DUSHANBE, January 26, 2009, Asia-Plus — Russia and Uzbekistan have offered to hold an international conference on Afghanistan.
According to Reuters, Russian President said in Tashkent on Friday that Russia welcomes President Barrack Obama’s decision to review policy in Afghanistan and is ready to cooperate, including on supply routes for NATO forces. “Let us hope the new U.S. administration will be more successful in the Afghan settlement than its predecessor,” Medvedev told a news conference after talks with Uzbek President Islam Karimov. “We are ready for fully fledged and equal cooperation on security in Afghanistan, including with the United States,” he added. “We are ready to work on the most complicated issues … including the transit of nonmilitary goods.” “The number of radicals is not declining in Afghanistan,” Medvedev said. “Poverty continues to produce terrorism.”
Karimov told a news conference that apart from violence in Afghanistan he was concerned about rising tensions in Pakistan. “Radicals (in Uzbekistan) may be reinvigorated by the recent events in Pakistan,” he said, Reuters reported on January 24. He said countries in the region should have a stronger say in efforts to restore peace in Afghanistan. “We offer to solve the problem through the involvement of regional states.”
Russia’s RIA Novosti reported that Karimov and Medvedev had suggested the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that groups grouping Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan could initiate an international conference on Afghanistan.
