INL IN TAJIKISTAN AND KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Trip Report – INL Visits Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (PDAS) Carol Perez traveled in early April to Tajikistan and the Kyrgyz Republic, where she met with senior leaders and emphasized INL’s continued commitment to support counter narcotics, law enforcement and rule of law priorities in both countries. She also observed a number of INL projects firsthand.

While in Bishkek, PDAS Perez met with the head of the State Drug Control Agency to discuss ways to improve our counter narcotics cooperation efforts that are supported by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. At the Ministry of Interior, Minister Abdulla Suranchiev updated PDAS Perez on his police reform efforts and welcomed further cooperation with INL. PDAS Perez also met with the Kyrgyz Prosecutor General Aida Salyanova to discuss the valued work of the INL-funded DOJ Resident Legal Advisor (RLA) who is assisting Kyrgyz prosecutors to develop better evidenced-based prosecutions that bring criminals to justice. They also discussed how INL and the international community can assist Kyrgyzstan in asset recovery efforts.

Also in Bishkek, PDAS Perez joined the Kyrgyz Ministry of Justice and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime to launch the UNODC Forensic Crime Lab Refurbishment Project. INL provided $1.4 million to support the renovations of the crime lab, which is currently just a building shell, into a modern, fully equipped facility. The project will also strengthen the capacity of Kyrgyz forensic professionals to provide forensic services in line with international standards by providing training on effective forensic methodology and practices. The Kyrgyz Forensic Chief noted that the new facility will expedite the processing of criminal investigations, provide quality service to the criminal justice system and increase public trust in law enforcement.
PDAS Perez’s visit to the Southern Kyrgyz city of Osh afforded her the opportunity to visit a nearby Uzbek village and meet with a Community Security Working Group. In discussions with residents from the Amir-Tumur District, led by INL-funded NGO Saferworld, community members and NGO partners told PDAS Perez about their successes in overcoming ethnic and social boundaries in order to address quality-of-life issues within their communities.

PDAS Perez also visited a neighborhood in Osh and observed the INL-funded Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Community Security Initiative (CSI) mobile police responder units, and she observed how these converted minibuses are used to facilitate citizen access to the police and to rebuild public trust and confidence in the police. In many isolated villages, these units are the only government service that is delivered directly to the community.

PDAS Perez continued on to Tajikistan where, in addition to discussing our counter narcotics and law enforcement assistance with the head of Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency and the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, she had the opportunity to meet with a group of Tajik female law enforcement officers who are participants in INL Dushanbe's Women's Empowerment Program (WEP). Since 2013, INL has trained more than 40 Tajik female law enforcement officers in a range of areas to include dealing with domestic violence and the prevention of human trafficking. Through the WEP, INL is demonstrating U.S. commitment to helping Tajikistan expand roles for female law enforcement. During the meeting with PDAS Perez, these women expressed how INL support has helped them better understand what they can do to improve themselves professionally and use their knowledge and expertise as the number and role of women in Tajikistan law enforcement expands.

While in Dushanbe, PDAS Perez visited the principal training centers for rank-and-file police and border guards. The director of the police training center briefed her on the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) plans for improving the facility to meet the educational requirements expected as part of the MIA's police reform. At the Border Guard Training Center, where INL supports training by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), PDAS Perez was briefed on plans to repurpose the facilities in order to train additional women from Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

PDAS Perez also traveled to the Tajik industrial city of Tursunzade, home of Central Asia's largest aluminum plant, to visit one of the 16 Community Policing Partnership Teams (CPPT) established by INL in the country. The CPPTs link community leaders and police to address mutual issues and concerns. The leader of the Tursunzade CPPT, a mullah, told PDAS Perez that based on its survey of the community the CPPT was focusing attention on youth, principally through programmed sports activities at a nearby school. PDAS Perez then viewed a karate demonstration by more than two dozen youth, including two slated to compete in a Central Asia regional championship that weekend.

U.S. ASSISTANT SECRETARY BLAKE SPEAKS IN KYRGYZSTAN



Map:  Kyrgyzstan.  Credit:  CIA World Factbook.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Robert O. Blake, Jr.
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
January 17, 2013

Assistant Secretary Blake: Thank you very much, and I’m delighted to be back here in Bishkek. I was very pleased to participate in the second Annual Bilateral Consultations and I want to take this opportunity to thank Deputy Foreign Minister Otorbayev for his leadership and for his very strong partnership.

I also had the opportunity yesterday to meet with his Excellency President Atambayev, Prime Minister Satybaldiyev, and First Deputy Prime Minister Otorbaev.

We have had productive discussions about the broadening scope of bilateral relations between the U.S. and the Kyrgyz Republic as well as about the transitions in Afghanistan and their impact on the Kyrgyz Republic and Central Asia.

I also expressed our strong appreciation for the support the Kyrgyz Republic government has provided to regional security, including its support for the Transit Center at Manas.

I welcomed the Kyrgyz Republic’s work to advance regional economic integration through important projects such as the transport corridors of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program, as well as the CASA 1000 project; its embrace of an open trading system; and its accession to the WTO.

We also discussed a wide range of U.S. assistance programs to the Kyrgyz Republic which include more than $40 million over the last year and more than $1.3 billion since 1992. These totals do not include the considerable economic impact of the Transit Center at Manas which contributed approximately $200 million to the Kyrgyz economy last year alone.

Finally, we had a productive discussion on U.S. support for the Kyrgyz Republic’s democracy, human rights, rule of law and anticorruption efforts. The Kyrgyz Republic’s democracy is a model for the region. It has taken important steps to ensure an inclusive political process whereby civil society and business organizations provide their input on draft laws and government action plans. I urged the government to make progress on issues related to the 2010 violence in southern Kyrgyzstan and I welcomed the announcement of a new national strategy on inter-ethnic relations.

I also want to say that I was privileged to attend a lunch yesterday hosted by Ambassador Spratlen in which we had the opportunity to meet with civil society representatives.

Finally, I just want to take this opportunity to thank Ambassador Spratlen and her great team for the great work that they continue to do to represent the United States in this very important country for the United States.

We would be very glad to take whatever questions you have.

Question: [Through Interpreter]. The question is that maybe you know some experiences in the past from other countries within the United States or outside [inaudible] total success in cases where [inaudible] violence more or less was addressed and results.

Assistant Secretary Blake: I would say that every single case is different so you don’t want to try to apply a cookie-cutter approach to ethnic reconciliation. As I said, we welcomed the President’s efforts to establish an action plan on inter-ethnic issues, but we also talked about the importance of ensuring economic opportunity for not only the citizens of the south but also for all the citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic. And we also talked about the importance of justice and accountability for the crimes that were committed in the course of the June 2010 violence.

Question: [Through Interpreter]. Associated Press, [inaudible]. The first question, what kind of steps the United States has suggested to the Kyrgyz Republic regarding following the agreement term of [inaudible]? Second question, would U.S. join this effort to establish a logistical hub in the place of the Transit Center after 2014?

Assistant Secretary Blake: First of all, I expressed our appreciation to President Atambayev and to the Deputy Foreign Minister for the Kyrgyz Republic’s continued hosting of the Manas Transit Center, which is an important logistics and transportation hub which supports international efforts to establish a stable, prosperous and secure Afghanistan in a stable, secure and prosperous region.

We are engaged in discussions now with the Kyrgyz Republic about the future of the Transit Center, but I don’t want to speculate about the outcome of such discussions. We understand the President’s desire to establish a commercial and logistics hub at Manas and we’ve supported that effort and have given some advice about that.

Question: [Through Interpreter]. President Atambayev ordered [inaudible] 2014 [inaudible] Manas International Airport, and [inaudible] that Kazakhstan is willing to provide the airport [inaudible] for the French Republic to use it to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. So the question is that will the United States be more active in seeing alternative ways to use it for withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The second question is that there was talks that in south Kyrgyzstan there will be training facility open. Do you have anything on that? Any focus on that?

Assistant Secretary Blake: First of all with respect to your question about Manas, as you know, President Karzai visited with President Obama last week. They described the process that is underway now toward a negotiated Bilateral Security Agreement between the United States and Afghanistan that will help to determine the number of troops that the United States might keep on the ground in Afghanistan after 2014. Once those important decisions are made, then we’ll be in a better position to plan for ourselves what kind of facilities we might need either in Afghanistan or in the wider region. Again, I don’t want to speculate on the future of what those might be.

As to your second question, that didn’t come up today in our conversations.