By Arkady Dubnov for “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”
This happened at the very end of the 20th century.
Boris Shikhmuradov, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, invited me to accompany him on a visit Afghanistan and the capitals of neighbouring countries.
The Taliban was in power in Kabul.Shikhmuradov, a creative and smart minister, proposed an ambitious plan to his chief, President Saparmurat Niyazov – to use the well-established contacts with the Taliban, especially in districts along the Turkmen-Afghan border, to find a solution to the overall the Afghan problem.
In the best case scenario this might have greatly benefited Ashgabat as an effective peace-maker.
The Taliban, which in 1996 ousted mujahids fighting with each other, horrified the world with their fierce treacherousness when they brutally executed Najibullah, the former President of Afghanistan, who had been protected by the UN mission in Kabul for four years.
Back then practically the whole world refused to recognize the Taliban.
Only three states Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan – broke the diplomatic blockade of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan …
The Consulate of Turkmenistan was opened in Hairatan, the Afghan city and a port on the Amu Darya River bordering Uzbekistan and a representation office of the Taliban was set up in Ashgabat.
It is no coincidence that it is in Ashgabat that the only round of unofficial Russian-Taliban talks was held in 1998 with the Russian diplomat Aleksandr Mariyasov, the future Ambassador to Iran in attendance.
This was the only meeting because the Taliban were very determined in their demands expecting Moscow to vigorously assist their representative to obtain a seat of Afghanistan in the UN…
As regards Turkmen diplomacy, even back then it was quite pragmatic in relations with the Taliban in Kabul.Its main purpose was to avoid any tension at the border, to prevent the infiltration of the Taliban or Afghan Turkmen into Turkmenistan.
At that time Ashgabat concluded a gas supply agreement to Afghanistan as well as agreement on developing an air travel service between the two countries.
It turned out that Saparmurat Niyazov, who transitioned from the position of high level Turkmen party functionary to the Presidential chair almost effortlessly, clearly voiced his intention to keep his regime free of any foreign outlanders.
It was much easier for him to gradually hide the Turkmen khanate from the outside world (by the way, we remember how he tried to proclaim himself as the Turkmen sheik but the tribal leaders said “no”).
However, to Niyazov’s credit he was able to take advantage of Shikhmuradov’s idea extremely efficiently proclaiming Turkmenistan a neutral country.The Foreign Minister believed that the young independent state, with its fourth-largest natural gas reserves, would be able to get rid of the pressure exerted by the great powers and the global centre of force and their aspiration to use wealthy Turkmenistan for their geopolitical interests.
This, in turn, Shikhmuradov argued, would give Turkmenistan an opportunity to pursue its independent policy and turn into the Central Asian economic tiger.It is not without reason that the promises to make Turkmenistan “the second Kuwait” were so popular in those years…
In reality the consequences were much graver…
As a result, the intellectual narrow-mindedness of the former instructor of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, coupled with his voracious hunger for power as well as political misanthropy led Turkmenistan, with its 1994 neutral status confirmed by the UN resolution, to isolation, or at least the status of a world outcast.
It is since then that, as if confirming this trend, Ashgabat has been taking all possible measures to create obstacles for foreign nationals preventing them from entering Turkmenistan so that getting there would be as challenging as it is for any tourist to get to Northern Korea or for us to see the other side of the Moon…
In the late 1990-s Niyazov strived for stable relations with the Taliban like a merchant who wants to make sure his cross border trade is not affected by whoever is in power on both sides of the border.
He ensured this stability in a reliable and simple way by supplying fuel and basic construction materials to Afghan border areas.Who on that side wants to lose such a partner and make him angry over trifles?
However, the developments in Afghanistan as well as infighting in power struggles for influence between various parties, ethnic and religious groups and their external sponsors was not something that interested Niyazov.
This was referred to as politics and repelled “the father of all Turkmen” (“Turkmenbashi the Great” as he later demanded to be called).He eradicated this phenomenon in his country at the outset of Turkmenistan’s Independence by having been elected the President twice: in 1990 and 1992 winning 99,5 % of votes at the last elections in the non-competitive Presidential race.
It must be said that similar voting takes place in some regions of Russia.For instance, “United Russia” had a landslide victory in the Parliamentary elections in Chechnya with almost 100% of votes.
Niyazov made sure that there was no alternative to him in a very special way he made all his Deputy Prime Ministers representing Turkmen tribes to give a solemn oath at the tomb of Prophet Muhammad in Medina that they would not run for the Presidency, according to one of the most influential Deputy Prime Ministers Nazar Soyunov.
Interestingly, Niyazov with his policy of isolationism and readiness to cordon off Turkmenistan from the outside world, acted in the same manner as an exporter of Turkmen gas.
When dealing with customers, his trade motto was like a slice of cake: I sell you the gas at the Turkmen border at a certain price and I do not care how you then are going to transport, distribute and even resell it.
In the 2000-s I witnessed this Turkmen practice at various conferences and negotiations devoted to establishing the status of the Caspian Sea, which could shape the future of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline connecting Turkmenistan with the west.
…Going back to Shikkmuradov’s peace-making initiative in 1999.… Having arrived in Afghanistan, we headed to Kabul to meet with the one-eyed mullah Omar, the Taliban leader. Unexpectedly the old Toyota in which I was travelling, was pulled over and I saw him proceeding without me.
I was dropped off at a semi-military camp, marshaled to a bungalow and told to wait: “your travel companion will pick you up on his way back from Kabul”. It turned out that I was not allowed to visit mullah Omar because I was a kafir, an infidel, a non-Muslim.
I could not argue with that…
How did the meeting go? I asked Boris on the way back.
It was quite spooky. He squinted his only eye and I could not work out where he was looking, – he said…
I recalled also feeling uncomfortable a few years before that, when in 1994, unexpectedly I found myself part of the delegation headed by Foreign Minister Andrey Kozyrev at the meeting with the former Prime Minister of Afghanistan Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The meeting took place in the dusty town of Charasiyab, 20 kilometers from Kabul where nobody cared if I was a kafir…
One thing that the two meetings had in common was that they were unsuccessful.Hekmatyar and Kozyrev were irritated with one another.The famous Pashtun mujahed was dissatisfied with Moscow, which paid more attention to Afghan Tajiks, President Rabbani and Minister of Defense Massoud with whom Hekmatyar as the Prime Minister was at loggerheads.
Kozyrev, in his turn, was dissatisfied with Hekmatyar …
The conversation between Shikhmuradov and mullah Omar did not take place because the attempts of the Turkmen Minister to make peace between the Taliban leader and his adversary Ahmad Shah Massoud, who had become the leader of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, was doomed to failure from the very beginning they were irreconcilable.
It should be mentioned though that a few days later when we met with Massoud in Kabul the legendary Afghan leader told me during a brief interview (I was not present at the negotiations with Shikhmuradov) that he was waging war against his enemies Pakistan orchestrating the Taliban rather than the Taliban because who are also Afghan…
Almost twenty five years have passed. The Taliban is again in power in Kabul. There is no mullah Omar but other mullahs, some belligerent and some not very belligerent, are heading the Taliban…
There is no Turkmenbashi or Boris Shikhmuradov in Ashgabat but now Arkadag (the patron of Turkmens) Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and his son (the son of Turkmens) Serdar are in power…
There is no Ahmad Shah Massoud senior in Dushanbe but there is Ahmad Massoud junior and most importantly, the same “leader of the nation the founder of peace and national unity” in Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon (almost 30 years ago he was a Field Commander Rakhmonov and before that a gallant sailor of the USSR’s Pacific Fleet).
What has changed? Everything and nothing!
Dushanbe is allegedly still irreconcilable to the Taliban in power in Kabul and is expecting a war with them before long, hoping for support from Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Large-scale CSTO military exercises are scheduled to be held on 22-23 October at the border with Afghanistan…
Ashgabat is preparing for quite peaceful co-existence with the new Taliban. It should be mentioned that the preparation were a bit сovert, before their second triumphant accession in Kabul on 15 August…
Two meetings between Turkmen diplomats and the Taliban were held in February and July 2021.Ashgabat, however, tried to keep this secret, but it was the Taliban who disclosed this information.
It is clear that it was important for them to demonstrate that they had become an influential force in Afghanistan and that neighbouring countries wished to establish trust-based relationships with them.
This contributes to the legitimacy of the second Taliban.This became obvious in early July 2021 after the Afghan city of Torghundi at the Turkmen border came under control of the Taliban.
The Turkmen authorities requested meetings with them to ensure safety at the border.Ashgabat does not like unauthorized border crossings from the Afghan side and tries to deport perpetrators immediately
To be on the safe side a decision was made to reinforce the border and additional squadrons of the Turkmen army were deployed. Yet, this cannot be voiced in order to avoid people panicking …
On 11 July, 2021 the press secretary for the Taliban was quoted as saying that the Taliban delegation headed by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai visited Turkmenistan to discuss “topical political, economic and security issues”.
Needless to say, the contacts of Ashgabat with the Taliban intensified after 15 August, 2021.Two days later the Turkmen consul general in Mazar-i-Sharif met with the new government.
Three days later the authorities of Turkmenistan reported that along the 800 kilometer border the two main border checkpoints, “Ymamnazar-Aqina” and “Serkhetabad-Torghundi”, were operating in a regular mode with motor vehicles and even rail carriages crossing the border. “There is no panic and everything is under control at the border”, – Ashgabat appeased the international community, which seemed “quite logical”.
However, Ashgabat is not very concerned what is going on in Kandahar or Kunduz, who is the Taliban settling accounts with, who is trying to pick fights in Panjshir, why women are protesting against violations of their rights, why inclusive education is failing and ISIS suicide bombers continue to kill hundreds of the Shia Hazaras who die in their mosques.
Most importantly, the Turkmen Arkadag’s only concern today is to ensure that refugees from Afghanistan do not flee to Turkmenistan.There will be no war with the Taliban, which supposedly seems quite a reliable forecast.
Neither the Taliban nor the Turkmen need it.Thus, there is no need to tighten the border protection.Moreover, neither side is going to protect human rights.
There is full understanding from both sides in this respect.Since there are no outlanders, there is nobody to complain to.
The material is prepared with the support of “Prague Civil Society Centre”
The post The Taliban and Turkmenistan. Peace, friendship and no outlanders. first appeared on Chronicles of Turkmenistan.