KABUL: Uzbekistan has accepted an ambassador from Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities, Kabul’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, a rare diplomatic triumph for the internationally isolated government.

The ambassador to Tashkent is only the third to be accredited abroad since the Taliban seized power in 2021, joining a pair already recognised in China and the United Arab Emirates.

The envoy named to Uzbekistan was Abdul Ghafar Bahr, who formerly served as a judicial official in southern Kanda­har province and Kabul.

At a ceremony where his credentials were accepted the day before, “Bahr described the upgradation of bilateral relations as a pivotal phase, hoping for further progress”, Taliban government foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi wrote in a post on X on Thursday.

Kabul signs 10-year agreement with the neighbouring country for exploration and extraction of natural gas block

Uzbek Foreign Minis­ter Bakhtiyor Saidov said on the social media site the countries “share a common history and interests of prosperity that serve as an impetus for the development of cooperation ties in all areas”.

On the same day, the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum signed a 10-year agreement with an Uzbek company valued at around $1 billion for the exploration and extraction of a natural gas block in northern Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban ousted the Western-backed administration in 2021, no foreign country has yet officially recognised their government. But three years into their rule they have been making diplomatic inroads.

They appeared for the first time at UN-brokered talks this summer, and have reached out to neighbouring nations to emphasise economic cooperation.

Earlier in August, Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov became the highest-ranking foreign leader to visit Afghanistan since the Taliban’s 2021 return to power. The $2.5 billion in trade and investment deals signed between the two sides, just days after the third anniversary of the collapse of the Afg­han Republic, illustrated Uzbe­kistan’s growing bilateral relationship with the Taliban government.

Aripov’s trip coincided with a visit by Uzbek Minister of Investment, Industry, and Trade Laziz Kudratov, underscoring the economic angle to Uzbe­kistan’s engagement with the Taliban. Along­side De­puty Taliban Pri­me Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Gha­ni Baradar, Aripov oversaw the signing of 35 memorandums of understanding.

Baradar’s office, in a statement, said the MoUs included $1.4bn in 12 investment agreements and 23 trade deals worth $1.1bn. One of those agreements is a preferential trade deal which, from Oct 1, will see the cancelation of duties on a number of Afghan products entering Uzbekistan.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2024