between farms associated with futures companies, and those that 
operate independently.  Under current practice, futures 
companies agree to pay for a certain portion of land, 
fertilizer, worker salaries, and technical needs to maximize 
cotton produced on a defined area of land. The futures companies 
agree to purchase the cotton produced from the land after the 
harvest at a fixed price, often below the market value.  Futures 
companies force the local farms to purchase their equipment, 
which puts the farms into debt.  However, farms not affiliated 
with futures companies have less access to credit and older 
equipment.  As a result, the cotton they produce is of poorer 
quality, which makes it more difficult to sell on the local 
market.  Local officials requested investment for these cotton 
farms not affiliated with futures companies, to improve the 
quality of their cotton, and make it easier to sell on the local 
market. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment: Deputy Chairman Huseinov rose to his post in 
the post-civil war power sharing agreement in which the 
government gave 30 percent of jobs to the opposition.  While 
Huseinov is not an Islamic Renaissance Party member, he was 
connected to former party leader Said Abdullo Nuri.  Huseinov 
also stated that extremism did not exist in his region, since 
both sides still respect the post civil war accommodation 
between government and opposition.  However, given the existing 
austere economic conditions, Huseinov is desperately seeking 
foreign investment to improve the local quality of life -- and 
to ensure that the local population continues to express 
peacefully its hopes for a better future.  End Comment. 
JACOBSON