Uzbek president urges UN to establish permanent committee on Afghanistan

Shavkat Mirziyoyev, President of Uzbekistan, on Wednesday called on the United Nations General Assembly to establish a permanent UN Committee on Afghanistan to coordinate peace efforts and to facilitate a lasting political settlement in the country.

Mirziyoyev outlined steps his country has taken to try to promote peace in Afghanistan, starting with a major international forum held in Tashkent in March 2018. 

Since then, Uzbekistan has invested heavily in rail and transport infrastructure in Afghanistan, as well as in the energy sector and in education.

In his address to the UN, Mirziyoyev said his government has held extensive talks with all political parties and movements within Afghanistan, including the Taliban.

Mirziyoyev said: “We consider Afghanistan as unalienable part of Central Asia. The high-level Tashkent conference on Afghanistan in March 2018 became a new stage to consolidate international efforts to solve the Afghan problem.

“We fully support the intra-Afghan peace talks which started this September in Doha. We hope these negotiations will help in establishing peace and stability in the much suffering land of Afghanistan.

“In order to facilitate the involvement of Afghanistan in regional economic integration we have started the implementation of large infrastructure projects such as building the ‘Surkhan-Puli-Khumri’ power transmission line, and the railway network from Mazar-e-Sharif to the ports of the Indian Ocean.

“We believe that ensuring peace and stability in Afghanistan will always remain at the center of the UN’s attention.

“The hopes and aspirations of the Afghan people can only be realized if we work together and in close cooperation. We need to work based on the principle, from instability and destruction to peace and creation,” he said.

“Therefore, we need to establish at the UN a Permanent Committee that will listen to the hopes and aspirations of the Afghan people. The main aim of the committee should be to assist in the economic and social development of Afghanistan.”

He noted that there is still no clear international strategy for dealing with the aftermath of four decades of strife within the country and that he was proposing a “new format” through which a consensus in support of the peace process could be achieved.

He said diplomats in the region fear that once NATO troops leave, international interest in Afghanistan will fade. “An authoritative international structure is needed to ensure Afghanistan is not now overlooked.”