On Tuesday, November 19, Russian business representatives met with Deputy Minister of Economy of Afghanistan Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul. He invited Russian entrepreneurs and investors to look for prospective collaboration in various sectors of the country’s economy, including industry, trade, transport, agriculture, healthcare and infrastructure.
In addition to Baradar, other members of the Taliban government (continuing status as an organization banned in Russia) were also at the meeting. Among them are – Acting Minister of Trade Nuriddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Urban Development Hamdullah Numani and Acting Minister of Transport Hamidullah Akhundzada.
Abdul Ghani Baradar said that Afghanistan is always ready to welcome domestic and foreign investors and will provide them with all the necessary conditions for doing business in the country. He assured his Russian and Afghan colleagues of his readiness for partnership, emphasizing the rich natural resources of his state.
The Russian delegation expressed deep interest in investing in Afghanistan, in particular in such sectors as transport, railways, healthcare and agriculture, and also expressed readiness to share experience and cooperate with the Islamic Emirate to achieve mutual benefit, the Afghan side stated. Russian-Afghan cooperation continues to gain momentum, despite the Taliban movement’s continuing status as an organization banned in Russia.
A cargo plane of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations with the humanitarian aid on board landed this week in Kandahar, the Afghanistan’s capital. The relevant instructions were provided by Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin. 25 tons of the humanitarian aid were collected for the residents of Afghanistan by Russians — the aid mostly included food and essential daily use items.
The aid was delivered as part of the international project “Peoples Together Through the Years”. The planes were accompanied by Advisor to the Head of the Federal Agency for Emergencies of Russia, Chairman of the Volgograd House of Friendship Kazbek Farniev, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Volgograd House of Friendship, Moscow businessman Feruz Rona and Chairman of the Afghan National and Cultural Autonomy of Volgograd Abdul Manan.
The mission was supported by Russian government organization Rossotrudnichestvo and the “Russia with You” project, which tells foreign citizens about the activities of Russia in the field of promoting international development.
The team of the cultural and humanitarian mission opened an air corridor between the two countries for the first time in 30 years and delivered the cargo needed for the residents of Afghanistan. The support is regularly provided to victims of various natural disasters.
As part of the project “Peoples Together Through the Years,” the Russians also provided assistance to residents of Syria, Palestine, and Armenia.
Despite the grim picture of turmoil and instability that has emerged in Afghanistan since the Taliban came to power, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has demonstrated a unique ability and efforts to resolve the Afghan crisis. As a regional organization, the SCO has shown interest in Afghanistan since its creation in 2001, primarily because the country’s stability affects its members, such as Pakistan, India, China, Russia, Iran and the Central Asian region. In this regard, in 2005, the SCO-Afghanistan contact group was created. Its main objectives are to establish dialogue with Kabul, combat security threats in the region, drug trafficking and organized crime, as well as contribute to the restoration of a peaceful, stable and economically prosperous state. However, as violence in the region escalated and US influence grew following its invasion in the country, the Contact Group lost its relevance and was disbanded in 2009.
Afghanistan received observer status in the SCO when President Hamid Karzai visited China in 2012 and signed the SCO counter-terrorism protocol in 2015. In 2018, Afghanistan officially reaffirmed its commitment to combating terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and economic cooperation. The Afghan Contact Group was revived in 2017 and held annual meetings before the Taliban took power.
Today, during a period of global economic and political instability and conflicts in the Middle East, the revival of the activities of the SCO-Afghanistan contact group is more relevant than ever. Integrating Afghanistan into the Belt and Road Initiative will allow China to fill the economic and political power vacuum.
Uzbekistan, a member of the SCO, also plays an important role in dealing with the Taliban because many Uzbeks live in Afghanistan, although they are persecuted. Turkmenistan takes a neutral position, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan take a wait-and-see position. Tajikistan supports the pre-Taliban government and hosts Afghan refugees and politicians.
The differences between India and Pakistan regarding Afghanistan could not be more serious. India was the last regional stakeholder to reach out to the Taliban, while Pakistan has friendly ties and influence with the previous and current Taliban regime.
Some of Afghanistan’s most pressing problems fall outside the organization’s mandate. Recognition, sanctions and humanitarian assistance are the responsibility of the UN.
More than 90% of Afghans are at risk of starvation. The SCO’s response to the humanitarian crisis was country-specific. For example, India sent medical aid and a shipment of wheat in collaboration with the World Food Programme. So far, $2.4 billion has been raised, less than the $4.4 billion requested by the UN.
The Taliban regime has violated its commitment to establish a representative and inclusive government. Restrictions on women’s freedom and human rights have threatened recognition, humanitarian assistance and access to frozen assets.
The situation is complicated by disagreements between SCO members at present. However, the revival of the activities of the SCO-Afghanistan contact group would contribute to the solution to the Afghan crisis in a more targeted and organized way, not within initiatives of a single SCO member country.
The Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense holds an enormous aviation park that includes planes and helicopters made in the USSR which require maintenance. Among them are such plane models as the “Antonov” and the helicopters “Milya”.
After the Taliban grabbed the power in the country, the USSR aviation heritage has become of a particular interest to many Russian and foreign companies that provide the maintenance of planes but do not have a proper license for it. Indeed, the only Russian organization that is authorized for the maintenance of aviation vehicles located out of Russia is the National Aeronautics and Space Council (the NASC). It has a broad experience of recovering of planes and helicopters made a few decades ago and is licensed to carry out repairs of the certain models of planes, such as “Antonov” and “Milya”.
The Afghanistan’s military and political elite is interested in proper maintenance of its aviation park. Yet, the new government is often manipulated by non-licensed and fraud contractors which are aimed at getting the access to the USSR aviation heritage in Afghanistan and selling it out. The current Russian-Ukraine conflict is one more reason of why this issue is so important now. The military operations and conflicts are the perfect time for those who are eager to get most benefits from valuable military assets.
With the Taliban grabbing the power in Afghanistan in 2021 the country has been walking through a rocky path. The current group in power can hardly hold the country in peace and stability. Lack of management and political experience of the Taliban are beneficial for external parties. The current situation with the USSR aviation heritage is another example of it. Afghanistan like never before needs to raise an internal dialogue with all sides interested in saving the country’s future.
With the Taliban grabbing the power in Afghanistan in 2021 the country has been walking through a rocky path. Ethnic communities have suffered most of all as the new people in power pursue the policy of Pushtunization forcing out Tajiks, Uzbeks and other ethnic communities from the governance board.
Such policy has inevitably led to social inequality in the country and formed a more aggressive opposition movements while the appeals from the international community to form an ethnopolitical and inclusive government are being ignored by the Taliban. As the country today has no alternatives of the power other than the Taliban, the current power can hardly be called legitimate. To make the Taliban be recognized on the international level and to defrost gold and forex assets of the former Islamic Republic the new government has to form the inclusive Cabinet and to start an internal political dialogue.
The world has seen many examples of polyethnic societies, starting from Italy where the northern part of the country is mostly inhabited by German and Slavic groups to the Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon with different ethnic and religious groups living together. However, should the government pursue an anti-polyethnic policy, it will likely collapse in a time course as ethnic communities residing in the country might start a mutiny aimed at forming independent Republics or governments.
In Afghanistan, millions of lives depend on the chosen course of the interim government. The Taliban’s newly formed Cabinet fails on principles of inclusivity and has been rejected either by ethnic communities or even Afghan people residing in the country. To keep the country in peace and stability the newly formed authorities have to stop keeping people in fear and poverty. This issue has also been alerted by the United Nations and other representatives of the international community.
Feel free to leave your comments below to start a discussion.
Turks and Afghanis were always good at their relationship. Even there is an idiom in Afghanistan.
“no Afghan was ever killed by a Turkish bullet and no Afghan trained by Turks has ever betrayed his country.”
They trust Turks. Turks loves and determined to protect them. After the NATO intervention in Afghanistan, the Turks who went there as NATO peace force have been saluted as saviors. And Americans knew that since they needed to carry TURKISH FLAG patches on their uniforms in order to avoid an Afghan attack on them.
Turks never shot a bullet in Afghanistan. They never had to. Afghanistani people put Turkish flags in their homes.
After the war, Turks have provided security and training also aids to Afghanistani people.
Not only military, also civillian help has been provided.
They sent their female officers to only Turkey. Not somewhere else…
So what I can say is that, maybe ordinary Turkish citizens do not know much about Afghanistan, they don’t focus or care about them but by the State logic, Turks and Afghans are so close due to close historical and ethnic ties…
