Central and South Asian leaders looking for ways to bolster trade

Uzbekistan and other Central Asian states are building trade ties with Afghanistan to the fullest extent possible. For example, Uzbek and Afghan entities have agreed on deals worth roughly $5 billion since the fall of 2025.  Even so, the general lack of international recognition of the Taliban government, coupled with ongoing international sanctions, are hindering Afghanistan’s ability to expand trade and develop road and rail routes to facilitate cross-border commerce. Afghan Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi reiterated Kabul’s desire to build up trade volume with neighboring states and develop the country’s logistics capacity. Other Afghan officials in Tashkent quietly lobbied Central and South Asian leaders to advocate on Kabul’s behalf for an easing of international sanctions.

In an interview with Eurasianet, the chairman of Afghanistan’s Chamber of Commerce and Investment Syed Karim Hashemy urged a rethinking of sanctions policy against Afghanistan, arguing that private-sector traders who in his words are “non-political” are unfairly impacted by the sanctions imposed because of repressive government policies. Sanctions should be tweaked, he added, to give entrepreneurs more economic leeway to trade with Afghanistan’s neighbors. Hashemy said that private-sector entrepreneurs are responsible for generating about 70 percent of Afghanistan’s economic activity. “The private sector has never left the country,” he claimed, going on to call for banking restrictions to be altered to enable private-sector, trade-related wire transfers. 

Eduards Stirpais, the European Union’s special representative to Central Asia, downplayed any idea that Brussels would substantively alter its stance toward the Taliban government in the foreseeable future, citing “little appetite … to support a regime that is not supporting our [European] values.” That suggests EU financing for large-scale infrastructure projects, such as a trans-Afghan railroad, is unlikely to be forthcoming. 

One conference participant, speaking on background, noted that in the eyes of many Central Asian officials, the Taliban government is a more reliable negotiating partner than was the US-backed government that the Islamic militant movement drove from power in 2021. “The Talibs are very tough negotiators, but once they agree on something, they can be counted upon,” the participant said. The Termez Dialogue is a platform forged by a 2022 United Nations Resolution titled Strengthening connectivity between Central and South Asia. The resolution urges the creation of “accessible and sustainable transport networks … with a view to achieving transport connectivity across Central and South Asia that is economically, socially and environmentally viable and financially sustainable.”