AMBASSADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 001121

SIPDIS

STATE DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/5/2019
TAGS: PREL EAID PHUM TI
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

CLASSIFIED BY: AMBASSADOR KEN GROSS, AMBASSADOR, EXEC, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (a),(b),(d)

1. (SBU) Summary: On October 2, 2009 Ambassador Ken Gross
presented his credentials to Tajik President Rahmon. Rahmon
thanked the U.S. for its assistance and singled out security,
border and law enforcement assistance, while appealing for more
economic assistance especially in hydropower, pitching for U.S.
support for the CASA 1000 project at the Asian Development Bank
(ADB). The Ambassador thanked Rahmon for Tajikistan's support in
coalition efforts in Afghanistan especially for the blanket
overflight clearance and participation in the Northern
Distribution network (NDN). He raised the importance of
Trafficking in Persons issues. President Rahmon gave a long and
impassioned speech about problems caused by Uzbekistan and
appealed to the U.S. to encourage better cooperation from
Uzbekistan. The meeting was followed by a brief press conference
and the credentialing got good coverage in the local press. End
Summary.




2. (SBU) On October 2, 2009, accompanied by the DCM, the Defense
Attache and the USAID Deputy Country Officer, Ambassador Ken
Gross presented his credentials to Tajik President Rahmon. In a
meeting following the formalities, Rahmon wished the Ambassador
every success and offered his support to strengthen the
bilateral relationship, then asked the Ambassador to state his
priorities. The Ambassador commented on how the relationship had
deepened since his previous time here, noting the completed
bridge and increased security cooperation. He thanked the
President for Tajikistan's support of coalition efforts in
Afghanistan, especially the blanket overflight clearance and
participation in NDN. He said the proposed Annual Bilateral
Consultations that would take place later this year would be a
chance to go over key issues at a high level.




3. (SBU) Reading from prepared remarks in Tajik the President
said it was very important for Tajikistan to broaden its
relationship with the United States and that he conveyed this in
his meeting with Secretary Clinton. He said the level of
cooperation in the security area was high, especially U.S.
assistance to the military and border guards. He appreciated the
U.S. role in the region and emphasized that Tajikistan stood at
the frontline of the battle against terrorism, extremism and
narcotics trafficking, and that given its ties to Afghanistan
was placed to make important contributions to the fight. He
asked for regular consultations with the U.S on Afghan issues
and reemphasized that Tajikistan had provided cooperation as
asked without conditions including providing the air corridor
from Manas.




4. (SBU) The President then moved on to the importance of
hydropower to stability in the region and said more U.S.
investment was needed in general. He praised the U.S.-built
bridge at Nizhny Pyanj and asked for a second bridge, saying he
had raised this with Secretary Clinton and Ambassador Holbrooke
and gotten "positive responses." He noted U.S help with border
guards in both providing facilities and building the capacity of
troops, but called on the U.S. to expand its economic presence
especially in energy and communications. In particular he asked
that the U.S support the CASA 1000 project which would provide
benefits for the entire region both economic and ecological. He
said although Uzbekistan opposed it, there would not be any
negative impact on any neighbors. For his last point he said he
wanted to improve educational cooperation and specifically
mentioned a proposal submitted to ACCELS for a National Testing
Center. The Ambassador said it was good that the President had
raised these issues directly with Washington officials; that we
wanted to further strengthen border security and do more joint
training with Afghanistan. The U.S. wanted to increase legal
trade with Afghanistan and recognized the potential for
hydropower in the region.




5. (SBU) At this point a passing reference by the Ambassador to
the Asian Development Bank set off a lengthy and impassioned
indictment of Uzbekistan and its behavior on many fronts.
Switching from Tajik into Russian, the President lambasted
malign Uzbek influence in the ADB decision to postpone CASA 100
funding, the closing of Uzbek Tajik borders even to local

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villagers visiting families, Uzbek hoarding of water through new
reservoirs that were damaging the Aral Sea, mines along the
Uzbek border, the Uzbeks closing down Tajik language schools in
Samarkand, Bukhara and other cities with large Tajik-speaking
populations. Sending off for a map, he illustrated Uzbekistan's
stranglehold on trade and energy routes and described Tajik
efforts to built new routes that avoided Uzbekistan. The
President asked that the United States use its influence to
pressure Uzbekistan to be more cooperative and to respect the
rights of ethnic Tajiks in Uzbekistan, saying that if Uzbekistan
continued its bad behavior it could destabilize the region
further.




6. (SBU) The Ambassador praised Tajikstan's recent improvement
on the World Bank's doing business indicators and said we would
do more to help attract private investment. He used the
President's words on education to raise the issue of bringing
Peace Corps to Tajikistan and said we supported increasing
exchanges in general. The Ambassador expressed concern that more
action was needed on the trafficking in persons (TIP) issue for
Tajikistan to avoid a downgrade which could endanger assistance.
The President promised cooperation on TIP and threw in high
praise for President Obama's speech at the U.N.




7. (SBU) The meeting was followed by a short press briefing at
which the Ambassador gave a statement in Tajik about U.S.-Tajik
relations. Reporters asked about U.S. assistance and about U.S.
views on the upcoming parliamentary elections. The presentation
of credentials got good coverage in the local press.




8. (C) Comment: While the meeting started off with
straightforward, fairly focused comments, the diversion into the
usual screed on Uzbekistan crowded out more discussion of some
key issues. The ever present push for hydropower investment
remained a hardy perennial. The President appeared to be
satisfied with his meetings with senior U.S. officials at UNGA
and clearly was interested in more high-level dialogue with the
U.S. especially vis a vis Afghanistan, with perhaps subtle hints
that they considered that to be a very reasonable quid pro quo
for their open-ended permission for military shipments through
and over Tajik territory.
GROSS