Uzbekistan Opinions - The Times Of Central Asia

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Transport and Logistics

Opinion: Bridging Histories, Building Futures – Central Asia, Pakistan, and the Dream of a Railway

On 5 September 2025, the Times of Central Asia published an article titled “Trans-Afghan Railway: Can Uzbekistan Build a Railway Through Afghanistan to Reach the Sea?” Reading it stirred something deep within me. The piece was not just about steel tracks or trade corridors - it was about dreams, history, and the future of a region I have long been passionate about: Central Asia. I am not a political analyst; I am an engineer by training and a student of history by passion. Having worked in Afghanistan and witnessed the landscape of its geography and politics up close, I feel a personal connection to the idea of connectivity between Pakistan and Central Asia by rail. This is not just a policy debate for me - it is a lifelong vision tied to my family history, my professional journey, and my fascination with the region’s rich past. When the Soviet Union withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan on 15 February 1989, ending its long and bloody war, the region entered a new and uncertain chapter. That very moment coincided with the beginning of my own career. Just two months earlier, I had started my first job as a Junior Engineer. For me, the Soviet withdrawal was not only a historical milestone; it was also a symbolic reminder of how deeply Afghanistan and its neighbors were tied to global currents of power, conflict, and change. Standing at the threshold of my professional life, I wondered how this region - so often defined by wars - might instead be remembered for bridges, trade, and railways. My fascination with Central Asia is also deeply personal. From my mother’s side, my family traces its lineage back to Bukhara. This explains why many families in Pakistan carry the name Bukhari, as their ancestors once migrated southward from that historic Central Asian city. History was not abstract for me - it lived in the stories of my elders and in the books I devoured as a student. In my school years, I read the Baburnama twice. These memoirs of Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, fascinated me. Born in Andijan in the Ferghana Valley (modern-day Uzbekistan), Babur’s life was a reminder of how Central Asia and South Asia have always been linked - through migration, culture, politics, and ambition. In 1992, I made my first trip to Tashkent. The journey was more than a visit; it was a pilgrimage to the heart of a region I had admired from afar. That first encounter left an indelible mark on me, and more than three decades later, my passion for Central Asia remains unending. Long before modern projects and international agreements, history itself carved the routes of connectivity. The Khyber Pass, lying between present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, has for centuries served as a gateway between Central and South Asia. Caravans laden with silk, spices, and stories once passed through its rugged cliffs. Empires - from the Mughals to the British - understood its importance. And...

Uzbek-U.S. Realtions

Insider’s View: Uzbekistan–U.S. – A New Era of Environmentally Friendly and Energy-Efficient Investment

Today, environmentally friendly and energy-efficient projects are no longer just a fashionable trend but a factor of global competitiveness. Uzbekistan, once regarded as a country with a resource-based energy system and limited opportunities for the adoption of modern technologies, is now becoming a hub for “green” investment and innovation. A strategic partnership with the United States plays a special role in this process, encompassing key areas ranging from energy and ecology to finance, education, and culture. Clean and innovative projects are becoming the hallmark of Uzbek-American relations, shaping a new model of cooperation in the 21st century. Green Energy and Strategic Partnership Uzbekistan is moving confidently toward a “green” future. While in 2018 renewable energy sources accounted for less than one percent of electricity generation, from January to July 2025, renewables already provided 20.3% of the country’s total electricity. More than 11 billion kWh of “green” energy were produced, including 6.4 billion kWh from solar power plants and 3.6 billion kWh from wind farms. This volume saved 3.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas and prevented over 2.2 million tons of harmful emissions. Every day, renewables now generate about 26.7 million kWh – enough to cover the needs of 7.28 million households for half a year, or 3.64 million homes for an entire year. Currently, 10 solar and 4 wind plants with a combined capacity of more than 4.5 GW operate across 10 regions of the country. A key focus of Uzbek-American cooperation has become “green” energy. In 2025, Allied Green Ammonia (AGA), together with the U.S. company Plug Power, announced a major project for the production of sustainable aviation fuel, green diesel, and urea. The plan includes the supply of electrolyzers with a capacity of up to 2 GW for the future complex. A final investment decision is expected by the end of 2025, and the project has already been recognized as one of the flagship initiatives for Central Asia. Air Products – A Flagship of American Presence Air Products, a global leader in industrial gases and hydrogen energy, occupies a special place in Uzbek-American cooperation. In the Kashkadarya region, the company participates in a large-scale gas-to-liquids (GTL) project worth around $1 billion. The complex is designed to produce about 1.5 million tons of synthetic fuels per year, including diesel, jet kerosene, and naphtha. Its structure includes air separation units, autothermal reformers, and hydrogen production facilities. This project has become a landmark example of how U.S. technologies are transforming Uzbekistan’s energy sector. In addition to GTL, Air Products is actively developing industrial gas production in Uzbekistan. The company participates in oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen production projects, introduces the latest PSA units, as well as freezing and storage technologies that reduce food losses and enhance economic resilience. Furthermore, the company has implemented a “green financing” system that links investments to sustainability principles. These projects not only strengthen the country’s industrial potential but also pave the way for positioning Uzbekistan as a regional hub for “green” energy. The company’s future plans...

Desertification

Opinion: Turning Deserts Into Fields of Hope

Desertification is a global crisis threatening the livelihoods of 3.2 billion people worldwide. From China’s vast green belt along its largest desert to Central Asia’s unified efforts to halt land degradation on arid plains, the fight against encroaching sand continues. These initiatives offer hopeful examples of human endeavor in restoring degraded lands and safeguarding the future of our planet. In the heart of southern Xinjiang lies the Taklamakan Desert, a vast expanse known as the “sea of death” for its extreme arid and inhospitable conditions. Covering 330,000 square kilometers - an area almost the size of Finland - it is China’s largest desert and the world’s second-largest shifting desert. Here, dunes stretch endlessly, and sandstorm days comprise one-third of the year. For generations, the Taklamakan Desert has threatened surrounding villages, farmlands, and transportation routes, squeezing the living space of those who dwell on its edges. Nearly 80% of the desert sands are in constant motion, while seasonal floods from melting snow on the mountains add further instability, leaving homes and livelihoods at risk. The danger is long-term: at one point, the Taklamakan risked merging with the nearby Kumtag Desert, placing even greater pressure on human settlements. How To Contain The Sands Faced with the challenge, China launched an ambitious initiative: building a shield of vegetation to encircle the Taklamakan Desert, planting desert-tolerant species such as desert poplar, red willow, saxaul, and even roses. This massive project took more than 40 years to complete. By the end of 2023, 2,761 kilometers (about 1,716 miles) of the belt had been established. A year later, the final 285 kilometers - the most challenging section - was closed through the dedicated efforts of 600,000 people. On November 28, 2024, in Yutian County on the desert’s southern edge, the last seedlings were planted into the sands, completing a 3,046-kilometer green belt. This vast ecological barrier stabilizes the Taklamakan Desert’s edge, prevents sandstorms, and protects the fragile ecology. In addition, the green belt provides wild animals in the desert with safe conditions for survival, breeding, and migration. A Bold Green Strategy Against Desertification The Taklamakan Desert control project is a part of China's Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, or TSFP, the world's largest afforestation program aimed at curbing desertification. Launched in 1978, this ambitious program seeks to slow the progress of desertification and reduce the frequency of sandstorms by planting vast stretches of trees and resilient plant species across the arid and semi-arid regions in northern China, where sandstorms pose a constant threat to local farmlands and residents. Official data shows that forest coverage in areas covered by the TSFP has risen from 5% in 1977 to 13.8% today. More than 60% of regions prone to soil erosion have been effectively controlled, and roughly 30 million hectares of farmland have been safeguarded from desert expansion. Turning Lands of Despair into Fields of Hope: A Shared Mission The challenges faced in northern China echo across the globe. From the Sahel in Africa to the Middle East and Central...

China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway

Opinion: A Railway to the Future – Uzbekistan’s Bold Path to Connectivity and Carbon Cuts

I still remember the thrill of boarding the sleek high-speed train from Tashkent to Bukhara. What could have been an ordinary journey turned into something unforgettable - the kind of experience that stays alive in the memory long after the trip ends. The speed, the comfort, and above all, the hospitality of Uzbekistan Railways revealed more than just modern engineering; it was a glimpse into the vision of a country determined to connect its people and its future to the wider world. The resonance of this project is deep. The Silk Road was once the artery of global exchange, moving not just goods but ideas, cultures, and entire civilizations between East and West. From Xi’an to Samarkand, Bukhara, and Tashkent, caravans carried silk, porcelain, and paper eastward, while wool, stones, fruits, and glassware travelled west. The CKU Railway is not simply another infrastructure project; it is the revival of this legacy, adapted for the 21st century. By shortening transport routes by nearly 900 kilometers and halving transit times, it promises to transform Uzbekistan’s geographic disadvantage into a strategic strength. For a landlocked country, this is more than steel on tracks - it is a lifeline to global markets. That is where railways carry an underappreciated advantage. Beyond the economics, rail is also a climate solution. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has found that rail freight is three to four times more energy-efficient than trucks. Trains use 65–80% less fuel per kilogram of cargo. The European Environment Agency calculates that a ton of freight moved by train emits 14–20 grams of CO₂ per kilometer, while the same tonnage on trucks produces 60–120 grams. That is a four- to fivefold difference. If the 20th century belonged to highways, the 21st must belong to railways. To grasp what this means for Central Asia, consider the region’s emissions profile. According to the EDGAR 2023 dataset, annual greenhouse gas emissions (excluding LULUCF, 2022) stand at roughly 320 MtCO₂e for Kazakhstan, 214 MtCO₂e for Uzbekistan, 99 MtCO₂e for Turkmenistan, 22 MtCO₂e for Kyrgyzstan, and 21 MtCO₂e for Tajikistan. Transport is responsible for around a tenth of that, and road freight dominates. The opportunity for reductions through a modal shift is therefore enormous. Take Uzbekistan as a case in point. The country moves about 90 billion ton-km of freight annually, within a regional total of some 350 billion. At present, 70% of this moves by road and 30% by rail. Imagine that by 2035, half of current road freight shifts to electrified rail - around 32 billion ton-km. On trucks, that freight would generate 2.9 MtCO₂e per year. On electrified trains, it would produce only 0.54 MtCO₂e. The savings: 2.4 MtCO₂e annually, or more than 1% of Uzbekistan’s entire national emissions. For a single infrastructure project, that is an extraordinary return in climate terms. The regional potential is just as striking. If similar shifts occurred across Central Asia, annual savings would reach 7–9 MtCO₂e by 2035 - the equivalent of removing two million cars from the road....

Afghanistan

Opinion: The Contact Group on Afghanistan – Central Asia Formulates a Regional Position

On August 26, special representatives on Afghanistan from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan met for the first time in Tashkent. The meeting resulted in the creation of a permanent regional platform: the Contact Group on Afghanistan. This gathering was not only a continuation of commitments outlined in the joint statement from the most recent Consultative Summit of Central Asian heads of state, but also a step toward preparing for the next high-level format, scheduled for November in Tashkent. Formally, Turkmenistan was absent. Available information suggests the reasons were purely technical. Ashgabat was ready to join and expressed support for the results through its foreign ministry channels. The key outcome is that Central Asian states have, for the first time, shown their readiness to speak with one voice on an issue long shaped by competing external interests. This is not the start of forming a common position; that had already developed de facto in recent years. All Central Asian countries have supported trade and transit with Afghanistan, continued supplying electricity and food, and maintained working contacts with the Taliban, while avoiding extremes. The Tashkent meeting institutionalized this approach: parallel tracks have now shifted, cautiously, toward coordination. Informal unity has been formalized into a tool. Unlike external players, who often cloak interests in grand rhetoric, Central Asia acts openly and pragmatically. The logic is simple: whatever is done for Afghanistan is, in fact, done for oneself. That is the distinctive feature of the regional approach - no ideological cover, no attempts to reshape Afghanistan. Examples are straightforward. Electricity continues to flow even when payments are delayed - not as charity, but as an investment in security. A blackout in Afghanistan could trigger refugee flows and threats heading north. Exports of flour and fuel sustain Afghan markets but also expand outlets for Central Asian producers. Participation in trans-Afghan corridors is not a gift to Kabul but an opportunity for Central Asia to anchor itself in southern logistics routes. Ultimately, every step “for Afghanistan” is primarily for the region itself. If Kabul ignores basic rules, cooperation will simply stop. In politics, there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests. The new format does not yet imply collective pressure on the Taliban. Rather, it creates conditions for each country to conduct more substantive bilateral dialogue, but grounded in a shared position. Until now, Central Asia has mainly spoken to the Taliban about trade, transit, and infrastructure. The Contact Group now makes it possible to add another dimension: clarifying boundaries of what is acceptable on issues like extremism, border escalation, or water pressure. For now, “red lines” are unlikely, since the Taliban have not crossed them. The situation remains manageable, leaving room for constructive dialogue. Equally important, the Contact Group is not a threat or ultimatum. Coordination is meant to expand opportunities for dialogue, not limit them. In the long run, this could evolve into a sustainable C5+A format. Afghanistan would then be integrated into regional frameworks not as a problem to be managed, but as...

SCO Summit

Opinion: China’s Diplomatic Power Play Unfolds in Tianjin

On August 31, the next SCO Plus summit will begin in the Chinese city of Tianjin and run through to September 1. Judging by the list of participants, China, under Chairman Xi Jinping, is positioning itself to challenge the United States for influence over the global geopolitical agenda. As part of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, Xi will host a formal banquet for the attending heads of state, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Xi is also scheduled to chair the 25th meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of State and lead the expanded SCO Plus session - the largest since the establishment of the organization - where he will deliver a keynote address. Clues to the themes of Xi’s speech can be found in the diverse array of leaders expected to attend. Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Bin confirmed at a Beijing press conference that among the SCO member states, participants will include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev. Several leaders from non-member states will also join, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh; Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev; Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto; and Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov, whose participation suggests Ashgabat’s cautious but growing interest in regional dialogue. Also in attendance will be the prime ministers of Armenia (Nikol Pashinyan), Cambodia (Hun Manet), Nepal (Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli), Egypt (Mostafa Madbouly), Malaysia (Anwar Ibrahim), and Vietnam (Pham Minh Chinh). The summit will also host key international institutional leaders, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres; SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev; CIS Secretary-General Sergey Lebedev; ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn; CSTO Secretary-General Imangali Tasmagambetov; EAEU Chairman Bakytzhan Sagintayev; and AIIB President Zhou Ji. Kazakhstan will be prominently represented. In addition to President Tokayev, three high-profile Kazakhs mentioned above - Yermekbayev, Tasmagambetov, and Sagintayev - will attend in their capacities as heads of international organizations. Their presence signals Astana’s growing diplomatic weight and reflects the strategic outreach led by Tokayev, himself a former UN Deputy Secretary-General. This background likely contributes to the rapport between Kazakhstan and Guterres. The summit will also inevitably draw attention due to the presence of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, figures central to the ongoing realignment in the South Caucasus. Both Baku and Yerevan have increasingly distanced themselves from Moscow, favoring closer ties with Turkey and the United States. The recent peace agreement between Aliyev and Pashinyan, signed in the presence of President Trump, underscored the growing American role in the region and the diminishing influence of Russia. While Moscow appears willing to tolerate this shift, Tehran views it with deep concern, especially after its recent 12-day conflict with Israel. Russia, for its part, seems to be signaling disengagement from the region. Its silence in response to Baku and Yerevan’s Western overtures suggests strategic apathy, if not withdrawal. Beijing, of course, is...