A TRIP TO KANDAHAR

“Once, during my first month as the Ambassador to Azerbaijan, I was sitting in a coffee shop and wanted to check the magazines and newspapers available there. They were both in Russian and Azerbaijani. I then noticed an English copy of your magazine, Region Plus. I have really enjoyed reading the articles. They were very well written and the tone of articles was balanced. Later, I became convinced that this magazine is also different in terms of the quality and level of its usage of the English language.”

This is a token of appreciation given to our magazine by the Ambassador of Afghanistan to Azerbaijan H.E. Mohammad Taqi Khalili in his recent interview regarding relations between Afghanistan and Azerbaijan.

The diplomat is no stranger to Azerbaijan: during the early years of our independence, His Excellency had studied for a period of time at the Azerbaijan State University of Architecture and Construction.

- How would you evaluate the level of political relations between Afghanistan and Azerbaijan?

Our countries have much in common. In fact, the history of our relations has much deeper roots than many would initially imagine. Our peoples have much in common in terms of culture, history, and religion. The cooperation between our countries and peoples seems almost predetermined by history.

The establishment of diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and Azerbaijan dates back to 1994. The Afghan Embassy to Baku was opened in November 2012, and I am the second ambassador sent to represent the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to the Republic of Azerbaijan. Our countries enjoy great relations. Seizing this opportunity, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude and appreciation to the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, for the special attention he has given to the development of the Afghan-Azerbaijani relations.

Our governments are working in close rapport with each other on issues related to education, security and defense. And as you know, the Azerbaijani peacekeepers are part of the NATO mission in Afghanistan. Recently, your country sent another contingent of 50 peacekeepers to Afghanistan. For this and other reasons, the Afghan people will never forget the generous support of your government in defense of the welfare of our nation.

Moreover, Baku has always been a great center of education for Afghan students. In 1995, I had the privilege of studying for one semester at the then Institute of Architecture and Construction, and had Russian language courses. It was a very difficult time for Azerbaijan, which suffered the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh. Yet, in spite of this, the Azerbaijanis have always been hospitable.

It is my great hope that we will sign an agreement on cooperation between the Ministries of Education of Afghanistan and Azerbaijan. In fact, the agreement is ready and we are waiting for appropriate time to present it to our ministers for signing.

Additionally, an agreement on military cooperation and assistance opens broad prospects for our countries. In July, on behalf of the Government of Afghanistan, I signed the cooperation agreement with the Head of the State Border Service, Elchin Guliyev.

Also, the fourth technical meeting on the transit corridor Lapis Lazuli will take place in Baku on November 16. It will connect Afghanistan with Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. We are grateful to the Government of Azerbaijan for supporting this project. This route is very important for Afghanistan. Hopefully, we will witness a special ceremony dedicated to the signing of an array of bilateral agreements in the near future.

- What is the scope of works implemented since the visit of the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to Azerbaijan?

The visit of the President Ghani to Baku in December 2015 represented the first ever official visit of an Afghan President to Azerbaijan. He had meetings with the President, Ilham Aliyev, the Speaker of the Parliament, Ogtay Asadov, and the Prime Minister, Artur Rasizade.

Our governments signed an agreement between the National Radio and Television of Afghanistan and the Azerbaijan Television and Radio broadcasting Closed Joint-Stock Company, as well as a memorandum of understanding between our countries Ministries of Labor. In general, Azerbaijan and Afghanistan have about fifteen agreements and memorandums to be signed in the near future.

- As far as we know, some of the topics of discussions concerned the options to improve the existing cooperation on the production of food products, the development of cotton production, and the construction of a cement factory in Afghanistan. What is the status of these projects?

I had a very constructive meeting with the Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan, Shahin Mustafayev. We worked closely in this area for two years, and we continue to collaborate on joint projects. It is likewise my understanding that the Azerbaijani delegation will pay a visit to Kabul soon, which will lead to some practical steps forward. Also, we have managed to finalize an agreement on economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

- Falling in oil prices has accelerated the development of non-oil sector in Azerbaijan. President Aliyev has set a goal to revive the national cotton production. Afghanistan is one of the recognized countries of the world as far as the cotton industry is concerned. How would you evaluate the prospects of cooperation between our countries in this sphere of economy?

- Afghanistan can support Azerbaijan in the cotton industry. Both President Aliyev and your government have paid special attention to the development of the non-oil sectors of the economy. I would like to also point out the positive sides of investing in Afghanistan for foreign investors.

Any business has its unique set of pros and cons. Whenever I have had the chance to meet with Azerbaijani businessmen and investors, I have told them about the business opportunities in Afghanistan, and tried to reassure that there are many positive aspects of doing business in my country. Yes, we do have some problems with security, but at the same time, every effort is made to protect foreign investments. In fact, my government has laid out a very clear framework for protecting foreign investments and investors.

- ASAN Xidmət has become an interesting experience for many countries. We know that your government was interested in creating a similar service in Afghanistan. How well is this project implemented in your country?

I have visited the ASAN Xidmət myself. Also, during the visit of President Ghani, our Minister of Finance had also been taken to one of the ASAN offices. I must confess that this is a very successful model, which focuses on a wide range of public services to ensure transparency and eradicate corruption. For this reason, there is a memorandum of understanding signed between ASAN Xidmət and the Afghan Ministry of Finance. This is one of the documents signed during the visit of the Azerbaijani delegation in Kabul.

Our goal is also to establish a transparent and corruption-free service in Afghanistan for the provision of public services. Our countries are trying hard to simplify the bureaucratic delays and to set an effective model for the nation. If we can create a similar model in Afghanistan, then we will be able to save our people a tremendous amount of time. On the other hand, the Azerbaijani side could provide trainings for the Afghan staff to facilitate the establishment of the national public services system.

- You know that Azerbaijan is suffering from the same problems of war due to the partial occupation of the country. Certainly, it would be a shame to hear abroad that our country had problems with security. But the image of Azerbaijan has changed throughout the world long ago. Such contests as the Eurovision, the first European Games, and the Formula-1 races were held in our country at the highest possible level. The whole world was able to see the level of security in Azerbaijan. From this perspective, we do understand Afghanistan better than anyone else does.  No doubt that your country does not want to have an image of a war-torn country either. How would you have presented Afghanistan to the citizens of Azerbaijan, including in terms of tourism?

- Afghanistan has always been a fantastic destination for tourists. Your question reminds me of my time in the United States. One day, when I was in Washington, I was enjoying my leisure time with some American friends. Each of them was telling me where they would like to spend vacation. A number of destinations were mentioned: Rome, various cities of the Middle East, London, Paris, etc. We had one smart and young friend, who said that visiting London and Paris is a routine way of enjoying vacation and that he was going to take an initiative and visit Afghanistan since it was a popular destination. He had already been to other famous destinations but he had never been to Afghanistan. Then, he joked and offered the others to upload their photos taken during the vacation to Facebook as soon as they return. He was sure that his photos from Afghanistan would be more popular in terms of the number of likes they get.

In the past, Afghanistan was indeed a popular destination for tourists. And even today, there are many places that one can visit without having to worry about their personal safety. Such tourist attractions are among the many positive aspects of Afghanistan. For example, in the Bamyan Province of central Afghanistan, women and girls enjoy cycling and mountain climbing. In wintertime, however, young Afghans from different parts of the country go there for skiing, accompanied by some foreign tourists. I encourage the Azerbaijani people to visit Afghanistan. We have a lot of attractions in every region of the country, something that is characteristic of nation’s like ours, which are rooted in very ancient civilizations.

- Many countries organize promotions to demonstrate their potential and capabilities. Does your embassy have plans to hold such promotions to attract investors, businessmen, and tourists?

- We have already discussed this issue with the Ministry of Economy. I hope we will have a joint business forum in 2017. We also have plans for promotions that might attract tourists to Afghanistan. When it comes to planning such programs, we need to take into account our priorities. Unfortunately, Afghanistan has been involved in war for decades. Today, my country marches at the frontlines against terrorism and fundamentalism. Nevertheless, we remain wholeheartedly interested in attracting tourists from all over the world, particularly from Azerbaijan, but we must first hone in on issues such as the fight against terrorism and the assurance of the security of our nation. During the last 14 years, we have received many people from Azerbaijan – particularly journalists – who visited Afghanistan and were also interested in making investments in Afghanistan. As far as tourism is concerned, I think Azerbaijan has great potential and can share its experience with Afghanistan. Last summer, we saw many tourists in Baku – one of the many indications that Azerbaijan has done an excellent job to attract tourists from throughout the region and the world.

- Despite years of efforts, it had not been possible to attain peace in Afghanistan. What do you think should be done to establish peaceful life in your country?

- If we are talking about peace, we must first analyze the various factors that will inevitably produce peace. As I mentioned, unfortunately, Afghanistan has been involved in war for decades. For ten years, the country was under the occupation of the Soviet Union. After that, Afghanistan was embroiled in a civil war. Then, we had the appearance of the Taliban. And today, we are struggling against the curious phenomenon of terrorism. This phenomenon has not just affected Afghanistan. We are not alone in this struggle. We have good international partners. Azerbaijan has been one of our reliable friends. The Azerbaijani military personnel, the peacekeepers, have been assisting Afghanistan in this field since 2002. Today, the Azerbaijani peacekeepers are deeply involved in this process. So, bringing peace to Afghanistan requires national and international efforts. When we talk about peace, our Azerbaijani friends understand more easily than other nations given that we have both suffered from the invasion.

Terrorism should be eradicated in all its forms regardless of the source it stems from. In Afghanistan, the root base of terrorist operations is not inside Afghanistan, but outside of Afghanistan. It is a well-known fact that they are coming to Afghanistan from foreign lands, that they are organized in foreign lands, and that they are equipped with weapons in foreign lands.

But before I digress, I do believe we should have regional cooperation along with other international partners to restore peace in Afghanistan. For the same reason, when we talk about the restoration of peace in Nagorno-Karabakh, I likewise believe that this is the responsibility of the entire international community. There are so many people that have been displaced internally in their own country because of the aggression of Armenia.

I am familiar with the historical background of this conflict. I am one of those ambassadors – maybe one amongst very few – who witnessed the effects and impacts of the invasion twenty years ago. Even in the dormitories of universities, we had to share the dormitory with the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. When I say that we do understand the problems and we appreciate the generosity of the Azerbaijani nation, it is very clear why. The Azerbaijani people and government were suffering greatly from the consequences of the occupation. About one million people were displaced from their homes. And despite that, the Azerbaijani people and government opened their doors to Afghan students. At that time, twenty years ago, the idea of one day becoming Ambassador to Azerbaijan never once crossed my mind. I remember as if it were yesterday how your people and government welcomed us with open arms. The real blessing in the relationship between the people of Afghanistan and Azerbaijan is our mutual respect and positive attitude towards each other; it has helped us to build a productive relationship upon the solid foundation of friendship and trust. It also makes it clear that a very bright future for both of our nations lies close in the horizon.