Uzbekistan, US Oppose Escalation In Afghanistan - Uzbek President's Office

TASHKENT (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2023) Uzbekistan and the United States agree that further escalation of the situation in Afghanistan amid the humanitarian crisis is inadmissible, the press service of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said Wednesday.

"A unanimous opinion was expressed about the inadmissibility of escalation of the situation and the growing humanitarian crisis in this country," the press service said in a statement following Mirziyoyev's meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Tashkent.

The Uzbek leader and the US secretary of state discussed a wide range of bilateral issues, as well as international cooperation on the peaceful settlement of the crisis in Afghanistan, the statement read. They called for the working out of an algorithm for solving existing issues using the UN platform and noted the importance of supporting regional infrastructure projects to promote peace and economic reconstruction in Afghanistan, according to the statement.

Later in the day, Turkmen Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov and Blinken also discussed the situation in Afghanistan during the C5+1 meeting in Astana between the foreign ministers of the five Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and the US official, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"The diplomats discussed a wide range of issues on the bilateral, regional and international agenda, the current situation in Afghanistan and the promotion of the inter-Afghan dialogue," the statement read.

The sides noted that further expansion of multifaceted cooperation between Central Asian states and the US was an essential factor for sustainable socio-economic development, peace, stability and security in the region, according to the statement.

The ministry added that Turkmenistan has been consistently calling on concerned states and international organizations to engage in dialogue with the new Afghan authorities.

An interim Afghan government led by the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism) came to power in the fall of 2021 after the withdrawal of US troops from the country and the collapse of the US-backed government. The Taliban takeover has heightened the fears of the Central Asian nations concerning the spread of radical fundamental Islamic ideas, as happened in 1996 when the Taliban first came to power in Afghanistan for five years.

The country has since been facing deteriorating economic conditions and food shortages, exacerbated by sanctions and a US freeze on national assets, bringing Afghanistan to the brink of a humanitarian crisis.