VZCZCXRO5124
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHSK RUEHVK
RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0302/01 0691332
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 101332Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0129
INFO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0007
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEABND/DEA HQ WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 0202

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000302 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN (HUSHEK) 
INL/AAE (BUHLER) 
ISN/ECC (HARTSHORN) 
DEFENSE FOR OSD/P 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR KCRM PGOV AF TI
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN FINALLY TO TRAIN AFGHAN BORDER GUARDS 
 
DUSHANBE 00000302  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  After months of deliberation and several public 
and private pronouncements by President Rahmon, General Gafarov, 
Deputy Chairman of the Committee for National Security, told 
INL, EXBS and OSCE officers on March 2 that Tajikistan was 
prepared to go forward with joint training of Afghan and Tajik 
border guards but only at the U.S.-financed regional training 
center in Khorog.  He also said Tajikistan welcomed the idea of 
training counter-drug agents of both countries there.  End 
summary. 
 
 
 
¶2.  General Gafarov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for 
National Security,, meeting at the MFA with INL, EXBS, and OSCE 
officers on March 2 said that the Government of Tajikistan was 
willing to go forward with joint training of Afghan and Tajik 
border guards but only in Khorog, the capital of the 
Gorno-Badakshan Autonomous Area of Tajikistan.  This is the 
first concrete step by the Committee for National Security after 
several public and private pronouncements by President Rahmom 
stretching back over a year.  The KNB General said the Tajiks 
were only prepared to invite limited numbers of Afghans with the 
exact numbers to be worked out with the Afghan government.  He 
asserted that the border crossing points on the Afghan side were 
staffed with only 20 soldiers so more than five absent on 
training would be an unacceptable burden on operations.  Gafarov 
said the focus should be on how to improve coordination and 
inspection skills to facilitate trade via bridges at Ishkashim, 
Khorog, and Darvaz border crossing points. 
 
 
 
¶3.  Emboffs pressed for inclusion of the Border Guard officers 
and soldiers of the Nizhniy Pyanj/Sher Khan Bandar port of entry 
but Gafarov pushed back, saying that the U.S.-built bridge was 
too far from the Khorog training facility and that Nizhniy Pyanj 
was a busy crossing point where joint training would disrupt the 
work of the post.  Pressed again, he threw up his hands in 
(false?) exasperation and agreed to train at/near the bridge but 
only if donors built a regional training center there because 
there were no suitable facilities available.  He firmly stated 
that Afghans were not going to be trained in Dushanbe. 
 
 
 
¶4.  We agreed to do the initial phase of training at the Khorog 
Regional Training Center but reserved the option to train those 
in and near Nizhniy Pyanj in the following phase of the project, 
after identifying a training facility closer to the bridge. 
Previously Gafarov had told us that he was looking for a 
dormitory in Dushanbe where he could lock up the Afghan trainees 
at night otherwise they would "walk away and do business." 
 
 
 
¶5.  The Khorog Border Guard Training Center is an ongoing 
INL-funded project implemented by the International Organization 
for Migration which began in 2005.  During the $450,000 project 
IOM renovated an existing building on the border guard base in 
central Khorog to serve as a regional training facility.  The 
training center has a dormitory for 24, laundry, dining room, 
and a small gym and library providing a self-contained location 
for students from the Gorno-Badakshan area of eastern 
Tajikistan.  By the end of 2008, in addition to renovating the 
structure, IOM and the Border Guards had trained 210 employees 
of border check-points.  For 2009, IOM plans to teach 24 
students each into four three month-long courses.  The 
instructors teach conscripts and warrant officers 
(praporshchiki) checkpoint operations, fraudulent document 
detection, migration legislation, English and Persian languages, 
and computer skills. 
 
 
 
¶6.  INL Dushanbe anticipates no logistical problems co-locating 
the Afghans at the training center.  The next steps are for the 
Government of Tajikistan to contact counterparts in the Afghan 
government to make the necessary invitations for training border 
guards and drug agents. 
 
 
 
¶7.  Gafarov spoke about the utility of including the agents of 
 
DUSHANBE 00000302  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
the Tajik Drug Control Agency and Afghan counterparts into the 
joint training regime.  On the margins of the October 2007 
Dushanbe Border Security Conference Drug Control Agency Director 
Rustam Nazarov told INL Officer that he agreed to joint training 
drug agent training with Afghan colleagues. 
 
 
 
¶8.  Comment: Because the Khorog Training Center is already 
operational we expect to be able to move forward quickly, or at 
least as quickly as the conversation between the Tajik and 
Afghan governments.  Dushanbe will work with Kabul colleagues to 
facilitate the dialogue.  End comment. 
JACOBSON