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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DUSHANBE 001253 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  8/31/2017 
TAGS: PREL ECON EAID ECIN ELTN TI AF
SUBJECT: BRIDGE OPENING SPURS DISCUSSION OF FURTHER COOPERATION 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Tracey Ann Jacobson, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy 
Dushanbe, STATE. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  "This new bridge is as important for us as 
oxygen," Tajik President Emomali Rahmon told Commerce Secretary 
Carlos Gutierrez, who led the U.S. presidential delegation to 
the opening of the new U.S.-funded bridge linking Tajikistan and 
Afghanistan across the Pyanj River.  Rahmon used the remainder 
of a ninety-minute U.S.-Tajik bilateral meeting to elicit U.S. 
assistance and investment for additional infrastructure 
projects, expound on Tajikistan's favorable foreign policy and 
business climate, and rant about Uzbekistan.  A separate 
trilateral meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai was more 
scripted and concluded the business portion of the festive 
weekend (August 25-26).  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) President Rahmon hosted an official bridge opening 
ceremony August 26 to inaugurate the newly constructed 
Tajik-Afghan bridge spanning the Pyanj River from Nizhniy Pyanj, 
Tajikistan to Sher Khan Bander, Afghanistan.  Afghan President 
Karzai and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gutierrez, as the head of 
a presidential delegation, attended the ceremony, arriving on 
August 25 for a round of bilateral and trilateral meetings.  The 
U.S. delegation also included Assistant Secretary Richard 
Boucher, and U.S. Ambassadors Jacobson and Wood. 
 
With Neighbors Like This... 
 
===================== 
 
¶3.  (SBU) In his bilateral meeting with Secretary Gutierrez, 
Assistant Secretary Boucher and Ambassador Jacobson, Rahmon 
commented on the importance of the bridge, saying, "Real 
sovereignty in Tajikistan requires real stabilization in 
Afghanistan."  In order for Tajikistan to thrive, he explained, 
it needs export outlets for its goods, including 
hydroelectricity, and import routes for construction materials. 
Improved security conditions in Afghanistan, coupled with the 
new bridge, will allow Tajikistan access to the south, including 
to the Iranian port of Bander Abbas.  "Some countries" he said 
are not interested in stability coming to Afghanistan.  Among 
these, as Rahmon has told us before, is Uzbekistan.  Citing an 
old Tajik proverb, Rahmon said, "You can choose your friends, 
but God chooses your neighbors." 
 
¶4.  (C) Rahmon boasted of having good relations with all 
countries in the world except Uzbekistan, and used a good part 
of the bilateral meeting to complain openly about the government 
in Tashkent.  He said Uzbek president Karimov made his 
intentions clear at the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization 
summit in Bishkek, and predicted Karimov would get much worse 
after his re-election.  He recounted for Secretary Gutierrez how 
Uzbekistan blocked sales of Turkmen gas to Tajikistan last 
winter, leading to "five months without electricity," and 
prevents export of Tajik hydropower during the summer months 
when Tajikistan has a surplus.  Rahmon said that Karimov blocks 
every attempt at regional integration and reported that in 
Bishkek Karimov proposed to close the former Soviet Central 
Asian borders with Afghanistan and, in Karzai's presence, ranted 
about Afghanistan being a land of extremists.  Rahmon took 
credit for intervening to smooth things out between Karimov and 
Karzai.  (Note:  Tajik diplomats and security officials have 
expressed similarly negative views about Afghan extremism.  End 
note.) 
 
Rahmon's Wish List 
 
=============== 
 
¶5.  (SBU) In both the bilateral and the trilateral meeting, 
which included Karzai's team, as well as in his speech at the 
bridge opening itself, Rahmon recited a long wish list of 
projects where he hoped for U.S. assistance.  He appreciated the 
"more than $1 billion in U.S. assistance" since Tajikistan's 
independence, and considerably more aid to Afghanistan.  ("This 
is not a criticism; maybe some poor countries need more than 
others.").  Here's Rahmon's list, some of which seemed prepared 
in advance, and other items added ad hoc: 
 
DUSHANBE 00001253  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
-- Another Bridge: Rahmon asked for assistance to move the 
temporary construction bridge at Nizhniy Pyanj to a new location 
on the Afghan border at Kokul/Farkhor.  Ambassador Jacobson 
noted that the temporary bridge materials were not of a 
sufficiently high quality to justify the cost of relocating the 
construction bridge to the new locale.  Rahmon made sure Karzai 
raised this same request at the trilateral. 
 
-- Free Economic Zone: In order to take full advantage of the 
new bridge at Nizhniy Pyanj, Rahmon envisions creating a Free 
Economic Zone and asked for U.S. expertise to make that happen. 
 
-- Hydropower: Noting that Tajikistan uses only 5% of its water 
resources, Rahmon called for U.S. technology and investment in 
the hydropower sector.  Specifically, Tajikistan wants the U.S. 
to build a major hydro-generating project on the Afghan border 
at Dastijhum.  The dam would produce electricity for export to 
Afghanistan and South Asia and provide irrigation for 
Afghanistan's northern plains. 
 
-- Railways:  To break the Uzbek monopoly on Tajikistan's export 
trade, Rahmon proposed building a railroad to Afghanistan.  His 
vision includes extending the line north and east to Osh, 
Kyrgyzstan and on to China, and south through Mazar-i Sharif and 
Herat to Mashhad and Bander Abbas in Iran.  Assistant Secretary 
Boucher explained that the Afghan government has no plans for 
big railroad projects at this time. 
 
-- World Trade Organization: Rahmon asked for U.S. assistance to 
join the organization. 
 
-- Narcotics: Rahmon asked for construction of border 
infrastructure and technology to fight narcotics trafficking. 
(Note: already a major part of our assistance effort here.  End 
note.) 
 
-- Debt: Rahmon asked the United States to forgive the $17 
million official debt Tajikistan owes, dating to 1992-93 loans 
from the U.S. Commodity Credit Corporation.  Tajikistan accepted 
these loans in the "difficult first days" after independence and 
beginning of the civil war.  Rahmon did not understand the 
principle of keeping this $17 million debt on the books while 
the United States has since provided $1 billion in other 
assistance.  It's not the money, Rahmon opined, explaining that 
Tajikistan had already paid $300 million of debt to Russia and 
will settle that account entirely next year.  Gutierrez 
explained that the United States has no debt relief mechanism in 
place that would allow us to eliminate this $17 million. 
 
Investment Climate Before Investment 
 
============================= 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Secretary Gutierrez used the formal bilateral and 
trilateral meetings as well as remarks at the bridge opening to 
underscore the need for Tajiks and Afghans to work together to 
properly secure the border and operate the new bridge 
effectively.  Gutierrez told Rahmon directly that if Tajikistan 
wants to attract more investment for major infrastructure 
projects, it must take the necessary steps to improve the 
business climate and improve investor confidence.  "The U.S. 
Government doesn't do business, but we can help you create the 
proper climate," he explained.  We could talk to potential 
investors in hydroelectric energy, but they will ask, "Will my 
investment be safe?"  Investors need to know the rules of the 
game regarding taxes corruption.  Assistant Secretary Boucher 
addressed Rahmon's specific request for the United States to 
invest in a hydroelectric generation project, encouraging the 
Tajik Government to finalize a viable Power Purchase Agreement 
with the Afghans. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Responding to these points, Rahmon avoided getting 
into too much detail.  On business climate: "Tajikistan upholds 
all international standards."  On corruption: "I've already done 
reform," and have reduced the number of government agencies from 
28 to 17.  On Tajik banks: The financial sector now handles 
transfers of $2 billion, up from $9 million.  On the Power 
Purchase Agreement: We just signed an agreement with 
Afghanistan.  (Note: Rahmon was referring to the agreements 
signed with Afghan Energy Minister Ismail Khan during his recent 
 
DUSHANBE 00001253  003 OF 003 
 
 
trip.  Rahmon seemed to be briefed that those general agreements 
were in fact sufficient to spur investment in Tajikistan's 
hydroelectric sector.  End note.)  Our messages were persistent 
enough, however, that after the bridge ceremony, Rahmon and 
Assistant Secretary Boucher agreed that Foreign Minister Zarifi 
would work with Ambassador Jacobson to "fix the investment 
climate." 
 
¶8.  (C) Comment:  Rahmon portrayed the bridge opening as a 
historic event -- and his rhetoric matched that of the U.S. and 
Afghan delegations in exploiting the rich symbolism of the 
bridge.  However, his conversations with us were more 
superficial, and nothing Rahmon told us broke new ground.  We 
have heard these themes before: Uzbekistan/Karimov as the source 
of Tajikistan's woes; hydropower as Tajikistan's economic 
salvation.  However, he offered no vision of a way forward for 
Tajikistan, except to ask the United States for more assistance 
-- to develop hydropower and other infrastructure in Tajikistan, 
and to rein in Karimov in Uzbekistan.  He glossed over Secretary 
Gutierrez's suggestions that Tajikistan must first takes steps 
to improve its investment climate before the private sector will 
invest here.  Rahmon would prefer to leave those details to his 
various ministers, but it's unclear those ministers have the 
capacity or the authority to take any real action.  Rahmon 
genuinely understands that stability and recovery in Afghanistan 
are important to Tajikistan's own sovereignty; although he was 
rather dismissive about the trade route through Afghanistan to 
Pakistan and focused more on the route to Iran.  End comment. 
JACOBSON