Navbahor Imamova VOA News April 29, 2022 TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN — Defying Taliban demands, authorities in Uzbekistan say dozens of aircraft flown into their territory as the former Afghan government collapsed last summer are the property of the United States and will not be returned to the interim government in Kabul. The decision is likely to complicate
Ayaz Gul January 11, 2022 VOA News ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban government has asked Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to return air force planes and helicopters flown to the neighboring countries by fleeing pilots as the U.S.-backed government in Kabul collapsed last August. Addressing an Afghan air force ceremony in the capital Tuesday, Taliban Defense Minister Mohammad
By RFE/RL’s Tajik Service September 24, 2021 Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has called on the Taliban to form an inclusive government in neighboring Afghanistan with the participation of all political and ethnic groups in order to allay tensions in the war-torn country. In a prerecorded video message to the UN General Assembly in New York on
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 2, 2021 DUSHANBE — Tajikistan has awarded posthumously two former Afghan political figures, Ahmad Shah Masud and Burhanuddin Rabbani, with the country’s highest honor, the Order of Ismoili Somoni. Tajik President Emomali Rahmon signed the decree awarding the two men the honor on September 2. According to the decree, Masud and Rabbani
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 2, 2021 Tajik Interior Minister Ramazon Rahimzoda says his country is unable to host many refugees from neighboring Afghanistan, as thousands look to flee after Taliban militants took control of the country. Rahimzoda cited a lack of infrastructure to host Afghan refugees as the reason and called on international organizations,
Hundreds of Tajiks from the southern town of Kulob say they’re prepared to join anti-Taliban militias in Afghanistan. The Afghan fighters are based in the Panjshir Valley, a predominantly ethnic Tajik region that has repelled Taliban incursions in the past. Some Tajik officials say it would be illegal for volunteers to cross the border
By RFE/RL’s Tajik Service August 25, 2021 DUSHANBE — Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has expressed his vision of the future government of Afghanistan under the Taliban’s control, saying that Dushanbe wants to see all ethnic groups in the country represented in the next cabinet. During talks with visiting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Dushanbe
Bruce Pannier Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 24, 2021 There has been a good deal of speculation about how the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and the dramatic change of power there will affect Central Asia’s relations with the big powers. Some say Russia’s presence in the region will be strengthened, or perhaps China’s,
Bruce Pannier Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 18, 2021 The events that the governments of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan have been increasingly dreading in recent weeks have begun to happen. The Afghan government has fallen to the Taliban and despite the Central Asian governments having had years to contemplate and plan for such an occurrence,
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi August 11, 2021 Russia completed joint military exercises with troops from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on August 10 as the Taliban gain control of much of northern Afghanistan bordering Moscow’s Central Asian allies. The war games began last week, involving about 2,500 Russian, Tajik, and Uzbek troops at a training ground in Tajikistan