Residents of an Uzbek city near the Afghan border woke up to the prospect of having the Taliban as neighbors again when the militant group was about to take over Afghanistan.
Residents of an Uzbek city near the Afghan border woke up to the prospect of having the Taliban as neighbors again when the militant group was about to take over Afghanistan.
Former Soviet Uzbekistan is one of three Central Asian countries that border Afghanistan.
Termez – a quiet provincial capital with wide Soviet-style streets – looked calm despite a night of chaos when dozens of Afghan troops fleeing the Taliban crossed the Uzbek border at a border crossing near the city.
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The 84 soldiers entered Uzbekistan this weekend after the fall of an important northern Afghan city, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.
It was later said that a separate concentration of Afghan government troops had built up on the Afghan side of a bridge over the Amu Darya River, which separates the two countries. Tashkent said they had “voluntarily” cleared the bridge after talks.
Mazar-i-Sharif, an Afghan provincial capital just 100 kilometers by road from Termez, was captured by the insurgents this weekend.
Residents of Termez, a town of around 200,000, told AFP they would be wary of the Taliban coming to power next door.
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“They have never been our friends, and probably never will be,” said 66-year-old Safar Tursunov as he ran errands over the weekend.
“Uzbekistan is a prosperous country. We don’t need neighbors like them.”
In the years since the Taliban’s last rule in 2001, the ancient city of Termez has maintained a growing trade relationship with Afghanistan, which is embodied by the rail link with Mazar-i-Sharif.
Uzbekistan said on Sunday that it had evacuated its railroad workers living on the Afghan side.
“Believe in our armed forces”
Both Uzbekistan and neighboring Turkmenistan have had high-level talks with the Taliban on the security and future of regional infrastructure projects.
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Tajikistan, Afghanistan’s third neighbor in Central Asia, has said it has not had any talks with the group. Their leader has complained that “terrorist groups” are taking over the border with his mountainous country.
The Taliban have assured their northern neighbors that they have no plans for them, despite several Central Asian countries offering logistical support to Washington’s war effort.
Olimzhon Usmonov, a 24-year-old Termez resident, said he hoped the conflict in Afghanistan would remain “an internal confrontation”.
“We have confidence in our armed forces,” said Usmonov. “I don’t think the Taliban can attack Uzbekistan.”
Termez is also home to approximately 2,000 Afghan citizens, many of whom live in the city for business reasons.
An Afghan living in Termez, Abdulkadyr Hamidi, 70, told AFP news agency that his community struggled to sleep at night during the Taliban’s relentless victories.
“Uzbekistan gave us the opportunity to live here. But our children and grandchildren are there and we are worried about their fate,” said Hamidi.
“Death awaits us every hour.”
The footage shared on social media on Saturday night appeared to show dozens of Uzbek military vehicles taking up position on the Friendship Bridge that separates the two countries.
However, AFP was unable to review the footage because police were guarding a checkpoint two kilometers from the border.
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