KYRGYZ DEFENSE DEPUTY: HOW TO BUILD SUPPORT FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BISHKEK 001131

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN (GORKOWSKI)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINS KG
SUBJECT: KYRGYZ DEFENSE DEPUTY: HOW TO BUILD SUPPORT FOR
MANAS

REF: BISHKEK 1114

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Classified By: Ambassador Tatiana C. Gfoeller, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: The Ambassador participated in a ribbon
cutting ceremony for the opening of Besh-Kungei Military
Hospital, a $2 million project funded by the Embassy's Office
of Military Cooperation. First Deputy Minister of Defense
Marat Kenjisariyev hosted the Ambassador for a lunch
afterwards, and noted that President Bakiyev wants to see the
Kyrgyz play a larger role in Afghanistan. He suggested that
to broaden support for Manas Transit Center within the Kyrgyz
Government, the U.S. should arrange a trip to Afghanistan for
senior Kyrgyz officials. Kenjisariyev also said the Defense
Ministry is currently planning to shed 40% of its senior
staff as part of the President's governmental restructuring
plan. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) The Ambassador participated in a ribbon cutting
ceremony on October 14 for the opening of Besh-Kungei
Military Hospital, a $2 million project funded by the
Embassy's Office of Military Cooperation. Following a
ribbon-cutting and short remarks by the Ambassador, First
Deputy Minister of Defense Marat Kenjisariyev gave an
effusive speech thanking the U.S. Government not only for its
assistance to the Defense Ministry, but also, showing a
broader perspective than most Kyrgyz officials, for
security-related assistance to the Interior Ministry.
Kenjisariyev then gave the Ambassador a tour of the new
facility, trailed by a pack of reporters. The new facility
is designed to be self-sufficient, with its own well and
generators, and replaces a WWII-era building that was
literally falling down.


3. (C) Following the ceremony, Kenjisariyev hosted the
Ambassador and OMC Chief for lunch. Kenjisariyev opened the
discussion by noting that President Bakiyev wants to see the
Kyrgyz military play a larger role in Afghanistan. He laid
out several ways Kyrgyzstan might be able to assist the
Afghan military, including serving as a training site for
Afghan soldiers, hosting Afghan cadets in Kyrgyz service
academies, opening state-run military schools to Afghan
orphans, supplying the Afghan military with Kyrgyz-produced
ammunition, and using its currently inoperative cargo planes
to ferry supplies to Afghanistan.

Turning Over the Pyramid
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4. (C) Kenjisariyev said that Defense Ministry staff are
worried about government reform plans, which involve a 40%
cut of senior staff (reftel). Kenjisariyev said their
current organizational structure is an inverted pyramid, and
they are trying to turn the pyramid right-side up.
Consequently, a great many officers at his rank -- colonel --
are worried about retaining their jobs. (Over 30 colonels
attended the ceremony, along with one lieutenant colonel, and
one lowly IMET-graduate major who wandered over, uninvited,
to chat with the Americans.) Kenjisariyev said, with forced
confidence, that he was not worried about his job, noting
that he would keep it, and gain the additional responsibility
of running the Department of International Cooperation.

You Might Consider This . . .
--------------


5. (C) Kenjisariyev said that he has been a steadfast
supporter of Manas Transit Center, and suggested more people
would share his views if they better understood the situation
in Afghanistan. In a clear hint, he said that he had admired
a picture of his predecessor with President Karzai, taken
during a trip to Kabul with the previous U.S. Ambassador. He
suggested that if the U.S. arranged a similar trip for a
group of senior officials from the Presidential

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Administration, Parliament, and the Ministries of Defense and
Foreign Affairs, that would help build a core group of Kyrgyz
Government supporters for the Transit Center.

The Past Isn't Even Past
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6. (C) Kenjisariyev said that he had visited Afghanistan
once before, and he had been very impressed by the way the
Americans took care of their troops. During the visit, he
was handed off to an Afghan colonel who took him on a tour in
a Humvee. The Afghan was severely scarred, and seeing
Kenjisariyev notice, the Afghan colonel explained: "I fought
the bleeping Soviets for 15 years." Kenjisariyev said he
replied: "I am a bleeping Soviet!" The Ambassador asked him
if he fought in Afghanistan, and he replied, enigmatically,
"No, I fought in other places."


7. (C) Continuing on the theme of his experiences with the
American military, Kenjisariyev said that he had once
participated in a week-long training program at Camp Lejeune.
On the way there, on the last leg from Atlanta, the
stewardess came over to his seat and asked him something --
she spoke too quickly for him to understand. He decided the
safest answer was "No." The other passengers on the small
plane became absolutely silent, and the stewardess hurried
away. Puzzled, he queried his neighbor, who told him he had
just refused to help children and the elderly out through the
exit row. Kenjisariyev said, "I stood up, and told everyone,
'I am a Russian, no, a Soviet officer. I will not leave this
plane while a single person remains on it.'" This speech,
according to Kenjisariyev, won him a round of applause, and
several drinks. Curious about the existence of Cold War
military exchange programs, the Ambassador asked him when he
visited Camp Lejeune as a Soviet officer. Kenjisariyev
answered that it was in 1997.

Price of a Radical: $200
--------------


8. (C) Kenjisariyev said that radical Islamic groups are
making inroads in the South, particularly among ethnic Uzbeks
and Tajiks, but also among ethnic Kyrgyz. This is a familiar
refrain among Kyrgyz siloviki, but Kenjisariyev added a
personal element. He said that a friend had recently come to
him for help, because his friend's son had been recruited by
a radical Islamic group. The son is not religious and has no
interest in radical Islam, but the group pays him $200 a
month to carry a weapon, and the son badly needs the money.
GFOELLER