VZCZCXRO2085
PP RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHPW RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0432/01 0801257
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201257Z MAR 08 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0319
INFO RUCNCLS/SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RHEHNS/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEABND/DEA HQ WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC 0024
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC 0059
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC 0038

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000432 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/CEN/DUANE 
DOJ FOR ICITAP/DUCOT, OPDAT/NEWCOMBE 
OSD/P FOR KLUG, NSC FOR JORGAN ANDREWS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: SNAR PGOV KCRM TI
SUBJECT: MVD MINISTER TALKS THE TALK WITH HIS HAND OUT 
 
DUSHANBE 00000432  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary.  In a March 14 meeting with Ambassador, 
Tajikistan's Interior Minister Mahmadnazar Solehov promised 
continued cooperation with Embassy security operations and security 
assistance programs and handed over a non-paper requesting $5 
million in new assistance.  He lamented Tajikistan's rampant 
corruption (acknowledging the complicity of officers from the 
Interior Ministry and other security agencies), the insidious 
illegal drug problem, and trafficking of women abroad.  Ambassador 
Jacobson promised Solehov to give careful scrutiny to his request 
but stressed that much more detail was necessary in order to 
evaluate the proposals.  She highlighted the array of experienced 
officers in the embassy with whom the Interior Ministry could 
cooperate, pointing out that counter-narcotics, law enforcement, and 
security experts were available to help improve the capacity of the 
ministry's officers and infrastructure.  End Summary 
 
¶2. (SBU) During a March 14 meeting with Ambassador Jacobson, 
Minister Solehov, waxing philosophical, said that he was saddened by 
the crime and corruption in Tajikistan and wondered aloud whether 
Tajik culture was predisposed to these activities or whether the 
high crime rate resulted from the grinding poverty in the country. 
He lamented Tajikistan's rampant corruption, even acknowledging that 
20 of his officers had been involved in taking bribes to look the 
other way regarding a murder over property ownership.  Sadly, but 
ironically, Solehov recounted that the murderer had to spend almost 
the entire value of the stolen property to buy off the authorities - 
a vivid example of how crime doesn't always pay for the criminal, 
but is very lucrative for officials. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Corruption is also endemic in the security forces trying to 
combat illegal narcotics.  Solehov noted that Interior Ministry 
mobile interdiction teams working near the Afghan border were 
undercut by corrupt border guards and an inefficient Prosecutor 
General's Office.  Furthermore, the drug gangs could be formed from 
as few as three to five men who could in a very short time transport 
enough narcotics to reap $5 million a month.  Solehov lamented that 
even if the MVD arrested one or two of the narco-traffickers they 
would quickly be replaced (or pay a bribe) and the cross-border 
cooperation with Afghan drug runners would proceed as before.  To 
bust up larger smuggling rings, Minister Solehov said the MVD was 
cooperating with law enforcement services in Russia and neighboring 
countries to make arrests.  Responding to the Ambassador's query 
about the fate of Afghan smugglers detected in Tajikistan, Solehov 
said half are arrested and the other half are put under surveillance 
in order gain information on more senior drug gang members. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Completing his trifecta of bad news stories, Solehov said 
that trafficking of young Tajikistani women to Arab countries was a 
serious problem.  He asserted that traffickers from Uzbekistan and 
the Kyrgyz Republic recruit the young women and sell them into 
slavery and prostitution abroad.  According to Solehov, breaking up 
these rings is a priority for the Interior Ministry. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Showing good timing if not good manners, in almost the same 
Q5. (SBU) Showing good timing if not good manners, in almost the same 
breath that he thanked Ambassador Jacobson for the U.S. 
counter-narcotics and law enforcement assistance to modernize the 
Interior Ministry's forensics center and establish its analytical 
center, he made a strong pitch for an additional $5 million in new 
assistance.  He handed over a non-paper (subsequently received as a 
diplomatic note) requesting $320,000 for modernization of the 
ministry's information directorate, $500,000 for modernization of an 
operations center, and $4.2 million for construction of an OMON 
training and operations center on 3.2 hectares of land outside 
Dushanbe.  (Note.  OMON is a combination SWAT, K-9, and explosive 
ordnance disposal special forces team in the Ministry of Interior. 
OMON also protects the embassy and responds to counter terrorist 
events.  The Regional Security Office has provided special training 
under the Anti-Terrorism Assistance program.  Post emailed a scanned 
copy of the non-paper to SCA/CEN, INL, and DS.  End note.) 
 
¶6. (SBU) The Ambassador praised the close cooperation between the 
Interior Ministry and embassy's office of International Narcotics 
and Law Enforcement which is assisting the ministry to improve 
capacities to detect and investigate illegal narcotics and other 
crimes through modernization of facilities and training.  She also 
highlighted the close cooperation between the embassy's Regional 
Security Office and the ministry's OMON forces to improve 
counter-terrorism capacity.  She pointed to the embassy's Drug 
 
DUSHANBE 00000432  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
Enforcement Administration office as a source of expertise on 
conduct of operations against drug smuggling.  To improve the 
professional competence its officers she pointed to the State 
Department-funded Department of Justice Training Advisor as a 
resource the ministry could draw on to improve its training regime. 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Ambassador Jacobson promised to carefully review the 
proposals Minister Solehov made but emphasized that much more detail 
was necessary, including engineering drawings, before the embassy 
could complete a thorough analysis. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Comment:  During the meeting, Solehov readily turned to his 
Chief of Staff when a particular fact or name escaped his memory. 
He did not appear to have an in-depth knowledge of the three funding 
requests, but readily turned to his Chief of Staff, Colonel Khaidar 
Mahmadiev, to clarify details.  Solehov was non-committal when 
questioned about the current rumor that he is going to be appointed 
the Prosecutor General in place of Bobojon Mahmudovich Bobohonov, 
who has reached mandatory retirement age.  Post finds Solehov a 
reliable interlocutor and should he depart the Interior Ministry, we 
would welcome seeing a friendly face as the Prosecutor General.  End 
Comment. 
 
JACOBSON