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KABUL – The Taliban de facto authorities were not invited to the 16th Economic Cooperation Organization Summit in Tahskent, Uzbekistan, which is deemed as a significant regional economic gathering. Although Afghanistan is a member of the ECO, but no invitation was sent since the current interim Taliban government is not recognized by the international community.
The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has said their representatives should have been invited to the ECO summit in Tashkent on November 9 as their presence would have made the event more effective. “This meeting should have been based on economic principles, not political ones. Unfortunately, the Islamic Emirate was not allowed to attend,” said Zabihullah Mujahid.
Meanwhile, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan called for involvement of Afghanistan into regional integration processes in his speech at the 16th Economic Cooperation Organization Summit in Tahskent. President Mirziyoyev called on the international community to increase humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people and solve socio-economic problems in the country.
“I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that today’s summit is taking place without participation of Afghanistan, one of the members of our Organization. We cannot allow the multi-ethnic people of Afghanistan, who have been our closest neighbors for centuries, to be left alone with the current complex problems. The active involvement of this country in regional integration processes is an indispensable and necessary condition for our sustainable development,” Mirziyoyev said.
The Economic Cooperation Organization is a regional interstate economic structure that includes Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan. The organization was created in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey; the headquarters of its permanent secretariat is located in Tehran.
