DUSHANBE (TCA) — In February 2019, the European Union contributed with an additional 10 million EUR to the Single-Donor Trust Fund for the rehabilitation of the water management and irrigation systems in Tajikistan’s Zarafshon river basin area, the Delegation of the European Union to Tajikistan said on February 21.

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BISHKEK (TCA) — Kyrgyzstan’s former President Almazbek Atambayev has admitted that he made mistakes while running the Central Asian nation from 2011 to 2017.

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ASTANA (TCA) — European Union’s Special Representative for Central Asia Peter Burian is paying a working visit to Kazakhstan on February 21-22. The agenda includes meetings at the Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, as well as with local youth, the Delegation of the European Union to Kazakhstan said.

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ASHGABAT (TCA) — Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani have signed an agreement on strategic partnership between their countries.

Turkmenistan’s State Information Agency said the two leaders signed the document in Ashgabat on February 21 after discussing bilateral trade, energy, and cultural ties.

The Strategic Partnership Agreement will help both countries expand bilateral relations on a number of key areas including economy, trade, transit and joint efforts in fighting terrorism.

According to a statement by the Afghan Presidential Palace, the signing of Afghanistan-Turkmenistan Strategic Partnership Agreement will help the two countries to further expand their political, economic and security cooperation, Afghan broadcaster TOLOnews reported.

Currently, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan are cooperating in a number of areas including energy and commerce and in the ongoing construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural-gas pipeline.

The Turkmen leader said that the implementation of TAPI project will create over 12,000 jobs in Afghanistan and that the country will gain $1 billion in benefits from the project annually.

Afghanistan officials earlier said the country expects to earn more than $400 million USD in transit duties annually from the project.

Berdymukhammedov reportedly said that Turkmenistan was ready to try to help bring Taliban negotiators together with Afghan officials for peace talks.

Agreements also were signed to boost cooperation in the energy and transports sectors, including an accord on customs cooperation and construction of a railroad connecting Turkmenistan with Tajikistan via Afghanistan.

DUSHANBE (TCA) — The Netherlands’ Foreign Ministry says Tajik authorities have confirmed that an opposition activist who resurfaced in Dushanbe last week from self-imposed exile was arrested, and that he is accused of “criminal activities,” RFE/RL reported.

“At this time the Dutch [Foreign Ministry] investigates whether and how it can assist [Sharofiddin] Gadoev. We are following the case closely,” ministry spokeswoman Willemien Veldman said in a statement sent to RFE/RL on February 21.

A legal representative for Gadoev said earlier that authorities in the Netherlands, where the activist is said to have a residency permit, had launched an investigation into the situation after concerns were raised by Tajik opposition and rights activists about his fate.

Gadoev’s mother told RFE/RL that her son had been “taken away at 8 p.m. on February 20” after spending one night at his family home, adding that she didn’t know where he was.

Oishamoh Abdulloeva said Tajik authorities told her that Gadoev would be released soon. But she said she was “very concerned about” her son.

According to her, Gadoev arrived at his family home in the southern district of Farkhor on February 19, “along with several people” that Abdulloeva said she didn’t know.

She said the men accompanying Gadoev stayed in her house and spent the night there, before taking him away the following evening.

Gadoev’s sudden return to Dushanbe sparked conflicting information about whether Gadoev had willingly traveled to Tajikistan or was forcibly returned.

Viktoria Nadezhdina, a legal representative for Gadoev, said that the activist was detained by the authorities in Russia before he reappeared in Tajikistan’s capital.

“According to an official response from the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sharofiddin Gadoev was arrested in the Russian Federation based on two Interpol red notices,” Nadezhdina told RFE/RL on February 20.

A “red notice” is a request through Interpol for the authorities in other countries to locate and provisionally arrest an individual pending extradition.

Asked whether Gadoev was extradited to Tajikistan by Russia, Nadezhdina said the ministry’s response did not include further “details.”

Nadezhdina said authorities in the Netherlands, where Gadoev has a residency permit, have also launched an investigation into the situation after concerns were raised by Tajik opposition and rights activists about his sudden reappearance in Dushanbe.

Abdusattor Boboev, a member of the National Alliance of Tajikistan, says the Europe-based opposition association is concerned about Gadoev’s fate.

“We are worried that the government could create all kinds of problems for Sharofiddin, including eliminating him physically,” Boboev said on February 21.

Tajik authorities claim Gadoev, co-founder of the opposition Group-24, returned to Tajikistan voluntarily and surrendered to police at Dushanbe International Airport on February 15.

The same day, the Interior Ministry shared a video in which Gadoev said that he had returned “willingly.” In that video, Gadoev also criticized the opposition and urged other activists to do the same.

However, on February 19 the National Alliance posted a contradictory video message from Gadoev that the group says was recorded ahead of his trip to Russia.

“I am recording this video [to warn] that if I suddenly appear on Tajik television or some YouTube channel, saying that I have returned of my own accord — you must not believe it,” he said in the undated footage.

“I am not planning to go to Tajikistan willingly. Never. I’m not going to Tajikistan and surrender to [President] Emomali Rahmon’s government,” he said.

But Gadoev said he might be kidnapped and forced “under torture and pressure” to publicly speak against “certain movements, groups, and persons.”

He noted that some other Tajik opposition figures had been killed, kidnapped, or disappeared during visits to Russia and that he might face a similar fate.

“I’m travelling to Russia on the 14th to meet with officials from the Security Council of Russia…to discuss some problems that have occurred in Tajikistan, also to discuss the situation of Tajik labor migrants,” Gadoev said in the video.

The government of President Rahmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, has long been criticized for its crackdowns on dissent.