KABUL (TCA) — Uzbekistan is undertaking efforts hoping to bring the Taliban to negotiations table with the Afghan government to start peace talks and end the current war in Afghanistan, the Uzbek President’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Ismatulla Irgashev said on October 26, Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews reported.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — Things change fast in Kyrgyzstan’s politics, and the country’s former president now faces an uncertain political future. We are republishing this article on the issue, originally published by Eurasianet:

An unlikely recent episode of high-altitude camaraderie has served as a compelling vignette on the little absurdities that make for politics in Kyrgyzstan.

It unfolded on October 22 during an evening flight from the capital, Bishkek, to Moscow.

When ex-President Almazbek Atambayev, a politician currently negotiating choppy waters as a result of a sour confrontation with his successor, boarded the plane, his presence did not go unnoticed. A few seats away was Nariman Tyuleyev, a one-time Bishkek mayor who was sentenced to 11 years in jail on corruption charges under Atambayev, but was amnestied three years into his sentence.

The two men have history. In 2010, when the dust was settling on the violent uprising that toppled venal leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the pair were sworn enemies.
And when Atambayev consolidated his grip over domestic politics with a presidential election victory in 2011, Tyuleyev became one of his first targets. Tyuleyev was arrested in 2012 and then a whole lot of his family’s property was seized by the government.

While few questioned that Tyuleyev had enriched himself by opaque means under Bakiyev, it was also widely believed the anti-corruption investigation was tainted by politics.

Atambayev’s critics believe he too enriched himself while in power and there is a growing clamor for him to face justice.

As to which, Atambayev or Tyuleyev, is better off now — this is a matter of perspective.

Many things must have been weighing on Atambayev’s mind as he jetted off for Moscow, purportedly to attend a conference of Asian political parties about countering extremism.

His main concern might have been the fate his former driver-turned-political advisor and ultimate inner-circle figure. Two days before Atambayev took the flight, this erstwhile employee was being taken in the other direction in handcuffs, at the request of the Kyrgyz security services, who had put out a warrant for his arrest for alleged bribery offenses.

Ikram Ilmiyanov is now cooling his heels in a Kyrgyz detention facility.

Another top Atambayev ally facing graft charges is former Prime Minister Sapar Isakov, who was arrested in June.

Both of these developments appear to be consequences of a bitter fallout between Atambayev and incumbent President Sooronbai Jeenbekov.

Atambayev lent Jeenbekov significant political capital to help him win elections last November. Atambayev might have run himself, but the constitution allows for only one term. In return for this support, the outgoing leader had expected repayments in the form of lasting behind-the-scenes influence.

In March, when he sensed he had been short-changed and left out in the cold, Atambayev lashed out at the new president in his trademark irascible manner. He has been ruing his intemperance ever since as allies have been picked off one by one — either fired or thrown into jail.

The Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, or SDPK, which is on paper led by Atambayev, complained ahead of his trip to Russia that the ex-president’s state-allocated bodyguard complement had been reduced without explanation.

Meanwhile, prominent member of parliament is pushing a bill that would strip former presidents of immunity for crimes committed during their time in office. The MP has been quite clear that he has Atambayev in mind.

With all this going on, the last thing Atambayev needed was Tyuleyev heckling him in the tranquillity of the business class section of his flight to Moscow. Tyuleyev even posted a surreptitiously taken picture of Atambayev on social media.

“Apparently, after the arrest of (Ikramov), he has decided to flee,” Tyuleyev crowed on Facebook. “He is pretending not to hear, even though many people on the plane are speaking about him unflatteringly.”

Even Tyuleyev had to admit his heckling was “rude, harsh and uncensored.”

The Facebook post, and in particular the speculation in it about Atambayev leaving Kyrgyzstan for good, generated a flurry of social media chatter.

Edil Baisalov, a former politician and social media devotee who has relished kicking Atambayev while he is down, had already begun peddling this theory when news of Atambayev’s participation in the Moscow conference was announced. As soon as the Facebook picture surfaced, Baisalov began, for some reason, excitedly charting the course of Atambayev’s flight with an online flight tracker.

In a shock development a little while later, Tyuleyev posted a jolly-looking selfie of himself posing with Atambayev. The former president had responded to his catcalling with an invitation for a chat in the skies, the ex-mayor revealed.

During this three-and-a-half hour tete-a-tete, Atambayev denied responsibility for getting Tyuleyev put in prison and insisted he had no intention of leaving the country, according to Tyuleyev.

The ex-mayor’s followers were unimpressed: Hadn’t Tyuleyev once proclaimed he wouldn’t even share a public toilet with Atambayev? Was the selfie instigated by the consumption of vodka, the standard lubricant for peace talks in Kyrgyzstan? And most of all, wasn’t politics such a very dirty business?

Atambayev would know a few things about that. And he may now worry that if he does return from the Moscow congress, he won’t have a party worth the name to return to.

According to one media outlet, a movement operating under the slogan “SDPK without Atambayev” is gathering steam and has found backing from Isa Omurkulov, another former ally of Atambayev who now leads SDPK inside the parliament.

Wheels down, buckle up your seatbelts, this flight is coming to an end and the landing may be bumpy.

ASTANA (TCA) — On October 25 Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev took part in the first international forum on the development of the agro-industrial sector, Astana Agro Forum 2018. More than 800 representatives of the international expert community and the non-governmental sector, agricultural producers, and heads of local executive bodies participate in the two-day program events, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reports.

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ASTANA (TCA) — Countries around the world on October 25 agreed to the Declaration of Astana, vowing to strengthen their primary health care systems as an essential step toward achieving universal health coverage. The Declaration of Astana reaffirms the historic 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata, the first time world leaders committed to primary health care, the World Health Organization said.

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ASTANA (TCA) — The American-Kazakhstan Business Association on October 25 hosted a Business Forum in Astana where the First Vice Premier of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin and US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross addressed the participants. More than 100 Kazakhstani and American companies took part in the Forum, the official website of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan reported.

“The US is one of the leading investors in Kazakhstan, more than $40 billion has been invested in the economy of our country,” said Mamin, noting successful cooperation with major American companies, including Chevron, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, Halliburton, in the development of power engineering and machine building, processing industry, and mining sector.

The official visit of President Nursultan Nazarbayev to the US in January 2018 was a new stage in the development of bilateral cooperation. During the visit, trade and investment agreements were concluded for about $7 billion. The agreements were aimed at implementing projects in the field of aviation and space research, petrochemical and agricultural industries, as well as projects in the field of infrastructure development.

Kazakhstan is the country with the most market-oriented economy in Central Asia. Kazakhstan accounts for 70% of all GDP and 80% of total FDI inflows into the region. Growing openness and integration into global and regional trade and production processes are the main factors driving dynamic economic growth, Mamin said.

“Astana International Financial Center, established in July 2017, is the main institution for the protection of investors. AIFC embodies the best practices of leading financial centers in New York, Singapore, London and Dubai. The platform’s partners are the American stock exchange NASDAQ, the largest US financial organizations such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs,” said Mamin and noted that 24 thousand companies with foreign participation do a successful business in Kazakhstan.

Over 700 of them are created in collaboration with American companies. These companies play an important role in attracting international capital and best practices to the country, meeting the ever-growing demand for Kazakhstan’s exports both in the region and internationally.

“The Government of Kazakhstan considers the visit of the American trade mission as an integral part of the practical implementation of the agreements of the Leaders of the two states,” said Mamin.

The US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said that the US intends to continue diversifying the areas of cooperation with Kazakhstan.

According to him, “if previously the main areas of American capital were the mining and energy sector of Kazakhstan, today we intend to invest in infrastructure development, processing, engineering, the agro-industrial complex, and a number of other high-tech areas.”

Ross also noted US intentions to increase trade in services as a mechanism for increasing employment and value added in the economies of the US and Kazakhstan.

He stressed the importance of the further implementation of the agreements reached at the highest level, including the Agreement on “Open Sky” Air Traffic between Kazakhstan and the US. The document implies the lifting of restrictions on flights between the cities of Kazakhstan and the United States, which will significantly increase the volume of passenger and cargo traffic between the two countries in the near future.

ASTANA (TCA) — A briefing was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan on October 23 for representatives of the diplomatic community accredited in the country and international business associations on the protection of investors’ rights when carrying out investment activities in Kazakhstan. The keynote speakers were Alik Shpekbayev, the Chairman of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Anti-Corruption, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Timur Toktabayev, the Vice Minister of Investment and Development, the Foreign Ministry reported.

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