VZCZCXRO9967
OO RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHKA #0069/01 0191041
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 191041Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY DHAKA
TO RHHJJPI/PACOM IDHS HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8145
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 8547
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 0276
RUEHKL/AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR PRIORITY 0345

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 000069 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR LTG FRIDOVIC, BG BOERA AND COL WHITE FROM THE AMBASSADOR 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/19/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PTER KREL BG
SUBJECT: BANGLADESH SCENESETTER FOR LTG FRIDOVICH, BG BOERA 
AND COL WHITE 
 
Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
   ------ 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) USG activities in Bangladesh are based on three 
pillars:  democratization, development and denial of space to 
terrorists. Your visit comes at a critical juncture for U.S. 
relations with this strategically important, moderate, 
Muslim-majority nation of 150 million people. The new 
government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina swept to power 
in Parliamentary elections on December 29 and is beginning to 
flesh out its policies on issues of great importance to the 
USG. In your meetings with civilian and military leaders you 
will be able to emphasize USG eagerness to work with the new 
government on a whole range of issues, including expanding 
cooperation to improve Bangladesh's counterterrorism and 
military capabilities. 
 
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DEMOCRACY 
---------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Sheikh Hasna's Awami League won a landslide victory 
in Parliamentary elections December 29 after two years of 
rule by an appointed Caretaker Government whose mandate was 
to prepare for elections. During its tenure, the Caretaker 
Government cracked down on endemic political corruption and 
violence, and at one point imprisoned on graft allegations 
both Hasina and her main political rival, Bangladesh 
Nationalist Party (BNP) Chairperson Khaleda Zia. Both were 
released to participate in the elections, which won wide 
acclaim for being the cleanest and most peaceful in 
Bangladesh's 38-year history. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Prime Minister Hasina appointed a Cabinet notable 
for the absence of most of the party's Old Guard, including 
many politicians tainted by allegations of graft and 
violence, in favor of Ministers who are fiercely loyal to 
her. The huge landslide win will test her promise to break 
from the country's past "winner-take-all" politics and allow 
the opposition a meaningful voice in government. While the 
Awami League has offered to fill the post of deputy speaker 
of Parliament with a BNP lawmaker, it seems bent on 
destroying the country's main Islamist party, 
Jamaat-e-Islami. Hasina's party has threatened to try Jamaat 
leaders as war criminals for their activities in support of 
Pakistan during the 1971 war of independence. It also is 
considering banning religious-based parties such as Jamaat. 
 
------------------------------- 
DENIAL OF SPACE TO TERRORISTS 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) Bangladesh is a nation with porous borders -- air, 
land and maritime -- that make it an attractive transit point 
and safe-haven for terrorists. India in particular argues 
that international Islamic terrorists use Bangladesh as a 
safe haven and often cross into India for bombing and other 
attacks. New Delhi also says Dhaka should do more to uproot 
Indian domestic extremist groups, including the United 
Liberation Front of Assam, that India claims use Bangladesh 
as a safe haven. Sheikh Hasina has made clear that fighting 
extremists and improving regional counterterrorism 
cooperation would be a top priority for her administration. 
She has proposed creating a South Asia security task force; 
Embassy Dhaka wants to support those efforts, in part by 
funding regional security dialogues organized by prominent 
local think tanks. 
 
¶5. (S/NF) To counter the transnational terrorist threat, 
Embassy Dhaka has recommended USG support for the creation of 
a Bangladesh Navy Special Operations Force, similar to US 
SEAL and Special Boat units. The Government of Bangladesh 
intends this unit to be a counterterrorism force that will 
address critical gaps in Bangladesh's maritime security 
capability. Transnational violent extremist organizations 
(such as Interagency Intelligence Committee on Terrorism 
(IICT) priority one Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and IICT priority three 
Hizbul Mujhadin), transnational crime, drugs and human 
trafficking are currently exploiting these gaps to facilitate 
operations throughout South Asia. USG support for the 
creation of this new force is critical to denying space to 
terrorists. Additionally, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba is actively 
developing a maritime capability in order to infiltrate 
 
DHAKA 00000069  002 OF 003 
 
 
India; Bangladesh is a particularly attractive maritime 
launching point for such infiltration efforts. 
 
¶6. (C) The USG already funds many other programs in 
Bangladesh to counter terrorism, including a wide range of 
training under the Anti-Terrorist Assistance program 
coordinated by the State Department.  USAID and Public 
Affairs Section programs address root causes of extremism 
through outreach to leaders of influence (including religious 
figures) and to madrassas. The USG also has started training 
the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), whose history of alleged 
human rights violations prevented earlier engagement. The 
number of people reportedly killed in gun battles with RAB 
has decreased significantly since mid-2007, and the initial 
U.S. training is designed to further improve RAB's human 
rights record. Although some Awami League leaders view the 
RAB with suspicion because it was established by the rival 
Bangladesh Nationalist Party, the RAB has become the 
country's most effective counterterrorism force and is best 
positioned to one day become a Bangladeshi version of the 
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. In your meetings with 
civilian leaders, you should stress the initial success of 
USG human rights engagement with RAB and the importance of 
continued training to ensure the RAB plays an effective, 
responsible role in the war against extremism. 
 
¶7. (C) Your meeting with Chief of Army Staff Gen Moeen Uddin 
Ahmed will provide an opportunity to raise not only 
counterterrorism cooperation but also the importance of 
further professionalization of the Bangladesh military. 
Bangladesh is a top contributor to international peacekeeping 
operations and continued military-to-military cooperation 
between our two countries will help ensure Bangledeshi troops 
perform well as peacekeepers. In meetings with Moeen and 
other military and civilian leaders you should discuss the 
need for maintaining good relations between the civilian 
government and armed forces. Civil-military relations were 
poor during the last Awami League government in 1996-2001, 
which ended up limiting Hasina's scope for action. 
Discussions are underway within Hasina's administration over 
possible reforms to improve the structure for making national 
security decisions. 
 
------------ 
DEVELOPMENT 
------------ 
 
¶8. (U) Your visit will come just days after the "America 
Week" program to promote bilateral relations in Barisal 
Division, which bore the brunt of Cyclone Sidr in November 
¶2007. The cyclone killed thousands of people, destroyed the 
homes and livelihoods of millions, and left 2.3 billion USD 
of damage to infrastructure.  As part of an interagency 
effort, the U.S. military played a crucial role in relief 
efforts by airlifting vitally needed water, food and 
emergency supplies to Bangladeshis in remote areas. However, 
the Government of Bangladesh and other international donors 
have not sustained the strong levels of assistance provided 
in Sidr's immediate aftermath, and millions of victims remain 
in need of aid to rebuild their lives. The 6.5 million USD 
budgeted by the Department of Defense for building cyclone 
shelters and schools in the affected areas thus is most 
welcome. This effort will dovetail nicely with plans for 
spending some 75 million USD in USAID funding appropriated by 
Congress for post-Sidr relief. 
 
9, (SBU) On top of natural disasters, inflation -- 
particularly of food prices -- remains dangerously high for 
Bangladeshis, 86 percent of whom subsist on less than $2 a 
day. (Note: The Awami League promised in its campaign to make 
fighting inflation its top priority; prices for basic 
commodities such as rice skyrocketed during the Caretaker 
Government. End note.) Our assistance levels remain high -- 
some 150 million USD last year. More important, economic 
growth, fueled by ready-made garment exports, has surpassed 
6% annually over the past six years. 
 
----------- 
YOUR VISIT 
----------- 
 
¶10.  (C) Thank you for making the effort to come to 
Bangladesh. The visit will highlight the importance the USG 
places on working constructively with Bangladesh on a wide 
range of issues. You will be meeting officials of a new 
government who are grappling with hugely important issues 
 
DHAKA 00000069  003 OF 003 
 
 
such as how to improve regional counterterrorism cooperation 
and how to strengthen Bangladesh's own counterterrorism 
capabilities and civilian-military relations. Your visit will 
provide a unique opportunity to encourage the new government 
in this work and assure leading officials that the USG will 
continue a wide range of assistance in these and other 
critical areas. 
MORIARTY