Central Asian diplomats, US Special Representative for Afghanistan meet in Astana

By Kuban Abdymen

ASTANA: Special US Representative for Afghanistan Thomas West made a visit to Astana to participate in a special C5+1 session on Afghanistan, as reported by Sputnik with reference to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.

C5+1 is a regional diplomatic platform founded in 2015 for the interaction of five Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) with the USA in areas of mutual interest, including trade and economics.

Diplomats from the Central Asia countries and the U.S. discussed several issues related to humanitarian assistance, human rights protection, international cooperation with Afghanistan, as well as security and counterterrorism measures.

Ambassador at Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan Talgat Kaliev emphasized the importance of a unified and coordinated pragmatic approach to stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan.

At a meeting with Kazakhstan’s First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kayrat Umarov, the US special envoy appreciated Kazakhstan’s efforts in providing assistance to the Afghan people and noted measures taken to stabilize the social and economic situation.

Umarov said that Kazakhstan supports the consolidation of international efforts to assist Afghanistan and find ways to address the complex humanitarian crisis.

Attention was drawn to the initiative of Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev regarding the establishment of the UN Regional Center for Sustainable Development in Almaty.

The center aims to facilitate cooperation between Central Asian countries and Afghanistan in the fields of socio-economic and trade and investment development.