Role of Regional Powers in Afghanistan’s Development
'Observers in Tashkent report that delegations were diverse in approach and at times quite critical of each other in their statements, but all credited the host, Uzbekistan, for urging the world to engage with Afghanistan’s challenges
The Tashkent Conference on Afghanistan has high-lighted the need for the regional players to play a constructive role for reconstruc-tion of Afghanistan, in collabora-tion with the West
Tashkent Conference
Uzbekistan hosted an interna-tional conference in Tashkent last week (27 July) to garner support for the economic and social revival of Afghanistan. The Ambassador-at-Large of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs Talgat Kaliyev invited participants of the “Af-ghanistan: Security and Economic Development” conference in Tash-kent to make joint efforts to ensure peace and stability in Afghanistan calling the country a “bridge be-tween Central and South Asia”. Ka-liyev said that Kazakhstan is ready to strengthen trade and humanitar-ian ties with Afghanistan.
The socio-economic recon-struction of Afghanistan along with the implementation of infra-structure and humanitarian proj-ects designed to bring the long-awaited peace to the Afghan people were key points on the conference agenda. More than 100 delegations from nearly 30 countries and in-ternational organisations attended the conference.
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev urged the in-terim government of Afghanistan “to demonstrate strong will” to take decisive measures to counter terrorism, and break ties with all international terrorist organisa-tions. According to Mirziyoyev, such measures will help to build confidence for the interim govern-ment and open real prospects for Afghanistan’s sustainable devel-opment with its immediate neigh-bourhood and the international community.
IEA's stand
The head of the Afghan delega-tion, Taliban-appointed acting For-eign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi harped on the old demands of un-freezing Afghan assets and interna-tional recognition but also opined that the majority of the delegations were in a supportive mood, which showed a positive development in relations with his country. He de-scribed unfreezing of Afghan re-serves and removal of sanctions as “a fundamental step towards nor-malisation of relations” between Kabul and Washington.
Another positive point was that the participants understood the message related to the real situ-ation in Afghanistan, which will hopefully lay the ground for politi-cal and economic engagement, he was reported as saying.
Muttaqi also assured everyone that Afghanistan will “no longer be a source of instability in the re-gion,” but overall the international community seems unconvinced about this promise.In his address he said that, we stand ready to establish positive relations with all world countries in the framework of mutual re-spect and legitimate bilateral in-terests, we also call on other world countries to begin official engage-ment with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to secure long-term legitimate bilateral interests.
This conference came days af-ter the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) released a report outlining the hu-man rights situation in Afghani-stan over the 10 months since the Taliban takeover.
The report summarises UNAMA’s findings with regards to the protection of civilians, extra-judicial killings, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and detentions, the rights of women and girls, fundamental freedoms and the situation in places of de-tention in Afghanistan. The report also contained recommendations to both the de facto authorities and the international community.
Despite an overall, significant reduction in armed violence, be-tween mid-August 2021 and mid-June 2022, UNAMA recorded 2106 civilian casualties (700 killed, 1406 wounded).
USA's Approach
Representatives of the United Nations, the European Union, the U.S. and other Western officials in-teracted with the Taliban, which is not unprecedented since Washing-ton negotiated with them in Doha, Qatar, for years. In Tashkent also, Taliban’s reiterated their demands and sought concessions from the U.S. delegation, led by Thomas West, Biden administration’s spe-cial representative for Afghani-stan. West held further bilateral talks with the Taliban following the conference on 28 July.
Emphasising that America remains the largest donor for Af-ghanistan, West pointed to four sectors that Washington specifi-cally backs – agriculture, health, livelihoods and education. He said the international community pre-vented starvation in Afghanistan last winter; the U.S. spent nearly a billion dollars in humanitarian aid since August 2021 and that the U.S. is not blocking any aid or business from assisting the Afghan people.
West also addressed the issue of restrictions on women and girls’ education in Afghanistan and said “we are concerned about human rights abuses, including restric-tions on journalists and women’s ability to contribute to the coun-try’s economic growth.”
Observers in Tashkent report that delegations were diverse in ap-proach and at times quite critical of each other in their statements, but all credited the host, Uzbekistan, for urging the world to engage with Afghanistan’s challenges.
President Mirziyoyev chal-lenged the international communi-ty to create “real prerequisites for Afghanistan to become a peaceful, stable and prosperous land - free from terrorism, wars and narcot-ics.”
rederick Starr, an American expert who attended the confer-ence, observed that the key issue is not recognition but "trade and eco-nomic ties that actually test Tali-ban’s intentions.
"Uzbekistan showcased several infrastructure projects, including a proposed trans-Afghan railway running from Termez at the Uzbek-Afghan border through Mazar-i Sharif and Kabul to Peshawar in north-western Pakistan and a planned Surkhan-Puli-Khumri power transmission line running from Uzbekistan to north-central Afghanistan. Uzbekistan also pre-sented projects in energy, railway development and education sectors to help neighbouring Afghanistan to build its social-economic infra-structure.
Though the Taliban delegation stuck with its old demands of un-freezing of assets and recognition of the IEA, and in reality the in-ternational community remained sceptical of its claims. Much work lies ahead for the Taliban to con-vince the international community of their sincerity. They should try to improve the situation by tak-ing small steps towards fulfilling the aspirations of both the Afghan people and the international com-munity, and if Afghanistan can’t achieve stability then we should also forego looking for lasting peace in central Asia.
The international community, at the moment, is preoccupied with the Russian-Ukraine war, but the manner in which the regional play-ers showed their determination to help Afghanistan’s reconstruction, bodes well for the future of the country, but to make it a success the Taliban will also have to tem-per their stand on a lot of issues, besides reconciling their attitude.
Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer Asad Mirza is a political commentator based in New Delhi. He was also associated with BBC Urdu Service and Khaleej Times of Dubai. He writes on Indian Muslims, educational, international affairs, interfaith and current affairs. www.asad-mirza.blogspot.com