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Uzbekistan president says helping Afghans is a ‘moral obligation’
Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said this week that people of Afghanistan need “good neighbors” and said it was “moral obligation” for countries in the region to help.
In an article for The Indian Express, Mirziyoyev wrote: “Afghanistan that has played for centuries the role of a buffer in the historical confrontations of global and regional powers, should try on a new peaceful mission of connecting Central and South Asia.”
In this context, he said the construction of the “trans-Afghan corridor” could become a symbol of such mutually beneficial inter-regional cooperation.
“It is also important to understand that by implementing joint infrastructure projects such as the Termez – Mazar-i-Sharif – Kabul – Peshawar railroad, we are not just solving socio-economic, transport and communication problems, but also making a significant contribution to ensuring regional security,” Mirziyoyev said.
Mirziyoyev’s article was published ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit which is scheduled to be held on Wednesday and Thursday.
“I am full of confidence that it is important and necessary for the SCO to share its success story with Afghanistan. This country is an integral part of the larger SCO space. The Afghan people need good neighbors and their support now more than ever. It is our moral obligation to extend a helping hand, to offer them effective ways of overcoming the years-long crisis by promoting socio-economic growth of the country, its integration into regional and global development processes,” he said.
“By bringing our positions closer to each other, together we can develop a new SCO agenda for a more peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan. Only in this way can we create a truly stable and sustainable SCO space with an indivisible security,” he wrote.
He said: “The basis for the SCO’s international attractiveness is its non-bloc status, openness, non-targeting against third countries or the international organizations, equality and respect for the sovereignty of all participants, refusal to interfere in the internal affairs, as well as prevention of political confrontation and unhealthy rivalry.”
“The SCO’s success concept is the promotion of multifaceted cooperation through ensuring regional security. In fact, the SCO is called upon to become a pole of attraction without dividing lines, in the name of peace, cooperation and progress,” he wrote.
The SCO summit will be attended by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi among other leaders.
Roza Otunbayeva, Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), recently visited the city of Maimana in northern Afghanistan, where she met with local officials, entrepreneurs, and UN staff.
UNAMA wrote on its Facebook page on Sunday, that during the visit, entrepreneurs — including women — met with Otunbayeva, and requested support to facilitate access to new markets, particularly in Uzbekistan.
UNAMA further stated that among these entrepreneurs was a group of women who, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), had established a tailoring workshop.
They expressed their appreciation for the support received and spoke about the significant growth and development of their business.
UNAMA added that the organization remains committed to promoting economic opportunities and empowering Afghan communities, especially women.
Anand Prakash, head of the Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan Division of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, met with Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul for talks on various issues.
According to a press release issued Sunday by the Afghan Foreign Ministry, bilateral political relations, trade, transit and recent political developments in the region were discussed in the meeting.
Muttaqi stressed the need for the expansion of diplomatic and economic relations between the two countries and explained that Afghanistan currently offers favorable opportunities for investment. He said Indian investors should take advantage of these opportunities.
He also said that facilities should be created for the movement of people between Afghanistan and India and the issuance of visas for medical purposes, students and businessmen should return to normal.
Meanwhile, Prakash said that relations with Afghanistan are important for India and he hopes that these relations will expand further in various fields.
He stressed that India will continue its cooperation with Afghanistan and wants to invest in some infrastructure projects and restart projects that were paused for some time.
The two sides also emphasized the expansion of relations, the exchange of delegations, visa facilitation and bilateral cooperation.
Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has said in a phone call with his Uzbek counterpart that Afghanistan is fully prepared for the implementation of the Trans-Afghan railway project.
During the call, the two sides discussed strengthening bilateral and multilateral relations, as well as expanding political, economic and transit cooperation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul said in a statement on Sunday.
Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov noted that Afghanistan’s exports to Uzbekistan have tripled in the first four months of 2025 compared to last year. He vowed to create more facilities in the field of trade and transit between the two countries, especially in issuing visas to Afghan citizens.
Meanwhile, Amir Khan Muttaqi said that Afghanistan is fully prepared for the implementation of major economic projects such as the Trans-Afghan railway project and for the strengthening of political, trade and transit cooperation with Uzbekistan. He said that the existing opportunities should be utilized for the mutual benefit of the two countries.
The two sides also discussed the holding of a trilateral meeting between Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan at the level of foreign ministers and agreed to coordinate through diplomatic channels to determine the exact date and place of the meeting.
The three neighboring countries signed an agreement in February 2021 to construct a 573-kilometer railway line through Afghanistan, connecting landlocked Central Asia to Pakistan seaports, with an estimated cost of $4.8 billion to enhance regional economic connectivity.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a telephone conversation with Uzbek foreign minister last Thursday to discuss the Trans-Afghan railway project.
Dar expressed hope that the three countries would soon sign a framework agreement on this important regional project.
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