Category: Key Issues

Dear Mr. Wang Yi,

Dear media representatives,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to my Chinese colleague Mr. Wang Yi for a meaningful, constructive and fruitful conversation that took place today in the traditional atmosphere of friendship and complete mutual understanding.

I would like to remind you that at the invitation of the Tajik side, Member of the State Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Wang Yi, is making an official visit to the Republic of Tajikistan.

Within the framework of the program of this visit, the head of the PRC Foreign Ministry will be received tonight by the Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, respected Emomali Rahmon.

Regular Tajik-Chinese dialogue at the highest and high levels is an important element of our bilateral relations, which allows us to substantively discuss not only topical issues and prospects of our comprehensive strategic partnership, but also thoroughly exchange views on regional and international issues.

Thanks to the wisdom and foresight of our leaders, Tajik-Chinese bilateral relations are at a very high level.

Dear media representatives,

Relations between Tajikistan and China are progressively developing, the comprehensive strategic partnership of the two countries is constantly strengthening, high-level contacts are intensifying, strong political mutual trust is maintained, our countries closely interact within the framework of international and regional organizations.

We are in favor of further strengthening mutual contacts at the highest and high levels, as well as strengthening inter-parliamentary ties, inter-agency exchanges and consultations.

During our constructive and substantive conversation, we examined the main issues of the state and prospects of Tajik-Chinese cooperation, confirmed the similarity or similarity of positions on the absolute majority of key issues on the bilateral and international agendas.

Dear participants of the press conference,

Undoubtedly, at our meeting we could not but discuss the main global problem of today - the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection. Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank the Chinese side for providing Tajikistan with a batch of Chinese-made vaccines free of charge.

Taking into account the great experience and knowledge accumulated by China in the field of combating the new coronavirus infection, we intend to further develop cooperation between Dushanbe and Beijing in this area.

Economic interaction is the basic area of our partnership. Therefore, during our talks, special attention was paid to issues of a trade and economic nature and investment cooperation.

Tajikistan supports the strategic initiative of China "Belt and Road" and pins great hopes on fruitful mutually beneficial cooperation within the framework of this large-scale project.

China's investment in Tajikistan is constantly increasing, especially in areas such as mining, energy, transport and agriculture.

We focused on establishing joint ventures in the manufacturing, including light, food and mining industries, as well as in the field of transport.

We also discussed ways to further deepen bilateral cooperation in the cultural and humanitarian sphere, including through science and education, culture and tourism. Ties in these areas are important for the further rapprochement of our peoples, strengthening friendship and mutual understanding between them.

In the field of security, issues of interaction in the fight against terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and transnational organized crime were discussed.

Dear media representatives,

We had a thorough exchange of views on topical issues of a regional and international nature.

The recent events in Afghanistan, in particular in the northern provinces of this country bordering on Tajikistan, the intensification of the activities of terrorist and extremist groups cause us special concern.

We are well aware of the key role of Afghanistan in ensuring the security of the entire Central Asian region and support constructive initiatives of the world community to ensure peace and stability in this country. In this regard, we spoke for further joint efforts to help restore peace and stability in Afghanistan by political and diplomatic methods.

Tajikistan welcomes dialogue platforms aimed at establishing peace and stability in Afghanistan. In this context, it is worth noting the contribution of the IX Ministerial Conference "Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process", held in Dushanbe on March 30, 2021.

At the last meeting of the foreign ministers of the countries of Central Asia and China, which took place on May 11-12 this year in Xi'an, while discussing topical issues of regional security, the sides focused on the problems of Afghanistan.

Tomorrow, Dushanbe will host the first meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group at the level of foreign ministers. We hope this meeting will be fruitful.

Tajikistan and China actively interact at the sites of the UN, SCO and other international and regional organizations. We are ready to further strengthen cooperation between Tajikistan and China in the international arena.

Tajikistan, as the chairmanship of the SCO, is making every effort to adequately fulfill the mission entrusted to it and at the proper level to hold all the events of the period of its chairmanship, first of all, the next meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of its formation.

Tajikistan is actively carrying out preparatory work for the upcoming anniversary SCO Summit, which will be held in Dushanbe on September 16-17, 2021. We are taking all the necessary preventive measures to ensure the health safety of the summit participants, taking into account the epidemiological situation in the country and the region.

In conclusion, I would like to wish my distinguished colleague, State Councilor, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Mr. Wang Yi, success in his work and a good stay in our country.

Thank you for attention.

Source: Ministry of foreign affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan

At the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan Sirodjidin Muhriddin on July 13, 2021 began a two-day official visit of a member of the State Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Wang Yi to the Republic of Tajikistan.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of China Wang Iro received the Founder of Peace and National Unity - Leader of the Nation, President of the Republic of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon.

The meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Tajikistan and China focused on the implementation of the agreements reached by the leaders of the two countries, the situation in Afghanistan and regional security, the state and prospects of cooperation. The ministers exchanged views on topical regional and international issues, as well as cooperation between the two countries in the framework of international and regional organizations, including the UN, SCO and EITI.

It was agreed at the meeting that the parties will strengthen cooperation in political, economic and investment spheres, transport, agriculture and health, as well as in the fight against Kovid-19 integration.

At the end of the meeting new cooperation documents were signed.

On July 14, 2021 the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China will take part in the next meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers and the first meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group at the ministerial level.

Source: Ministry of foreign affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan

From 8 to 12 July 2021 in Dushanbe under the chairmanship of the Republic of Tajikistan was held a regular meeting of the National Coordinating Council (NCC) of the SCO member states.

The agenda of the SCO SCO meeting included more than 70 issues related to the current activities of the SCO.

The National Coordinators reviewed the preparations for the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers (Dushanbe, July 13-14, 2021) and the Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the SCO Member States and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group (Dushanbe, July 14, 2021). and paid special attention to the content of those events.

The SCO provides general coordination of the SCO's activities.

The Tajik presidency is holding the slogan "20 years of the SCO: cooperation for stability and prosperity."

Source: Ministry of foreign affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan

On July 13, 2021 the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan Khusrav Noziri received the Chairman of the World Center for Combating Terrorism and Extremism “Hidoya” of the United Arab Emirates Dr. Ali Rashid Al-Nuaymi.

The sides exchanged views on the expansion of cooperation between Tajikistan and the United Arab Emirates in the fight against terrorism and extremism, strengthening security, peace and stability in the region, focusing on the current situation in Afghanistan.

Source: Ministry of foreign affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan

(NIAT Khovar) – Yesterday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sirojiddin Muhriddin met with the Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Vladimir Norov, who is in Dushanbe to attend the meeting of the Council of SCO FMs.

The parties exchanged views on topical issues on the SCO agenda.

They also discussed in detail the preparations for the meeting of the Council of Heads of State to be held on September 16-17 in Dushanbe.

Source: National information agency of Tajikistan

(NIAT Khovar) – Yesterday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sirojiddin Muhriddin met with his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The foreign ministers discussed the implementation of the agreements reached by the leaders of the two countries, the situation on regional security, the state and prospects of cooperation.

The parties stressed the importance of expanding trade, economic, investment, scientific and technical ties between the two countries, cooperation in industry and energy, including the implementation of the CASA-1000 project.

They also discussed cooperation between Tajikistan and Pakistan within the framework of international and regional organizations.

Qureshi will take part in the next meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers and the first meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, which will be held in Dushanbe on July 14 at the ministerial level.

Source: National information agency of Tajikistan

(NIAT Khovar) – Yesterday, the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Khusrav Noziri held a meeting with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan Mirwais Nab, who is on a working visit to Tajikistan.

The meeting focused on bilateral Tajik-Afghan relations in various fields with an emphasis on recent developments in the situation in Afghanistan, as well as on preparation to the visit of the Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs to Tajikistan and his participation in the meeting of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, which will be held tomorrow in Dushanbe.

Source: National information agency of Tajikistan

ASHGABAT -- Taliban representatives have visited Ashgabat and held talks with Turkmen Foreign Ministry officials as the militants continue major offensives in northern Afghanistan, raising concerns in the neighboring former Soviet republics of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

The Taliban's spokesman in Qatar, Mohammad Nayeem, told RFE/RL by phone on July 11 that the Taliban delegation visited Ashgabat at Turkmenistan's invitation.

According to Nayeem, the sides discussed "bilateral economic and political ties between the two nations, as well as issues of security and borders."

He did not elaborate.

Several sources close to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry told RFE/RL that the talks were held on July 10 and the Taliban delegation was led by the chief of the Taliban's political office in Qatar, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai.

"The Turkmen side, which invited the Taliban for talks, asked Taliban representatives to keep the talks in Ashgabat a secret. The Turkmen side did not want to irritate the official authorities in Kabul. The major issues discussed at the talks were about not attacking [Turkmen territory] and blocking the possible flow of refugees," one of the sources, who was not authorized to talk to the media, told RFE/RL.

Meanwhile, a senior official at a Turkmen security agency told RFE/RL earlier that more troops from an army garrison near the city of Mary were being sent to bolster border guard units along the Turkmen-Afghan border. Mary is about 400 kilometers north of Serhetabad, a major border crossing with Afghanistan.

In Ashgabat, some reservists were being summoned to military recruiting posts and being told to stay on alert for possible quick deployment, the official said. The orders are so far not nationwide and limited to Ashgabat, he added.

The Turkmen government, which is tightly controlled and highly secretive, has made no announcement of the Taliban delegation's visit to Ashgabat and increased security. Law enforcement officials, meanwhile, have increased warnings to ordinary Turkmen against the use of virtual private networks, or VPNs, which are illegal but widely used to circumvent government restrictions on the Internet.

In Mary, whose population is believed to be around 100,000 people, local officials have begun organizing patriotic lectures for public service employees.

On July 10, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry issued a statement rejecting reports by some Russian media about the ongoing situation within the country and the deployment of Turkmen troops along the border with Afghanistan.

"Thanks to the brotherly ties between the two neighboring countries and their peoples, the Turkmen-Afghan border is a border of friendship and cooperation," the Turkmen Foreign Ministry's statement said.

Turkmenistan shares an 800-kilometer border with Afghanistan, where the security situation has deteriorated sharply as Taliban fighters advance on provincial centers and even some border crossings.

Hundreds of Afghans, including soldiers and local police, have reportedly fled into other neighboring Central Asian countries.

Tajik officials last week announced they were sending an additional 20,000 troops to their country's border in response to the Taliban offensive. On July 5, the border guard service reported that more than 1,000 Afghan troops had crossed into Tajikistan over the previous 24 hours.

U.S. President Joe Biden has pledged that the withdrawal of U.S. forces will be completed by the beginning of September. With that deadline nearing, the Taliban has unleashed an offensive and now controls about one-third of the 421 districts and district centers in Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, U.S. forces vacated their largest base in Afghanistan at Bagram, north of Kabul.

The rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces, and the Taliban battlefield successes, are stoking concerns that the Western-backed government in Kabul may collapse.

Source: Copyright (c) 2015. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

ISLAMABAD - As the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan nears completion, regional countries are stepping up diplomatic efforts aimed at pressing warring Afghans to resume the stalled U.S.-brokered peace talks and prevent the conflict from escalating into a full-blown civil war.

The fears of further bloodshed stem from the Taliban’s rapid territorial gains since U.S. and NATO allied troops formally began leaving the country in early May under orders by President Joe Biden. The withdrawal is due to be completed by August 31.

Fighting has escalated between the insurgent group and Afghan security forces in provinces next to the country’s long border with Pakistan.

Last week, Tajikistan ordered 20,000 reservists to bolster border security following the Taliban battlefield advances. Iranian and Turkmen authorities also have taken additional border security measures, fearing the violence could spill over into their territories.

The Islamist group has downplayed the prospect of a civil war erupting in Afghanistan after the exit of all foreign troops and sought to reassure anxious neighbors that they pose no threat to regional stability.

Intra-Afghan peace talks have been mostly stalled. Beijing, Tehran, Moscow and Islamabad have all tried to engage the Taliban in an effort to press the Afghan warring sides to negotiate a political settlement before the U.S. drawdown creates a security vacuum and the situation spirals out of control.

Foreign ministers of the China-led Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, are scheduled to meet this week in Tajikistan to discuss the Afghan crisis. The SCO brings together Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Analysts say all of Afghanistan’s immediate neighbors and regional countries look at the Taliban as legitimate political stakeholders and a possible firewall against militants linked to Islamic State terrorists who operate out of Afghan bases.

“The region is more amenable to engaging with the Taliban now than it was in the 1990s, because it sees the group as a more legitimate actor,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy Asia program director at Washington’s Wilson Center.

“The Taliban agreement with the U.S. last year conferred the group with a degree of international recognition that it had long sought, and that makes regional players see it as less of a pariah,” noted Kugelman in his written remarks he sent to VOA.

Influential Pakistani Senator Mushahid Hussain, who heads the Defense Affairs committee of the upper house of parliament, says China, Iran and Russia apparently “are reconciled to a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan.”

“China, Iran and Russia have a certain comfort level with the Taliban and they are willing to cooperate with them and give them legitimacy, unlike 1990s, when only Pakistan, UAE and Saudi Arabia recognized them,” Hussain told VOA.

Hussain noted, however, prevailing concerns in his country that the Islamist movement’s battlefield advances in Afghanistan would embolden extremist forces in Pakistan and could threaten years of domestic gains against terrorism.

“Ironically, for Pakistan there is growing realization, a lesson learned the hard way, that the foes they’ve been fighting in our own inland war on terror may end up being friends of the incoming Taliban regime in Afghanistan,” cautioned Hussain. Both Iran and Russia hosted Taliban leaders over the past week to discuss concerns arising out the militia’s military advances. Observers say this points to a growing political synergy between the Taliban and their regional supporters.

Washington has warned the Taliban against any military takeover and continued to call for finding a negotiated settlement to the long Afghan conflict, emphasizing that “legitimacy and assistance” for any government in Afghanistan “can only be possible if that government has a basic respect for human rights”. A total Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has raised the prospects of a prolonged civil war like that of the 1990s, which erupted shortly after the withdrawal of Soviet occupation forces.

The ensuing intra-Afghan fighting paved the way for the Islamist Taliban to seize power in Kabul in September 1996 before they were ousted by the U.S.-led international military invasion in late 2001 for harboring leaders of the al-Qaida terrorist network.

Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were the only three countries in the world that had recognized the Taliban regime at the time.

The rest of the global community refused to recognize Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, citing controversial harsh Islamic laws the group introduced to govern the country and allowing safe haven for leaders of the al-Qaida terror network whom the U.S. accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks on America.

On Sunday, a Taliban delegation held talks with Foreign Ministry officials in the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat. A spokesman for the group, Suhail Shaheen, said two sides discussed “political, economic and security issues of mutual interests.”

On Friday, a group of senior Taliban members concluded a two-day visit to Russia, where they met Zamir Kabulov, the Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan. “The situation in Afghanistan today is worrisome because it can spillover into our neighbors’ territory,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Friday after his meeting with the visiting Indian counterpart.

Lavrov downplayed the Taliban’s advances, however, and reiterated Moscow’s call for the two warring sides to find a political solution to the Afghan conflict.

Last week, Shiite Iran also hosted a meeting between the rival Afghan parties, calling on both to end hostilities.

Tehran’s tensions had dangerously escalated with Kabul in 1998 when the Sunni-based Taliban were ruling the country. The tensions stemmed from the killings of seven Iranian diplomats in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif in factional fighting.

The Afghan government protested Monday over the Taliban leaders’ foreign trips. The foreign ministry said in a statement that Kabul appreciates support of its regional and international partners to the peace process but it expects that these efforts are made in direct consultation with the Afghan government.

"The Taliban delegation is traveling to the regional countries at a time when its brutal attacks have killed more than 3,500 people, displaced more than 200,000 of our compatriots, disrupted public order and life, and economic activities in tens of districts,” the statement lamented.

Beijing, which maintains diplomatic ties with Kabul and developed close contacts with the Taliban in recent years, has cautioned “the future of the Afghan conflict is a practical challenge” to China and Pakistan.

“We call on parties to the peace negotiation to put the interests of the country and people first, sustain the momentum for intra-Afghan talks, work for the return of the Afghan Taliban in a moderate way to the political mainstream,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Thursday.

Critics, however, anticipate Afghan hostilities will intensify once all U.S. and NATO allied troops are out of the country.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy for Afghan reconciliation returned to the region this week to “engage in determined diplomacy and the pursuit of a peace agreement between the Islamic Republic [Afghan government] and the Taliban,” according to the State Department.

Khalilzad, who negotiated the troop withdrawal deal with the Taliban in February 2020 under then-President Donald Trump, is scheduled to travel to Pakistan, Uzbekistan after concluding meetings in Qatar, where he signed the deal with the Taliban.

The Qatari capital of Doha, which houses the Taliban’s political office, has also been hosting slow-moving peace talks between insurgent leaders and Afghan government negotiators since last September, but the so-called intra-Afghan negotiations have seen little success.

Analysts say there is still a “narrow, but fast-closing window to collectively push forward the peace process.

“Let it not be said that diplomacy failed the people of Afghanistan who have already suffered so much through decades of war, turmoil and strife. And let history not judge that Afghanistan and the region all lost the peace,” Maleeha Lodhi, former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. and the United Nations, wrote an opinion article published by the Dawn newspaper Monday.

Source: Voice of America