The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Uzbek counterpart Abdulaziz Kamilov at a press conference in Tashkent have agreed to boost cooperation on Afghanistan.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Kamilov said they discussed various issues concerning Afghanistan.

“We also discussed about the prevention of modern threats and challenges of promotion of peace in Afghanistan.  We agreed to intensify the joint work on assistance to Afghanistan and including this country to trade and investment that transport the communication of Central Asia.  I can assure you that cooperation between two countries is on the peak of its development.  Our relationship are very gradual and stable and predictable,” he said.

On his part, the US secretary of state thanked Uzbekistan for its efforts to support the Afghan peace process.

“We also had the opportunity to discuss security cooperation.  I thanked my counterparts for their ongoing efforts to support peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.  In this regard, I am pleased to announce the United States will provide a million dollars of assistance to increase trade and connectivity between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.  Stronger ties between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan will support peace and prosperity, not only here and in Afghanistan but for all of South-Central Asia, Central Asia, and beyond,” he said.

He later added: “We got close once before to having an agreement, a piece of paper that we mutually executed, and the Taliban weren’t able to demonstrate either their will or their capacity, or both, to deliver on a reduction in violence.  And so what we are demanding now is demonstrable evidence of their will and capacity to reduce violence, to take down the threat, so that the context of the inter-Afghan negotiations – which will indeed be that; these will be negotiations of, by, and among the Afghans to deliver peace and stability and regional security for themselves – will have a context, a less violent context as the backdrop for those conversations.  So we’re hopeful we can achieve that, but we’re not there yet, and work certainly remains.”

Arezo News – Humayun Salimi