KAZAKHSTAN: INTERNATIONAL CANINE CONFERENCE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 000660 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR INL/AAE, SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL SNAR SOCI KCRM ZK KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: INTERNATIONAL CANINE CONFERENCE REF: TASHKENT 479 ASTANA 00000660 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. Sensitive but Unclassified. Not for Public Internet ¶2. (SBU) SUMMARY. INL funded a March 26-27 International Conference on the Role of Canines in the Fight against Drug Trafficking, Extremism and Terrorism in Almaty. Representatives from the canine services of the five Central Asian countries, Austria, and Germany discussed coordination and the possibility of unified canine standards in the region. In general, most national representatives complained that insufficient budgets resulted in poor quality dogs and undertrained handlers. Only Uzbekistan touted its accomplishments but deferred from volunteering to be a regional breeding center. INL Astana believes that the Kazakhstani canine program is adequate and sustainable. Kazakhstan has volunteered to host regional training including for Afghanistan. Uzbekistan also offered to initiate an independent assessment of Central Asian training centers and host regional training. Embassy Astana supports Tashkent's request in reftel that INL fund Uzbek participation in the June Kazakhstan trip to the Austrian Canine Center. END SUMMARY. ¶3. (SBU) The Military Institute of Kazakhstan's Committee for National Security (KNB) and the Embassies of Austria and the United States sponsored an International Conference on the Role of Canines in the Fight against Drug Trafficking, Extremism and Terrorism, which provided an assessment of the current situation, discussion of future developments, and an agreement on joint cooperation. Conference participants included representatives of the canine services of the Central Asian countries, Germany, and Austria, the Director of the Military Institute, the head of the Shygys Regional Directorate of the Kazakhstan Border Guard Service, Austrian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Ursula Fahringer, the IOM Chief of Mission, the technical advisor of the Border Management Program in Central Asia and Central Asia Drug Action Program (BOMCA/CADAP),and representatives of the Central Asian Regional Information Coordination Center (CARICC). The DCM and INL Officer represented the Embassy. ¶4. (SBU) Alexander Bodnar, head of the Canine Department of Kazakhstan's Military Institute, presented his views on the reasons that canine programs in Central Asia have not succeeded. He stated that there are no regionally accepted methods of training canine specialists and dogs. Moreover, there are an insufficient number of dogs meeting the selection requirements for special training. These countries do not sufficiently fund their canine programs and the budgets provided are not sufficient to purchase quality dogs. Law enforcement agency headquarters generally do not understand the needs of the canine services and the importance and abilities of their canine services. Bodnar also complained of an insufficient number of instructors and managers in Central Asia capable of conducting training for canine specialists. He proposed retraining current canine specialists as opposed to training new ones. He also stated that there is very little communication among canine instructors in the region. ¶5. (SBU) Bodnar presented his analysis of the canine situation in Central Asia based on his visits to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. He claimed that some dogs in the Canine Center of the Tajik Border Guard Service died because of insufficient care. This incident led international organizations and embassies to halt assistance to the border guard canine service. Donors later provided funding to care for ill dogs. According to Bodnar, one of the most successful centers in Tajikistan is the Canine Center of the Drug Control Agency. The Center provides proper conditions for dogs and canine teams participate in operations on a regular basis. Bodnar stated that this training center only needs assistance in training instructors to conduct training at an appropriate level. ¶6. (SBU) Bodnar also discussed the situation in Kyrgyzstan, which he described as similar to that in Tajikistan. The State Customs Committee and the BOMCA/CADAP programs constructed an Interagency Canine Center there. However, according to Bodnar, the canine service of the Ministry of Interior is in poor condition. There is a professional relationship between the Kazakhstani canine services ASTANA 00000660 002.2 OF 003 and the Kyrgyz Interagency Canine Center. (COMMENT: Despite Bodnar's pessimistic evaluation of the situation in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, according to statistics presented at the conference, the majority of seized drugs from Afghanistan along the northern corridor are detected by canine units. (reftel)END COMMENT) ¶7. (SBU) Pavel Sukhodolskih, Head of the Canine and Cavalry Services of the Border Guard Service of Kyrgyzstan, discussed the activity of criminal groups within large flows of migrants. Currently, the Border Guard Service, the State Customs Committee, and the Drug Control Agency have 54 dogs trained in searching for drugs and explosives; however, they are only able to cover 20% of the Kyrgyz border with Kazakhstan. Sukhodolskih complained that of a lack of pure-bred dogs, lack of professional instructors, insufficient equipment, and absence of methodological literature hamper efforts to train specialists. In 2008, canine specialists of the Kyrgyz Border Service and the Drug Control Agency experimented with joint border patrols. The cooperation proved to be effective and, this year, they will continue to work together. ¶8. (SBU) Davron Mirbabayev, Deputy Director of the National Canine Center of the State Customs Committee of Uzbekistan, maintained that the National Canine Center, established in 1996, has become the center for training, retraining, and advanced training of canine specialists. The Center conducts dog selection and raises pure-bred dogs. In 2008, the Center received regional status as a result of its work on development of the canine service. The center has had extensive experience working with international experts from Austria, Kazakhstan, France, Russia, and Germany. Mirbabyev said that the National Canine Center is always ready to cooperate with other countries. He proposed monitoring graduates of regional courses to improve and amend canine curricula. (COMMENT: There is some question if all Central Asian countries, particularly Tajikistan, would be willing to attend training in Uzbekistan. END COMMENT) ¶9. (SBU) The representative of the State Border Service of Turkmenistan stated that construction has been started on a Canine Center in Mary. ¶10. (SBU) Josef Schuetzenhofer, the Head of the Austrian Ministry of Interior's Canine Center, discussed existing problems and prospects for future cooperation. Since May 2005, he has had an opportunity to learn about the canine systems in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. He maintained that there is a lack of quality work dogs, a lack of breeding dogs, and improper dogs are purchased. All services should pay attention to the selection of dogs, proper training of puppies, training dogs in a less stressful manner, training with proper equipment, and humane treatment of dogs. In the future, Schuetzenhofer would like to see an increase in the use of canines, interagency cooperation, and the use of real drugs for training, as well as bigger budgets better used, and an improvement in breeding programs. ¶11. (SBU) Conference participants agreed to hold meetings once every two years for managers of canine services and once a year for instructors to discuss training methods and tactics to stop the traffic of narcotics, explosives, and weapons and to combat extremism and terrorism in Central Asia. They also recommended training canine instructors at institutes in Central Asia to improve teaching methods and make methods uniform. The Kazakhstani Military Institute announced its willingness to host such training. The Military Institute also invited the Canine Center of the Uzbek Drug Control Agency to conduct exchange programs. ¶12. (SBU) The Kazakhstanis proposed a regional breeding program; the Uzbeks recommended revisiting the issue later. The representatives of Uzbekistan's National Canine Center of the State Customs Committee believe that their center can breed good dogs, but it is not ready to provide dogs for the whole region. Moreover, by law, puppies bred in Uzbekistan are the property of the Uzbek government. ¶13. (SBU) Participants also recommended regional canine competitions in searching for drugs, weapons, and ammunition starting in 2010. ASTANA 00000660 003.2 OF 003 Representatives of the Austrian Ministry of Interior invited canine specialists to attend the annual competition in Austria in June 2009 to observe Austria's organization and standards. Representatives from Kazakhstan will be there from April 6 to June 19 as part of a counternarcotics training course. ¶14. (SBU) Kazakhstan offered to provide the results of its testing of SOKKS (a special material saturated with micro particles of narcotics). The testing will determine how SOKKS can be introduced into the training process. (COMMENT: Post purchased SOKKS for the Military Institute and the Border Guard Service in November 2008 and funded a training seminar on the use of SOKKS in January 2009. According to Austria's Schuetzenhofer, the use of SOKKS should be followed within the first three days with the use of real drugs in the training process. ENDCOMMENT.) ¶15. (SBU) Currently, all canine services in Kazakhstan use drug substitutes for training. Although the Ministry of Interior allows the use of real drugs in training, trainers refuse to use them because of strict controls. When drugs were previously used for training, the Procurator General's Office conducted regular checks. There is no clear system for storing drugs for training purposes. Administrative and criminal cases were initiated against canine officers in the past for misuse of training samples. The Kazakhstani participants in the conference now believe that it will be possible to better organize the control of samples used in training and will recommend using real drugs. ¶16. (SBU) Conference participants also recommended regional development of canine programs with the assistance of international organizations, bilateral donors, and other interested parties. An independent expert would assess the Central Asian canine services. ¶17. (SBU) After the conference, INL discussed future programs with the Kazakhstani representatives. They continue to learn about new methods of training from the Austrian Ministry of Interior. Post plans to send two more interagency groups of instructors to the Counternarcotics Canine Training Course in Bad Kreuzen, Austria. The instructors who attended last year's courses have made changes in their services to conform with lessons learned in Austria. The Military Institute tested the Austrian methods of teaching and, based on the effectiveness of a pilot project, made changes to the training curriculum. The Border Guard Service conducted a pilot training course on the Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan border. The Ministry of Interior is also testing a training program and some participants of the conference attested to the positive results of that training. Kazakhstani law enforcement bodies are striving to prove the efficiency of the new methods of training. ¶18. (SBU) COMMENT. Post believes that the canine programs in Kazakhstan are sustainable or on the verge of long-term sustainability. Post plans to support more training events, co-training courses, and the production of a set of canine textbooks. The basic contents of the textbooks were presented at the conference and contain both best practices and new methods. The final four-volume set is expected to be issued by the end of 2010. Austria's Schuetzenhofer is writing several chapters with the support of Post. We believe that all services in Kazakhstan will unanimously move to the Austrian methodology of training dogs. However, even if one method is accepted universally, we do not foresee Kazakhstan creating a unified training center. Despite their common goals, each agency has different tasks and there is a great deal of competition among them. All the canine centers are well-equipped and have motivated staffs. The Military Institute is working to ready itself to train cadets from Mongolia and Tajikistan this year. The Military Institute has informed us that it is ready to receive canine handlers and trainers from other Central Asian countries and Afghanistan for counternarcotics canine training. Addressees may pass this information to appropriate authorities in their host governments. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND