US embassy cable - 05DUSHANBE1869

C O N F I D E N T I A L  DUSHANBE 001869 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CACEN, SA, INR/B 
NSC FOR MERKEL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  11/28/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINR, TI, Internal Politics 
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN:  TWO NEW DEPUTY MINISTERS APPOINTED 
UNEXPECTEDLY 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Richard E. Hoagland, Ambassador, EXEC, Embassy 
Dushanbe. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
1.  (U) President Rahmonov unexpectedly appointed two key deputy 
ministers on November 24 - Saidmumin Sattorovich Yatimov as new 
First Deputy Foreign Minister and Kosim Abdusalomovich Gaforov 
as Deputy Minister of Security. 
 
2.  (SBU) Major-General Yatimov had been Deputy Minister of 
Security for International Relations and Cooperation with 
Foreign Security Services since 2001.  He is a career KGB 
officer and replaces the Foreign Ministry's First Deputy 
Sirojiddin Aslov who has been named Tajikistan's PermRep to the 
United Nations. 
 
3.  (C) Prior to his new appointment, Colonel Gaforov headed the 
Counter-Intelligence Department at the Ministry of Security 
since April 2004.  A former Soviet KGB officer, Gaforov was the 
Chief of the Tajik Tourism Agency 1998-2004.  (COMMENT:  That 
says a lot about the Tajik "tourism" industry.  END COMMENT.) 
 
4.  (C) The appointments were unexpected, even for the 
appointees.  On the morning of November 24, both were at 
Dushanbe International Airport working on a sensitive case when 
they received word that Rahmonov wanted to see them immediately. 
 Yatimov reportedly blanched.  They expected the worst. 
Instead, they got new jobs. 
 
5.  (C) On November 21, Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov had 
groused to the Ambassador that with Aslov going to the UN, he'd 
have to find a new First Deputy, and it could take several 
months.  Instead, it took three days.  Although the Foreign 
Ministry has a good number of secunded Security Ministry 
officers in its various sections, Yatimov will be the most 
senior among them.  During the past 18 months, in the aftermath 
of the "color revolutions" and the ascendancy of Russia in the 
Ministry of Security, Yatimov has been the point man designated 
to meet (rarely) with the Ambassador and other senior Western 
officials.  However, he had also been disliked within the 
Security Ministry for being imperious.  He had recently 
campaigned for the UN PermRep job.  In his late 40's, he speaks 
reasonably good English, although it becomes increasingly 
fractured in long meetings, and insists on using it even with 
Russian-speaking American officers.  His English seems to some 
to have a slight Chinese accent. 
 
6.  (C) While there had been politically elite chatter that 
Yatimov might replace Aslov as First Deputy Foreign Minister, 
Gaforov's promotion is a real surprise, especially since he had 
let it be known in-house that he was disgruntled after not 
having reached the rank of general in the last round of 
promotions earlier this year, and it was thought he would soon 
retire.  Embassy Dushanbe maintains a good relationship with 
him.  He has been particularly helpful in resolving difficult 
AmCit consular cases.  In his late 40's, he speaks fluent 
English with a British accent.  In November 1992, Gaforov 
orchestrated the Embassy's first meeting between then-U.S. 
Charge d'affaires Edmund McWilliams and at that time Chairman of 
Government Emomali Rahmonov. 
 
7.  (C) COMMENT:  We are intrigued by these appointments.  It 
had become conventional-wisdom chatter in the Western diplomatic 
community that President Rahmonov appeared to be selling out to 
Moscow - and that kind of chatter gets picked up and reported. 
It could be that Rahmonov is sending a signal, or wants to give 
the illusion, that he is restoring a degree of balance in his 
 
 
relations between Russia and the West.  Foreign Ministry 
officials have told us they are taking a wait-and-see attitude 
about Yatimov.  We don't rule out that he will crack a velvet 
whip to rein in a bit the relatively liberal Foreign Ministry. 
We will know more once we begin to deal with him for 
problem-solving.  With Ghaforov, it is unclear if he will have 
any clout with the hard-line Ministry of Security.  Initially to 
us, his appointment seems possibly a cosmetic calculation for 
Western consumption.  END COMMENT. 
HOAGLAND 
 
 
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