MVD MINISTER TALKS THE TALK WITH HIS HAND OUT

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