Jalali: Kabul, Dushanbe Need Active Diplomatic Presence

Zakir Jalali, Director General of the Second Political Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate, says Afghanistan and Tajikistan need an active diplomatic presence in Dushanbe and Kabul and expressed hope that recent engagements between the two countries will lead to progress in bilateral relations.

Speaking , Jalali said: “Tajikistan’s active diplomatic presence in Kabul and Afghanistan’s diplomatic presence in Dushanbe are a necessity. We hope the recent interactions between the two sides will, in the near future, lead to progress in bilateral relations and help find solutions to the existing challenges.”

According to Jalali, although political relations between Kabul and Dushanbe have not seen significant progress in recent years, cooperation in trade and transit has continued with a pragmatic approach.

“Afghanistan and Tajikistan are neighboring countries with extensive linguistic, cultural, religious, and social commonalities. Although we have not witnessed notable progress in the political sphere over the past five years, cooperation in trade and transit has continued in a pragmatic manner,” he added.

Meanwhile, several international relations analysts believe that strengthening diplomatic ties between Afghanistan and Tajikistan could pave the way for broader cooperation in the political, economic, trade, and transit sectors while helping resolve existing challenges through dialogue.

Sayed Bilal Fatemi, an international relations analyst, said: “Strengthening relations between Afghanistan and Tajikistan is in the interest of both countries. In the past, some countries attempted to use Tajikistan’s territory against the Islamic Emirate. That was beneficial neither for Tajikistan nor for Afghanistan. Improving relations between the two countries is of vital security importance for Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Central Asia.”

Although the Islamic Emirate has established diplomatic relations with neighboring countries since returning to power and its political representatives are present in those countries, Tajikistan remains the only neighboring country that has not yet accepted a representative of the Islamic Emirate at the Afghan Embassy in Dushanbe.