Tag Archives: international relations

Taliban attack Uzbek-Afghan power line

JAN. 26 2016, DUSHANBE (The Conway Bulletin) — Taliban militants attacked and badly damaged a power line sending electricity to Afghanistan from Uzbekistan, a warning sign for Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan who are hoping to develop a power-supply network to Pakistan across Afghan territory.

The attack in the northern Baghlan district cut power to Kabul and underlined the Taliban’s ability to attack targets, seemingly at will, in the north of the country. Last year it captured the town of Kunduz near the border with Tajikistan. Russia and Central Asian governments have warned that a powerful Taliban threatens to destabilise the region.

Afghanistan has become an increasingly important trade and diplomatic partner for Central Asia. It has developed a series of power supply deals with Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Most ambitiously Afghanistan will also host an electricity power line running from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Pakistan, dubbed CASA-1000, and a gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to India, called TAPI.

Both projects need a stable Afghanistan to be successful. The attack on the power line running from Uzbekistan to Afghanistan has severely reduced electricity to Kabul in the short-run and will make policy makers in Central Asia the West nervous in the long-run.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Lavrov meets Turkmen President in Ashgabat

JAN. 28 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov flew to Ashgabat to meet with Turkmen President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, at a time when relations between two countries are considered to be near a post-Soviet Union low.

During his trip Mr Lavrov offered Turkmenistan help in defending its borders against potential incursion from Taliban fighters, a threat that Turkmen authorities have said has become more acute over the past year.

The Russian foreign minister quoted Mr Lavrov as saying: “If Russia’s assistance is needed with respect to these endeavours, it goes without saying that it will be in our interests to provide it. Let me reiterate that today our Turkmen friends provided us with a detailed insight into their efforts to reliably protect the border with Afghanistan.”

Local media said Mr Berdymukhamedov declined this offer.

Relations between Turkmenistan and Russia have dipped to a new low over rows about gas contracts. This year, Russia confirmed it was scrapping gas imports from Turkmenistan and buying more from Uzbekistan. Analysts said this was a slight against Turkmenistan for discussing gas routes to Europe via Azerbaijan and the S.Caucasus, a rival route to Russia’s gas supplies to Europe.

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(News report from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Editorial: Russian visit to Turkmenistan

JAN. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The visit by Sergei Lavrov to Ashgabat could be dismissed as a pre-scheduled annual trip by Russia’s foreign minister to one of the former Soviet Union’s outlying countries.

But that would be a mistake. His meeting with Turkmen leader Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was an important one, especially in the context of a more powerful, more determined Taliban resurgence in northern Afghanistan.

Russia-Turkmenistan relations have been worsening over the past few years, a deterioration mainly caused by rows over gas contracts and prices and also an argument over one of Russia’s mobile providers.

It’s important for Turkmenistan, and the wider Central Asia region, that Russia-Turkmenistan relations are mended.

Ashgabat may need the Kremlin’s help with organising its defences against the Taliban. If the Taliban show any real determination to break into Central Asia, the governments of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan may well need Russian backup to repel them.

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Editorial from Issue No. 265, published on Jan. 29 2016)

Editorial: Iran’s return

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – There is much excitement in our region over the emergence of Iran after over a decade of US-imposed sanctions.

New flight connections, new pipelines, new transmission lines and more is what a sanctions-free Iran could bring to the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

Iran has struck a deal with Air Astana to open the Almaty-Tehran air route. It has also revived talks with Turkmenistan about gas fields and pipelines around the Caspian.

Potentially, a new network to the east of the Caspian Sea could facilitate the European Union’s plans to import gas from the region. Azerbaijan may well be interested in such deals as well. In addition, Iran could become an important supplier of gas to both Armenia and Georgia.

On the flip side, Iran’s accession to the global oil market will undoubtedly drive the price of oil further down, it has huge oil reserves and production capacity, increasing the pressure on the budgets of oil-exporting economies in the region.

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Editorial from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Lavrov to visit Turkmen capital

JAN. 21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has scheduled a visit Ashgabat to open a new embassy on Jan. 27/28, media reported, just as relations between the two countries appear to bottom out over a row about gas supplies. Earlier this year Russian gas monopoly confirmed that it would stop buying gas from Turkmenistan and instead buy from neighbouring Uzbekistan.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

China lifts grain barriers for Kazakhstan

JAN. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – China has lifted administrative barriers that had restricted Kazakhstan’s grain exports to its neighbour, Kazakh first deputy PM Bakytzhan Sagintayev told media. He said that the lifting of the various barriers would make it far easier for Kazakhstan to sell grain to China. Grain has become, over the past decade, an important export commodity for Kazakhstan.

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Uzbek delegation heads for US

JAN. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – An Uzbek government delegation, lead by foreign minister Abdulaziz Kamilov, travelled to Washington to meet with its US counterpart, part of an annual bilateral process. At the end of last year, the US lifted Uzbekistan’s human rights ranking after the United Nations recorded improvements in its cotton picking system. Mr Kamilov met with US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Nisha Biswal.

JAN. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) –

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(News report from Issue No. 264, published on Jan. 22 2016)

Georgia and Russia still talk gas

JAN. 12 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Gazprom and the Georgian government are still in talks over supplying more gas to Georgia, media reported quoting energy minister Kakha Kaladze. Georgia wants to increase gas supplies from Russia, a sensitive issue as the two countries had been enemies until recently. Georgia has risked irritating its neighbour and main gas supplier Azerbaijan by holding negotiations to buy more gas from Russia and Iran.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Georgia’s def minister flies to Afghanistan

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s defence minister Tina Khidasheli flew to Afghanistan to meet some of the 870 Georgian soldiers based in the country as part of the US-led Operation Resolute. Georgia has the second largest number of soldiers in Afghanistan. It views the soldiers as part of a wider diplomatic push to try to join NATO.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)

Russia hold military exercise in Georgian rebel region

JAN. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia held a military exercise in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia involving 2,000 soldiers and artillery, a show of force designed to remind Georgia just how heavily armed the rebel region is. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war over South Ossetia in 2008. Russia and a handful of its allies have since recognised its independence but the international community still considers South Ossetia as part of Georgia.

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(News report from Issue No. 263, published on Jan. 15 2016)