USA already in Tajikistan

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USA already in TajikistanThe secretary of the CSTO, who brilliantly proved her worthlessness during last year’s Kyrgyz massacre, ended her visit to Tajikistan. Nikolai Bordyuzha tried to persuade the Tajiks not to let the Americans in, but they seem determined not to let the Russians: the US base in Karatag is already under construction, and the issue of the deployment of the Russian Air Force in Aini has been suspended for a long time. Tajiks seem to want money. But at the same time, they behave like people who don’t really need money — better quit.

Bordyuzha stayed in Dushanbe for four days. The formal occasion for the visit was the anniversary of the attack by Tajik opposition militants on the 12 border post, when 25 Russian border guards were killed on the Tajik-Afghan border. But the declared reason for the visit is to once again try to persuade Rakhmon and the military leadership of Tajikistan to abandon plans for active cooperation with the US military, and also to discuss the idea of ​​the Tajik leadership to charge for the deployment of the Russian military in that country. How did he do it?

To understand what the CSTO Secretary General had to face in Dushanbe, one should pay attention to the chronicles of diplomatic exchanges between Tajikistan and Russia, and Tajikistan and the United States over the past month. This activity was so active that it cannot be compared with the entire previous year.

First of all, ostensibly by coincidence, the coinciding dates of the visits of the Special Representative of the NATO Secretary General in the Caucasus and Central Asia, James Appathurai, and the Russian Defense Minister Serdyukov. And Serdyukov had his visit, which was known for a long time, to postpone and arrive later, and Sergey Naryshkin joined him - a negotiator known for his qualities. As a result of the negotiations, Naryshkin made very optimistic statements - relations between Tajikistan and Russia are continuously improving, negotiations on the use of the Aini airfield are in full swing, the signing of the treaty on border guards will be held in September.

A week ago, Hillary Clinton’s assistant in the fight against drug trafficking and crime visited William Brownfield, who, while Rakhmon met with Russian negotiators, together with the US ambassador in this country, visited the new outpost on the Tajik-Afghan border near the city Shurobad. Brownfield Rahmon took the next day. In the same days, US Ambassador Gross took part in the ceremony of laying the foundation stone for the training center for servicemen of the national defense ministry in the village of Karatag (35 km west of Dushanbe).

The topics of all the talks, both American and Russian visitors, were not diverse - the press services reported that they were devoted to military cooperation, strengthening the Tajik-Afghan border, countering cross-border crime and drug trafficking.

Americans and Europeans have long and very large-scale cooperation with the Tajik government militarily. Especially succeeding in matters related to the protection of borders. Over the past few years, only under the BOMCA program (a program to assist border management in Central Asia) more than 500 million dollars have been invested in the reconstruction of border posts, outposts and bridges across the Pyanj. But if in previous years it was solely about the restoration of infrastructure facilities, now the issues of training Tajik military personnel by Western, mostly American, instructors have begun to rise. And this is no longer just help - this is the beginning of a full-fledged military presence. And it is laid down thoroughly - within two weeks, from 25 May to 11 June, in the Romit Gorge, just 20 kilometers from Dushanbe, joint exercises of the Tajik mobile rapid reaction brigade and 27 of the ground forces of France were held.

So the foundation of the training center in Karatag is already far the first swallow. At the first stage, the Americans plan to build the foundation of the training base, investing in the construction of 3,1 million dollars. In total, US Central Command (CENTCOM), which funds this project, will spend 10 millions. The money will be used to build barracks, classrooms, a medical center and an administrative building, as well as training grounds for special training, combat in rural and urban settings, shooting and driving. Ken Gross, presenting the laying of the foundation for this base, said: “The United States does not plan to create a military base in Tajikistan. The new training center will be handed over to the law enforcement services of Tajikistan to conduct training programs among military personnel. ”

But if the Americans, having built a base, will transfer it to the Tajik military and will not place American instructors there, who in this case will teach the Tajiks? Russian or Chinese advisers? Looks weird, agree. The end of construction is scheduled for 2013 year, which, probably by chance, coincides with the most active phase of the planned withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan. And, besides, the price of such statements can be found, for example, from the fact that when deployed in 2001, the Ganci military base at Manas airport in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, the presence of Americans was declared, according to the UN mandate, only for 1 a year. Since then, more than 10 years have passed, and the base is still there. And what's more, statements that, even now, after the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, the Center for Transit Transportation, as it is now called, will remain inviolable, are becoming more and more insistent.

At the same time, Tajikistan is increasingly refusing assistance from Russia in border security issues and is trying to minimize it as much as possible. So, with great difficulty, negotiations are underway to continue the work of 300 advisors of the Operational Border Group of the FSB of the Russian Federation, stationed at Tajik outposts. The contract on their stay expires this year and the new one has not been signed yet, although at first it was planned to be signed during June, now, after the negotiations between Naryshkin and Rakhmon, its signing was postponed until September, when Dmitry Medvedev will visit Tajikistan on a state visit. “The issue of the full deployment of Russian border guards in Tajikistan has not been considered, and will not be considered,” a source at the Foreign Ministry said in early July. “Tajikistan itself copes with the protection of its borders.” Although one who has ever seen an emaciated, eternally hungry, and hardly carrying Kalashnikov assault rifle, a Tajik border guard on the bank of the Pyanj, is unlikely to believe it. That is why it is often the US special forces from Afghanistan that come to the aid of the IMU gangs in Rasht illegally come to the aid of solving truly combat missions.

Probably at the same time, during Medvedev's visit, the issue of using a military airfield in Aini, near Dushanbe, will be finally decided. Naryshkin, commenting on the results of negotiations with Rakhmon, said that "the question of its use by Russia is at the decision stage." True, most experts believe that there is not much reason for such optimism. “Naryshkin’s optimism is not completely clear, since the scope of Russian interests is objectively narrowed in Tajikistan, as well as throughout the region,” said Alexander Knyazev, senior research fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Apparently the visit of Bordyuzha did not bring the expected results - there was neither a final press conference, nor, whatever, a joint statement. On the other hand, Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi, who is unofficially considered to be a protege of the United States and candidate for the successor of Rakhmon from the State Department, summed up the visit, said: "Negotiations are conducted at the level of experts and proceed in a constructive spirit, without haste and without emotion." “Without haste” means the negotiations will go on forever. “Without emotions” means that the question itself is unpleasant to the Tajik side. For greater clarity, Zarifi added that the land of Tajikistan is not the property of the ministers of foreign affairs or defense, and anyone who declares that the elements of the base or the base itself (Russian) should be deployed free of charge is mistaken.
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4 comments
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  1. 0
    20 July 2011 16: 09
    Yes, Americans are already making an autobahn for gerych traffic, and our freaks are once again proving their worthlessness.
  2. Ivan35
    +2
    20 July 2011 18: 54
    I am sure that the Pindos are not planning anything good either for the Russians or for Central Asia. We should rather unite with Kazakhstan and then bring Central Asia under the influence. Remember how Russia moved here under the tsar - what - we don’t need anything here?
  3. +1
    20 July 2011 22: 39
    The whole world is divided into sectors where there are US bases and where they are not yet.
  4. hit-nik
    0
    21 July 2011 18: 22
    that means they won’t let our people in, for their own good, so to speak, but there are a lot of Tajiks working for us, and now gerych will calmly be in circulation ...

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