Uzbekistan new indd

The current State of Economic relations
From the birth of Uzbekistan as an independent state 
in 1991 up to 1998, when the Taliban took control 
of Mazar-i-Sharif, economic ties between Uzbekistan 
and Afghanistan remained insignificant, notwith-
standing the aid that Uzbekistan provided the north-
ern provinces before the Taliban regime established 
its control over them. During the period 1998-2001, 
when the Taliban controlled almost the entire territo-
ry of Afghanistan, Uzbek-Afghan economic ties were 
practically nonexistent. With the start of the interna-
tional anti-terrorist campaign in Afghanistan, how-
ever, Uzbekistan became one of the main forward 
bases in the fight against the Taliban. It is generally 
recognized that this played a key role in enabling the 
United States and its allies to consolidate their posi-
tions in Afghanistan.
After the “overthrow” of the Taliban regime, eco-
nomic relations between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan 
were gradually restored. This was greatly facilitated 
by the fact that the two countries share a border—
of about 137 kilometers—and that Uzbekistan has 
a developed transportation infrastructure that links 
with Afghanistan. In 2002 Uzbekistan opened the 
Khairaton Bridge on the Uzbek-Afghan border. In 
2003 the Airitom Customs Complex began to op-
erate in the border town of Termez, speeding up 
the process of registering and delivering freight to 
Afghanistan. Over the period 2002-3 alone, about 2.5 
million tons of freight were delivered to Afghanistan 
via Uzbekistan. In turn, Hamid Karzai’s government 
expressed willingness to develop economic interac-
tion with Uzbekistan, the matter coming under dis-
cussion during numerous visits to Tashkent by highly 
placed Afghan officials. In addition, Uzbekistan has