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bne March 2023 Eurasia I 67
The extension opened in 2011 and ever since that time, Sogdiana Trans, an Uzbekiston Temir Yollari subsidiary, has managed it.
In the Tolo News report, Sharafat said Sogdiana Trans was “only providing us service for 22 kilometres, only to Hairaton port” and that the Kazakh company pledged to maintain the line as far as Mazar-i-Sharif.
Sharafat also said Afghanistan would only pay the Kazakh company “$4.1 million annually,” while “we were paying $15 million to Sogdiana Trans....”
A search for more information about Mansour Fatih revealed nothing prior to Sharafat’s mention of the company, so it is unclear what its experience is in railway system management.
Tolo News reported that “deputy head of the Fatih company, Bisn Bai Makhanov, said that they would increase the num- ber of employees based on capacity.”
while, on January 5 had stated that Uzbekistan “received with deep concern the news about the introduction in Afghanistan of a ban on the study of women and girls in public and private higher educational institutions.” It con- tinued that Uzbekistan “look[s] forward to reconsideration of this decision as
a sign of determination to support the aspirations of the Afghan people to build a peaceful and prosperous future.”
The Taliban leadership has been shrug- ging off similar criticism from various quarters of the international commu- nity, but it surely noticed Uzbekistan’s comments.
On February 16, Akhror Burkhanov, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry’s press secretary, tweeted: “We're saddened to learn about the damaged monuments of the great poet Alisher Navoi in #Afghanistan.”
Alisher Navoi is a revered Uzbek poet who wrote in Chagatai, an earlier form of a language that became modern
The terrorist Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP) has twice fired rockets from Afghanistan towards Uzbekistan. Both occurrences were near Termez, seem- ingly to prove Dustlik Bridge is not secure.
None of the rockets fired in mid-April 2022 made it across the river to Uzbek territory, but a couple of rockets fired in July hit a residential area near Termez, damaging homes but causing no casualties.
In propaganda posted online, the ISKP has increasingly criticised Uzbekistan for its relationship with the Taliban.
More recently, ethnic Uzbek Afghan commander Abdul Rashid Dostum, a veteran of Afghan conflicts going back to the 1980s Soviet occupation (Dostum fought on the Soviet side), called
on Tashkent to give seized Afghan government warplanes and helicopters to the National Resistance Front (NRF) that is still battling the Taliban in areas of northeastern Afghanistan.
Afghan government troops flew
several dozen planes and helicopters
to Uzbekistan as the Taliban were marching on Kabul in mid-August 2021.
The Taliban’s acting defence minis- ter, Mullah Yakoob (former Taliban leader Mullah Omar’s son), has twice demanded that Uzbekistan hand over the aircraft.
Uzbekistan supported Dostum’s forces in the late 1990s when they were located in areas bordering the country. But there is little chance Tashkent would give the aircraft to NRF forces, who have no base for them anyway. Dostum’s appeal to Uzbekistan will, however, remind the Taliban of the existence of the military assets they claim as Afghan property.
Given Uzbekistan’s close past associa- tion with Dostum, some Taliban officials are probably suspicious that some of the aircraft could go to their enemies inside Afghanistan.
The arrangement between the Uzbek government and the Taliban is holding – for now.
“Uzbekistan received with deep concern the news about the introduction in Afghanistan of a ban on the study of women and girls
in public and private higher educational institutions”
On December 7, Uzbekiston Temir Yol- lari referred to “distorted information” from some media outlets about the railway line.
It also mentioned that Sharafat was just present in the Uzbek border town of Termez, connected by Dustlik Bridge to Afghanistan, and denied making remarks about Sogdiana Trans losing the contract with Afghanistan.
At a meeting in Termez over February 8-10, a new protocol for Sogdiana Trans to manage the line to Mazar-i-Sharif for another two years was signed. Rail service resumed.
Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry, mean-
Uzbek. When he was writing, most writing and poetry in areas now part of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan was written in Persian.
Navoi was born in, and is buried, in Herat, Afghanistan.
Burkhanov noted “Afghan Gov reps.” said the vandalism of the monuments in Balkh Province did not reflect government policy, but he added that “the incident, which is an unauthorised & thoughtless action of unknown people, can damage our com- mon historical & cultural heritage”.
Importantly, there are other parties con- nected to Afghanistan seeking to drive wedges in the Uzbek-Taliban partnership.
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