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FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
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RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 001122 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ETTC PARM PREL PBTS OSCE AF TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMEN-AFGHAN JOINT BORDER TRAINING 
ORGANIZED BY OSCE 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified. Not for Public Internet. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On August 21, Turkmen and Afghan 
customs officials completed joint training, 
facilitated by the OSCE, in Ashgabat and Atamurat 
(formerly Kerki), a town in southeast Turkmenistan. 
This was the first ever joint training for Turkmen and 
Afghan customs officers.  The course was aimed at 
teaching anti-smuggling techniques to prevent drug 
trafficking across the shared border.  The OSCE used 
former British and U.S. officials as instructors to 
teach risk and threat assessment, profiling, 
targeting, and search and detection techniques.  The 
OSCE expects even greater success from its next 
project on border security, which the Turkmen 
government strongly supports.  The implementation of 
OSCE customs and border security projects is a sign of 
improved cooperation within Central Asia and 
particularly with Afghanistan.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Political Assistant was able to observe the 
completion on August 21 of an OSCE project on border 
security that stemmed from a decision by the OSCE 
Council of Ministers to increase involvement with 
Afghanistan.  The project consisted primarily of 
train-the-trainer courses for Turkmen Customs 
officials.  Ten senior Turkmen Customs officers 
participated in the first stage of the project to 
become trainers.  They in turn trained two additional 
ten-person groups of Turkmen Customs officials.  The 
first three stages of the program were held in 
Ashgabat at the Turkmen State Customs Service Training 
Center. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The fourth and final stage of the program, 
joint training for Turkmen and Afghan customs 
officials, was held in Atamurat (formerly Kerki), 
which is close to Imam Nazar, a border crossing point 
between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.  Imam Nazar was 
originally chosen as the training location, but at the 
suggestion of the OSCE team and Afghan Ambassador in 
Ashgabat, the Turkmen authorities agreed to shift the 
location to Atamurat, which had better facilities. 
Turkmenistan was the first Central Asian country to 
host an OSCE training program for Afghan customs 
officials.  The eight Afghan participants were taught 
by their Turkmen colleagues who had participated in 
the first stages of the program, with the training 
being overseen by former British and U.S. customs 
officers. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The course focused on risk and threat 
assessment, profiling and targeting techniques, and 
search and detection techniques, which were priorities 
for the foreign trainers, as well as the Turkmen and 
Afghan officials.  The training included practical 
exercises and discussion.  The OSCE Center in Ashgabat 
considered this program a great success, and OSCE 
Ambassador Arsim Zekolli will publish the results in a 
report to the member states. 
 
¶5. (SBU) This customs training program will be 
followed by additional joint Afghan-Turkmen training 
on border security, which will be taught by experts 
from the UK and Finland.  The OSCE expects even 
greater cooperation and success in the border security 
project since Chairman of the Turkmen State Border 
Service Murat Islamov has expressed concern about 
border security issues.  He was previously a close 
advisor on legal issues to former president Niyazov 
 
ASHGABAT 00001122  002 OF 002 
 
 
and the founder of the State Migration Service, which 
is reportedly the best organized and technologically 
equipped law enforcement agency in Turkmenistan. 
 
¶6. (SBU) COMMENT:  This customs training project 
signals a new stage in OSCE relations with 
Turkmenistan, as well as a new willingness on the part 
of both the OSCE and the Turkmen Government to get 
involved in Afghanistan.  Turkmenistan has 
transitioned from ostracizing the OSCE for its 
reporting on human rights and political prisoners in 
the wake of the assassination attempt on former 
president Niyazov, to the point that President 
Berdimuhamedov has discussed OSCE projects with the 
OSCE Secretary General.  END COMMENT. 
 
CURRAN