Kazakhstan Intensifies Contacts with Afghanistan for Humanitarian Reasons

In the middle of October, the Kazakhstani delegation visited Afghanistan on a humanitarian mission. This visit doesn’t mean that Kazakhstan has officially recognized the movement, according to Mukhtar Tleuberdi, deputy minister of foreign affairs.

In the middle of this month, Special Representative of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan for International Cooperation Erzhan Kazykhan visited Kabul, the capital of the country which has been ruled by the Taliban since August 2021. 

As Kazakhstan’s deputy foreign minister noted, the new government of Afghanistan wants to be recognized by the international community but this is impossible unless the U.N. Security Council expels the country out of the list of designated terrorist groups.

«As a full member of the Security Council Russia is trying to bring up the issue to consider and probably to expel the Taliban out of the list of terrorist groups. However, it all depends on the Taliban that has to respect the international law and obligations to other countries, as well as to not support religious terrorism and extremism or threaten other countries,» Tleuberdi said.

Moreover, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that Kazakhstan doesn’t recognize the Taliban movement and the Kazakhstani delegation has visited Afghanistan with only one purpose – humanitarian help to the people of Afghanistan.

«It was a special humanitarian mission to help Afghanistan because like all of the international community our country is eager to prevent a possible economic collapse and a subsequent humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. If we fail to do so, we can see consequences such as the growth of drug trafficking, religious extremism and maybe an increased flow of refugees,» the deputy minister said.

Another goal of the Kazakhstani delegation in Afghanistan was the creation of a sort of new economic relations to «prevent the Afghan economy from complete deterioration.» 

After a series of meetings Kazakhstan’s diplomats were able to negotiate humanitarian help of 5,000 tons of flour to the people of Afghanistan.

According to the World Food Program (WFP) and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), about 23 million Afghans are in danger of severe famine.