Secretary of State John F. Kerry held talks Tuesday with one of the world’s most authoritarian and idiosyncratic leaders as he wrapped up a four-day swing through Central Asia.

Kerry’s arrived in Dushanbe from Astana under driving rain and he quickly transferred to the presidential palace for talks with veteran Tajik leader President Emomali Rakhmon.

During a meeting with Tajikistan’s Foreign Minister Sirodjidin Aslov (unseen) at Dushanbe Airport, John Kerry sought to reassure Central Asian leaders over their concern about the threat of Islamic extremism, especially as the US scales down its military presence in the region.

The move comes as the US continues to withdraw troops from that war-torn country. Kerry pointed to the fact that the White House recently announced it was slowing the withdraw as proof it was not completely abandoning other countries in the region.

Kerry said he and the Tajik leaders discussed fighting terrorism “in a way that balances human rights, religious freedom, the ability of people to be able to participate politically, and not to allow the battle against extremism to confuse the possibilities of developing the ability of people to participate in the governance and particularly to be able to worship freely.”

Both countries fear the spread of Islamist militancy and Kerry offered to help them beef up border security. But he also told them that repression of political opponents could backfire and breed radicalism.

“Let me assure you that the United States remains committed to a Tajikistan that remains sovereign, secure and prosperous,” he said, vowing stronger security cooperation.

“I think it’s fair to say that we have as much security cooperation with Tajikistan as with any other country in the region,” Kerry added.

“We’re both deeply concerned about security in Afghanistan and on the border, about counter-narcotics and terrorism.”

In the meantime, a number of Afghan Parliament members say that none of the neighboring countries would be secure until security of Afghanistan nor provided.

“Unfortunately, the United States failed to fulfill its commitments against Afghanistan which were fight against terrorism, development and stability in the country. So this is clear that insecurity in Afghanistan causes the neighboring countries to be insecure too,” Dawood Kalakani, Member of Parliament said.

After the talks in Tajikistan, Kerry was due to fly to neighbouring Turkmenistan, another Afghan neighbour.