 Good morning. Good afternoon or good evening, depending on where you're joining us from today for the event. My name is Andrew Wilder. I'm the Vice President of USIP's Asia Center. I'd like to thank all of you for joining us today for this important and timely discussion on the role of Central Asia, and in particular the roles of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in supporting peace and stability in Afghanistan. I'd like to thank all of those who are joining online to take part in the discussion. You can ask questions through the YouTube live stream in the comments section. You can also engage with us and each other on Twitter with today's hashtag Afghan peace. That's hashtag Afghan peace. We ask if you please include your name and where you're joining us from for your questions. I'd also like to offer a special word of thanks to our four esteemed guests today. We greatly appreciate your willingness to take time out of your busy schedules to join us for today's discussion. It's my real pleasure to be able to welcome Ambassador Ramani back to USIP today, albeit virtually. We've had an excellent partnership with her and the Afghan embassy and I've always been impressed at how tirelessly she worked to keep us in the US informed about and engaged in Afghanistan's affairs. She is not only a very talented diplomat, but her unwavering passion for her country and its citizens has made her a very well known and highly respected ambassador in Washington circles. You're welcome. I'd also like to warmly welcome Uzbekistan's Ambassador Wahhabab back to USIP virtually. He has been a very keen dynamic ambassador and articulate spokesman for reforms in Uzbekistan and an enthusiastic partner for USIP. We're also very fortunate to have Ambassador Khajihanov with us today. He's not only a very seasoned diplomat, having previously served as Kazakhstan's foreign minister, but has also played an important role in helping to create Kazakhstan's foreign assistance agency, Khazade, to support stability in the region and in particular in Afghanistan. So very relevant to today's discussion. And last, but certainly not least, I'm very pleased to be able to welcome back to USIP the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Ambassador Khlyzad. Ambassador Khlyzad has worked tirelessly since his appointment in September 2018 to support a peace process that we all hope will result in a politically negotiated end over four decades of war and suffering in Afghanistan. So thanks again to all of you for taking the time to join us today. As many of you know, USIP was founded by the US Congress 35 years ago as an independent, nonpartisan national institute charged with the vital mission of preventing, mitigating, and resolving violent conflict. USIP has been involved in Afghanistan since 2002 and supporting a sustainable and inclusive peace process in Afghanistan remains one of USIP's highest priority programs. Through our teams based in Afghanistan and in our DC headquarters, we support a range of programmatic activities, provide advice to policymakers, and conduct research and analysis, much of which you can access from USIP's website. In addition to our work in Afghanistan, USIP has been providing grants to organizations working to prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict in Central Asia since 2003. Over the past few years USIP has expanded our Central Asia program in partnership with the US State Department's C5 plus one initiative. This initiative provides a platform to convene government stakeholders, experts, and civil society leaders from the five Central Asian States plus the US to share and promote best practices and approaches to countering and preventing violent extremism. I had the pleasure last October to attend the most recent CVE consultative working group in Summercon along with USIP's president Nancy Limborg. I enjoyed the opportunity to engage with government leaders on current trends and best practices for CVE policy, not to mention the opportunity to visit the spectacular sites of Summercon and Bukhara. Today's discussion comes at a critical and highly uncertain time for the Afghanistan peace process. While there is great hope that talks will begin soon between the Afghan government and the Taliban, there are still hurdles to overcome, including unacceptably high acts of violence and a dispute over prisoner releases between the Afghan government and the Taliban. Even if intra-Afghan negotiations do move forward, a successful political settlement and sustainable peace in Afghanistan will not be possible without strong regional support and consensus. While Afghanistan's eastern and western neighbors tend to draw the most headlines, its northern neighbors are linked together by robust historical and cultural ties. A peaceful Afghanistan would open opportunities for enhanced regional connectivity. As President Ashraf Ghani has noted, Afghanistan can serve as the key regional trade roundabout for Asia, linking South and Central Asia and mutual prosperity. The format for today's event is to have each ambassador provide brief opening remarks which will be followed by a moderated discussion and will end with a question and answer session with the online audience. With that, let me thank our online audience and panelists once again and turn things over to the moderator of today's discussion, Scott Warden, who is the director of USIP's Afghanistan and Central Asia programs. And a big thanks to Scott for taking time off from his family holiday to join us this morning. So over to you, Scott. Thank you, Andrew, and good morning, everyone. It's also my pleasure to be part of this event with four distinguished ambassadors. I want to also reiterate Andrew's remarks that in all of the discussions about difficulties and challenges facing the Afghan peace process, I think this will be a discussion that has a more positive and promising prospect because the support that Afghanistan's northern neighbors have given to Afghanistan over years of conflict and hopefully be a source of support going forward. Without further ado, let me turn over to Ambassador Rahmani to give remarks and then I will lead a moderated discussion after all four ambassadors. Ambassador Rahmani, the floor is yours. Assalamu alaikum, may peace be upon you. I would repeat what Mr. Wilder said, good morning, good afternoon, and good evening depending on wherever you are. It's a great pleasure to join Ambassador Javlan, Vakavov, Ambassador Arjan, Kazakanov, and Ambassador Khayeliza to discuss how we can continue to unlock the enormous potential for peace and prosperity in the region. I want to thank the US Institute of Peace for organizing this important discussion. I want to thank Mr. Wilder for his opening remarks and Mr. Warden for steering us throughout this session. Afghanistan and Central Asia constituted an important segment of the great Silk Road, connecting Central Asia to Asia. To which people, ideas, goods, and knowledge, and cultures flow. Our shared history and cultural heritage is a testament to that. Ebni Sinau, the father of the early medicine, came from Afghanistan and lived in Bukhara, while Al Biruni, the father of comparative religion, and the first anthropologist came from Uzbekistan, but mostly lived in Ghazni province of Afghanistan. However, our shared history and cultural heritage did not keep us sufficiently connected, and today Central Asia and South Asia are among the least integrated regions in the world. But fortunately, opportunities for collaboration are abundant, and we recognize that our economic development, security, and futures are tied together. We need policies and relationships reflective to that. Intraragional trade could be dramatically expanded. One way to address this is by implementing what's already in the paper. For example, one key barrier is the cost and time of cross-border intraragional trade, fully implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement could be extremely beneficial for addressing this issue in this region and beyond. The TIR Convention is another great instrument. Furthermore, we can help exporters access markets by reducing tariffs, easing the process of obtaining business visas, and help better facilitate banking transactions. Infrastructure development is at the core of regional cooperation. Central Asian governments are already collaborating on the Lapis-Lazuli corridor, progressing the digital CASA project, and working on the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program with ADB focusing on electricity, railways, and roads. Afghanistan and Uzbekistan are now connected by rail and have daily services, which has been key during the pandemic. Afghanistan was able to ship goods all the way to China, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan because of this connection. But this is not all. We have so many opportunities to help each other grow. We just need to take advantage of the opportunities in front of us, whether they are in electricity, gas, fiber optics, or scaling up our agricultural products by combining them. And independently, we produce exports on a small scale, which makes it difficult for us to compete on the world stage, despite having a comparative advantage on both agricultural products and natural resources. If we combined our outputs, we would all be more competitive. Furthermore, we need to work collaboratively to make our borders both more secure and more efficient. We need to streamline customs and make it easier for legitimate actors, such as business people and tourists, to pass through. Similarly, we need to increase our intelligence sharing and improve our coordination on security matters. These are not all new ideas, but things we need to continue to work on. We don't need to reinvent the wheel. We need to cement the foundations that we have already established. The Afghan people need their Central Asian neighbors to support Afghanistan's peace process with their consensus and commitment to a stable, peaceful, and free Afghanistan. That's reflective of its people's dreams and aspirations, an Afghanistan that continues to cherish the achievements of its past two decades and builds on them, and an Afghanistan that works with all its neighbors and allies with openness and constructiveness. These values are also key to retaining foreign investment, terms like free and open, or at the core of the lexicon of all U.S. policies, be it domestic or international. This is reflected in the U.S. national security strategy in Central Asia. In order to maintain the support of our allies and build a durable peace, we must fearlessly protect our democratic values. As we pursue a more integrated future, we need to keep in mind the nexus between poverty and conflict. Poverty does not always cause conflict or turn young men into terrorists, but it does create an environment in which increasing number of people have virtually no opportunity costs. Extremism grows where there is no hope. As countries with large youth populations, we need to reach out to our young people with opportunities and show them the hope for a better future. Today more than ever, we must prioritize strengthening regional economic cooperation, which will play a critical role in providing socioeconomics and security benefits for the entire region. A peace deal may plant the seeds of peace, but development and regional cooperation are what makes peace grow. It makes economic development and trust in the future to encourage people to truly invest in peace, peace and development or interdependent. Without peace, there is no development, and without development, there is no peace. Over the past few decades, we have keenly felt the opportunity costs and risks involved in not pursuing greater integration. Increased integration is mutually beneficial for all parties and will allow us to keep us, to keep up with the rest of the world as people move and the world develops and changes. To sum up, in order to get up to speed, our countries need to harmonize regulation and remove barriers for trade and investment so that investors can look at the region collectively and invest with more ease. This would reduce corruption and make trade flow, which both boosts opportunity for us and make us more attractive to foreign direct investors. It's clear to me that the path to peace includes deepening integration with our neighbors and partners. Not only do we have a shared rich past, but we have an intertwined future. Now, we need to align our vision and efforts to maximize the potential for our future. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, it isn't enough to talk about peace. We must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. We must work at it. Let's get to work together. I thank you all. Thank you very much, Ambassador Rakhmani, for those remarks. Let me pass over to Ambassador Bahaba. The floor is yours. So dear Dr. Wilder, Mr. Warden, my fellow ambassadors, it gives me a great pleasure to speak today about Uzbekistan's role in facilitating peace and stability, economic recovery, and greater resilience in Afghanistan when this country, despite many challenges, is on the cusp of a historic peace. And as never before, it is a high time for inclusive and unified government of Afghanistan and the Taliban to overcome their differences, seize the opportunity, and achieve long-deserved sustainable peace. And Uzbekistan is standing ready to support brotherly Afghanistan on this path. You know well, over the decades Uzbekistan has been trying to promote peace in Afghanistan, being at the forefront with several initiatives, including establishment in 1997 of the contact group Six Plus Two that was later transformed to Six Plus Three format, with participation of the six neighboring countries to Afghanistan, plus major powers and NATO, all aimed at peaceful resolution of the Afghan conflict. However, new momentum in this process has been gained after high-level international conference on Afghanistan, which took place on the initiative President Shafkat Mirzioev in March 2018 in Tashkent. Indeed, it was not a one-time event, it became a breakthrough in the quest for ways the Afghans sat on. Tashkent declaration adopted that the conference became a certain peace program for Afghanistan with a set of principles for peace and reconciliation, countering terrorism and economic reconstruction, all recognized by the international community. It was at the Tashkent conference where international community became united with a cornerstone approach to promote direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban without preconditions. And in order to implement the Tashkent declaration in close coordination with Kabul, Uzbekistan has several rounds of negotiations with the leaders of the main Afghan internal political forces, as well as Taliban representatives in order to better understand their position and seek compromises. And moreover, we have maintained a continuous dialogue with the United States, Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, India, and other countries of the region, as well as with key states of the Muslim world on the issue of Afghan settlement. And promoting the Afghanistan peace process and supporting the goal of a durable political settlement was also part of the agenda of inaugural U.S.-Afghanistan Uzbekistan trilateral meeting co-chaired by Under Secretary David Hale, Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Mohammad Hanif Atmar, and Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan Abdulaziz Kamilov on May 27 that led to establishing working groups on economy, security, and political cooperation. In order to achieve sustainable and long-term peace in Afghanistan, we deemed it necessary to hold on to key principles of political settlement above all, abstention from violence, comprehensive ceasefire, readiness to dialogue, and compromises. As President Shafkart Mirzoyev has underscored, secure Afghanistan means secure Uzbekistan, prosperous and stable south and central Asia. And we remain committed to do our utmost in order to ensure the success of peace talks in Afghanistan. We are standing ready to provide a platform for direct, inclusive negotiations. And along with the peace process, we understand the significance of investing into economic sustainability, social stability of Afghanistan, and educating young generation of Afghans. We stopped looking at Afghanistan as a source of problems, headaches, and realizing that the counter presents a unique opportunity for the entire Central Asia to have the shortest access to seaports and energy markets in South Asia. We would like to see Afghanistan as well integrated into Central Asian economic process. And we cannot stress enough how it is important. Afghanistan is already a top 10 trading partner of Uzbekistan with trade turnover amounted to more than $600 million in 2019, almost 30% increase compared with 2016. These volumes are expected to increase up to $1.5 billion in the years to come. And given the increased challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, so maintaining uninterrupted supply of food commodities in essential medicine has become crucial as never before. Uzbekistan has provided humanitarian aid with vitally important food commodities and PPE to neighboring Afghanistan amid the pandemic. And during the visit of Ambassador Halal Zat, whom I'm very glad to see today, and DFC CEO Adam Boyler, to Uzbekistan on late June, we have explored opportunities for DFC's engagement in the number of Uzbekistan infrastructure projects contributing to expansion of economic relations and connectivity between Afghanistan and Central Asia. And I would like to particularly welcome the DFC's willingness to support establishing the Regional Investment Fund with all Central Asian countries as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India aimed at improving infrastructure development and regional connectivity. One of the most important projects that my fellow ambassador of Afghanistan has mentioned is the construction of a railway from Missouri Shari to Kabul that could subsequently be extended eastwards to Pakistan, city of Peshawar, with further access to the ports of Guadar and Karachi. And along with the shortest access to the ports of the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, it also creates thousands of new jobs for Afghan citizens, providing transit revenues and increase the trade turnover. In order to facilitate trade and transit of goods in 2016, we have established a logistic center in the thousand part of Uzbekistan, term as cargo with cargo servicing capacity of 70 containers per day that provides a complex of transport and logistics services for customs clearance, cargo handling, terminal warehousing, intermodal transportation to and from Afghanistan. And during the trilateral meeting on May, we also agreed to promote trade through the development of the free economic zone at the Termes border crossing. For over 15 years Uzbekistan has been a reliable partner of Kabul in the field of electricity supply. So compared to compared with 2002, the volume of electricity supplies to Afghanistan increased by 30 times. And effective from January 2018 Uzbekistan reduced the price of electricity supply to Afghanistan by 45 percent to five cents per kilowatt. Uzbekistan has also started to started the construction of 500 kilowatts of current political power transmission line in Afghanistan after its completion. So Uzbekistan will be able to increase the electricity supply to Afghanistan by 70 percent up to six billion kilowatts hours per year. The implementation of this project will provide opportunities to increase the production capacity and create of course new jobs in Afghanistan. Moreover, it can become an integral part of the Casa 1000 project connecting Kabul to the unified energy system of the entire Central Asia. So another vital project is the use of the potential of the educational center in Termes to train Afghan specialists. Currently the center is successfully operating with 170 Afghan students including women. The training them based on skill oriented programs. In the future we are planning to increase this number, I mean the number of students up to 250. So joint efforts to implement these and other infrastructure projects facilitating cross-border trade and agriculture for greater food security cooperation in the field of health and pharmaceutical supplies to address the challenges of COVID-19 as well as support of women's economic empowerment within the U.S. government led WGDP initiative were discussed during U.S. Afghanistan Uzbekistan trilateral economic working group meeting this Tuesday and we look forward to a practical implementation of the defined roadmap. To conclude I would like to stress that without peace in Brotherly Afghanistan we will never reach prosperity in the region in the region of Central Asia. The prospects of sustainable development in Central Asia are inextricably linked with the achievement of peace in neighboring Afghanistan. So the biggest solution is the comprehensive support in terms of Afghanistan's integration into regional economic processes and my country has been and will continue to support the peace process actively engaged in the economic reconstruction of Afghanistan facilitate the development of transport and energy infrastructure and train the people to the best of our knowledge. Thank you for your attention. Thank you very much and let us move now directly through Ambassador Kazakano. Well, thank you very much. Good morning. I'm delighted to join our good friends and colleagues and I hope you and your families are staying safe during these difficult times and I would like to thank the International Peace Institute for providing its platform to facilitate our exchange of views and informative discussion and I would also like to take this opportunity and welcome my colleague Ambassador of Afghanistan, Ambassador of Uzbekistan and Ambassador Halilzad. Speaking about the topic on the consideration I would like to start by saying that for the past 20 years Kazakhstan has been actively involved in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan through its tireless efforts across the whole spectrum of areas including assistance to national security forces infrastructure development food security education empowerment of women and many more representing Central Asia in the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member in 2018 Kazakhstan sponsored a high level debate on building regional partnership in Afghanistan and Central Asia as a model to link security and development. As you recall we also led United Nations Security Council visit to Kabul in January 2018. My country proposed to create a model zone of peace security and cooperation in Central Asia to transform the landlock region into land linked one by connecting it to neighboring regions through trade transit transportation and energy exchange including Afghanistan. It is our principal position that Afghanistan should be viewed not as a threat but as an important and high potential partner. Recently President of Kazakhstan Tokayev appointed one of the seasoned Kazakh diplomats Dalgad Khalif as a special envoy for Afghanistan. We welcome signing of the agreement for bringing peace to Afghanistan in Doha in February 2020 and looking forward to its successful implementation and formation of inclusive Afghan government. I would like to take this opportunity and highly commend the tireless efforts of Ambassador Halilzad and I'm sure that you've been doing great job and you have the full support from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is ready to make a substantial input into the peace building process in Afghanistan. We believe that Central Asian countries can play a pivotal role in providing a solid basis for the inter-Afghan talks. Kazakhstan believes that security and development are closely interrelated. We recognize and strengthen the security development nexus. In that regard we are confident that the projects pursued by Central Asian countries with Kabul will support and contribute to peace and stability in Afghanistan. In other words security and development today have an aspect that is more regional than country specific and therefore requires regional approach. Over the last years Kazakhstan allocated six million US dollars to assist Afghan national security forces and provides smooth functioning of the northern distribution network. It is important to advance regional cooperation to counter illicit drug trafficking and this slide would like to draw your attention to the Central Asian regional information and coordination center operating under the auspices of UNDC in Almaty that place an integral part in this efforts. With its immense potential its favorable geography and considerable human capital Afghanistan could and should be seen as a strong partner to join economic projects. Once rich in stability and sustainable growth Afghanistan should become an important bridge connecting Central Asia with enormous market of South Asia and beyond. We support expanding our economic cooperation with this country as well as support Kabul's membership at a trade and investment framework agreement between the United States and Central Asia. Strong and peaceful Afghanistan is a good neighbor of Central Asia will have a great positive impact on our region. To date Kazakhstan provided more than 80 million US dollars worth of assistance to Afghanistan. My country has participated in the construction of critical social and transport infrastructure in Afghanistan. We are interested in supporting new projects and enhancing our trade cooperation with Kabul. We also call on the donor community to increase its contribution to peace and development in and around Afghanistan. Kazakhstan is working to create a United Nations-led regional hub in Almaty designed to help deliver coordinated support for the implementation of sustainable development goals to the countries of the whole region. Our flagship education program trained more than 1000 Afghan students in Kazakhstan's universities. In 2018 Kazakhstan hosted a first regional conference on empowering women in Afghanistan and we have its direct outcomes the education program for Afghan women in universities of Kazakhstan. This is very much in line with the US Women's Global Development Prosperity Initiative. We would like to join our hands to promote long-term economic resilience by encouraging and promoting full participation and empowerment of women. Currently Kazakhstan implementing EU and UNDP sponsored program on vocational education for Afghani girls. The scholarship will last for two years whereby students will have a chance to leave and study in our southern capital the city of Almaty. This year in light of COVID-19 Kazakhstan delivered significant amount of food products as our humanitarian aid to Afghanistan and to conclude I would like to say that being the biggest economy in the region Kazakhstan is undertaking every effort to assist global and regional development that remains an essential element of the country's foreign and economic policy. Thank you very much. Thank you very much ambassador and finally let me pass the microphone to Ambassador Kvilsak. Well thank you very much Scott. It's a pleasure to be back with USIP and it's a great honor to be with the distinguished ambassadors that have already spoken the Ambassador of Afghanistan, the Ambassador Uzbekistan and the Ambassador of Kazakhstan. Our sending statements have been made by the three distinguished ambassadors. I would like to reflect on what has been said and make four points. Point one, this is an important moment for Afghanistan and for the region. Perhaps a defining moment. Second, that what happens in Afghanistan will have a significant impact for the region and what the region does will have an important impact on Afghanistan. This is a moment for peace to be pursued in Afghanistan and for development, stability, and trade and integration that that peace can facilitate. And third, that the United States has been active on both tracks, the track of peace in Afghanistan and the track of regional integration and regional trade developing common vision if you like for regional development, security and prosperity between Central Asian countries and Afghanistan and between Afghanistan and South Asia starting with Pakistan in the hope that ultimately over time Afghanistan can bring the Central Asian nations and South Asian nations together for the common and glorious objective of a peaceful, prosperous and stable region. Let me say that we are very much committed to doing our part the United States in achieving both objectives. The objective of peace and the objective of regional development and cooperation that is needed to sustain if there is a peace agreement among Afghans and then to achieve the benefits or to make progress on achieving the potential benefits and opportunities that that peace can provide. Regarding peace in Afghanistan, why do I say this is a perhaps a defining moment as several of you have said that Afghanistan has never been closer to an Afghan-owned, Afghan-led peace process defined as negotiations between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan negotiating team and the Taliban. The war in Afghanistan has been an obstacle to the potential that we have talked about. It has been a huge burden on the people of Afghanistan who are yearning for peace and it has been a burden on the international community especially the United States. With the agreement signed between the United States and the Taliban, the next step is inter-Afghan negotiations. Two issues stand in the way. One is the issue of prisoners that have been agreed to be released or exchanged between the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan. I'm pleased that as of now the Afghan government has released more than 4,400 according to its own numbers out of 5,000 that has been the goal and the Taliban have released intern from the objective of 1,000 prisoners 861. Most of the distance has been traveled in this difficult road but the last mile remains very challenging and we are committed very much with working with the Afghan government and with the Taliban to get to the objective of satisfying the concerns with regard to the prison release as a confidence building measure of the prisons exchange so that inter-Afghan negotiations can start. The second issue has been the issue of violence and that violence has been too high. We are working with both the government of Afghanistan as well as the Taliban to encourage a reduction of violence by all sides. Too many Afghans are dying. We are also delivering on our commitment to the Afghan government and to the Afghan security forces and consistent with the agreement that we have signed with the Taliban to come to the defense of the Afghan security forces when they are attacked and to continue as described in the joint statement that was issued on the same day that we signed the agreement with the Taliban and the commitment that we made with Afghanistan restating our principal goals and commitments to the people and the government of Afghanistan. I'm hoping that we as we move closer to inter-Afghan negotiations which I hope will happen in the coming weeks and that violence will be less than it is now although currently this year so far the number of Afghan security forces killed is between 35 and 40 percent less than last year for the same period and the number of civilians killed is also significantly lower for the same period compared to last year. Of course we're pleased that since the agreement was signed and no American or coalition soldier has been killed by the Taliban in Afghanistan but although what I described in terms of decreased levels is significant we're not satisfied we want further reductions. Second issue is the issue of the region and the role of the region with regard to the peace process. I'm grateful to for the support that our efforts has had from friendly countries partner countries of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. We believe that these countries have an important role to play in encouraging the Afghan sides the government and the Taliban to overcome the challenge of that remain the challenge of violence and prisoners then to facilitate while center afghan negotiations begin to help encourage compromises on an agreement on a political roadmap that ends the afghan war there is an agreement on a permanent ceasefire and a political formula for ending the suffering of the afghan people and then subsequently once an agreement is reached to help sustain that agreement by encouraging implementation of the agreement by the side that made the agreement and then to sustain it and on sustainment I come to my third point which is the issue of development that peace facilities as the ambassador of afghanistan said so eloquently peace opens the opportunity to for further economic development that needs to be taken advantage of but at the same time that peace for peace to be sustained economic development is also not only important but perhaps necessary and on on that point I would like to say that we have developed already a lot has happened between afghanistan and central asia and between afghan afghanistan and pakistan but we are encouraging more we have established as i was as was described a trilateral with Uzbekistan including afghanistan we're about to start the trilateral with afghanistan with tajikistan we're working on an agreement between afghanistan and pakistan with support from our british colleagues all as parallel and related and in support of the peace process but also being preparing for broadening and deepening economic ties trade and cooperation so that during the period of getting to peace but also if there is an agreement on peace during the implementation and there is steps in place for taking advantage of that peace for the well-being of the people of the region for greater trade in goods and services and in investment opportunities that would become available last point although big decisions are to be made by the leaders of the region which will have significant consequences decisions that are going to be faced challenges that will have to be overcome and the united states will do its part i want to assure you all that we will do our part both to get to peace and then to achieve the great potential for economic cooperation and economic prosperity that exists we want a unified democratic peaceful afghanistan that is at peace with itself and with the region and we want a region that is more integrated more developed and more cooperative with each other to achieve the great potential and we'd like to see a friendly relationship between the united states post cooperation between the united states and afghanistan and the region including ultimately central asia afghanistan and south asia as for the future well-being of the people of the region and also for the well-being of the world thank you very much thank you very much and that's where it clears out and and to all of the speakers for really comprehensive and thorough remarks i want to i'll ask a few questions now i will note that you can people that are viewing this live can ask questions on youtube chat feature and they can also join the discussion via twitter on hashtag afghan peace my first question is noting that there's a strong common theme among all of the presentations about the economic opportunity that greater integration of afghanistan with central asia in a peaceful environment and bring there's a debate in in all these processes is what are the incentives to bring the parties to agreement and to overcome spoilers and while the economic realities and benefits seem clear they have not been enough so far to achieve breakthroughs and my question is given the opportunities that are discussed here today how can those be packaged communicated used as an incentive to the parties that are delaying the peace process whether that is parties within afghanistan or outside of afghanistan so how can these economic opportunities be inserted into the peace process so they really act as pressure on different parties to come to an agreement let me ask you first investor if we'll start and then ideas from the other investors i think you may be on you thank you scott of course the primary motivation for peace in afghanistan is the desire of the afghan people for peace the costs of war and the length of time that the war has taken war wariness by the parties and i believe that the economic incentives can be an additional factor and that's why by recognizing the opportunities that are there the great potential that exists in afghanistan itself the afghanistan's g&p for example right now is something like 19 billion plus dollars it can easily be one and a half time and that and more over time there are great resources that can be developed there is great potential in connectivity and trade that can be achieved but what stands in the way is of achieving all the potential as as quickly as it's possible is the conflict that projects some of which have been committed to in terms of developing the country's resources have not been implemented even by foreign investors because of the import because of the conflict and the taliban also on the other side have access to some resources but those are if you compare them in terms of numbers are quite limited so that's why i took mr bowler with me on the last trip to see talk with the president ghani who has a great vision for the the future of the not only afghanistan economic people but also for the for the region in terms of connectivity and and trade to talk to him talk to dr abdallah who has a responsibility for peace and to the taliban and i have to say that those conversations are very very interesting and very useful and we did it similarly in the region because we are willing to invest not only ourselves but with partner countries the ambassador of zubeckistan talked about the regional fund but we've talked to the countries of the gulf we're talking with others we're spending 38 billion dollars now for the military effort in afghanistan others are spending money on the military effort imagine if a portion of that because if we could save that because of a piece is invested in economic development and the opportunities that exist so we are we are doing scott our part i'm sure we're just starting more can be done and and more will be done in cooperation with others in the coming weeks thank you let me ask if ambassador athmani would like to give her response or other ideas on how the positive benefits of greater economic integration can be directly thank you and uh building on the ideas that ambassador how is that mentioned i would also say that in order to stop this vicious cycle we need to take some bold steps uh we are catching this vicious cycle of insecurity and therefore there's no development and because there's no development insecurity continues as long as the cost of war is too low and as i understand with 60 million dollars you can continue the war in afghanistan and it's too low so the we need to bring the benefits of peace high enough in order to stop and break out of the cycle i again say we need some bold steps boldest steps that given is still the situation we are in in order to break through we need to work together and invest in regional cooperation and economic development to get those people that out of poverty and lack of opportunities turn to violence to prevent them from turning to violence so i think that we need to bring the price of peace lower than the price for the the benefits of war otherwise this is going to unfortunately continue and we will be stuck in the vicious cycle we need some practical steps to be taken we have done a lot in terms of the meetings we have great agreements in place we have uh made memorandums of understandings with all our partners but in terms of the practical steps i think we are uh falling quite sharp and therefore we need to just ramp up those efforts thank you thank you very much let me turn to emesser bapavov you mentioned the tashkent conference and you mentioned uzbekistan's active diplomacy in trying to facilitate political agreement between the apian parties you know related to the discussion we've just been having are there more specific ways that you think uzbekistan or potentially your your neighbors can incentivize the different parties or obstacles to a peace process so thank you so much for this question you know we are very optimistic about the prospects of the peace talks and hope that inclusive intra afghan negotiations will lead to finding compromises between all parties involved and we hope still hope the formation of a high council for national reconciliation will be completed soon and it will start working with taliban towards peace reconciliation and the national unity so we are also confident that the reduction in violence leading to ceasefire with safe lives thousands of lives creates more conducive environment to begin intra afghan peace negotiations and enable the government to focus on addressing challenges posed by COVID-19 so we are firm believers that intra afghan talks should reflect the best interest of all afghan people and efforts pertaining to the peace process should not erode the fundamental rights guaranteed so by the constitution and and international law and here i would like also to underscore that our offer to conduct intra afghan peace talks in sumarkand is still stand we are ready to create all the necessary conditions for direct negotiations between the government of afghanistan and the taliban so in this context Uzbekistan already had experience in in handling conflict settlement we demonstrated real politics through facilitating the settlement of the inter tragic conflict in 1997 and for 25 years border and border issues with our neighbors have remained in limbo and thanks to to a new regional approach by president mercy yoyev thanks to his neighbor's first policy uh a compromise was reached over the over all sensitive issues so due to these reasons we we are confident that the long-awaited peace and stability in Afghanistan could be definitely cheated thank you very much i want to ask a question from the audience and this is from wally frozon and he asks what are the chances of a full withdrawal of u.s troops in the near future so i'll turn to investor khalilzad first on that but i want to broaden the question uh and to include others as well and that is about the broader issue of a u.s troop presence and what it means for geopolitics of the region because certainly the u.s troop presence has been a stabilizing force in some ways and it is one of the key objectives of the taliban uh in order to continue with negotiations russia and china also have interesting concerns regarding the u.s troop presence and have interest in central asia and so first to investor khalilzad if you want to say anything about the trajectory of u.s troops but for the other ambassadors let me turn to you after that and ask how do you see the specific issue of u.s troops affecting greater regional politics oh thank you scott thank you the questioner as you all know we have agreed in the agreement that we have signed with the taliban and that assuming conditions that those troops are not necessary our troops are not necessary to be in afghanistan the united states would like to bring its troops home and the same is true of our coalition partners and we have a timetable for withdrawal of those forces but the withdrawal is very much condition-based and so at this point we have finished the first phase of the withdrawal of u.s forces to bringing them down to 8600 we are in phase two now and we'll see whether the taliban honored their commitments because our decisions our commitments are contingent on their commitment and the agreement has four elements the element of counterterrorism the element of withdrawal of course and then the element of intra afghan negotiations and an agreement on a comprehensive permanent ceasefire we do not seek a presence in afghanistan a military presence as an end in itself it'll be it'll be determined by the conditions and i have described them let me say a word on the perspective of others both china and russia and others have expressed the support for this approach and the u.n security council endorsed as you know the u.s taliban agreement and the afghan government in the joint statement that we issued on the same day also embraces the same and the same perspective the same elements so that's where we are that's our approach and we we are on course uh with with that approach thank you ambassador kazakhonov maybe i can turn to you with this question if you have thoughts on on u.s true presence and how that affects the region but also more broadly with central asia being in between russia and china and with the significant u.s presence through our afghanistan engagement how do you see the evolving geostrategic picture going along with afghan peace negotiations well thank you very much scott i would be very brief it's obvious that security and stability in afghanistan plays an important role for central asia and we know that the u.s have decreased the number of u.s troops military personnel in afghanistan and in this regard we hope that the united states will ensure safe and responsible drawdown of troops and will not commit a security vacuum in afghanistan that will be my answer thank you very much let me take another question from richard hoagland uh former u.s official in the region and he asks about the c5 plus one so this is the cooperation project of the us and the five central asian for soviet republics uh can that be expanded to afghanistan is the question and i would amplify that by saying you know to what extent does afghanistan play a role in helping the broader central asian region improve communications trade and cultural exchange let me ask ambassador bachaba to speak to that first i think he may be muted so before i turn to answering this question just wanted to to make some comments regarding the uh u.s troops withdrawal from afghanistan so in in our understanding so the presence of u.s troops in afghanistan so has been ensuring in many dimensions overall security in the region of central asia for many years and how however considering the importance of achieving sustainable peace in afghanistan ensuring regional and the and international security the troops withdrawal uh the coalition troops withdrawal in our views should be done with the view regard for the progress of achieving peace and all aspects of its sustainability so with respect to the question uh so addressed by ambassador hoagland uh so i'm very pleased to let you know that the that the trilateral cooperation format that the united states was back in afghanistan that that was launched just a few months ago and held its first meeting recently and went extremely well and and very productive and as a result of all those arrangements that we've been able to achieve uh so this week on tuesday as i have mentioned in my remarks so the economic working group meeting within the framework of the trilateral format held its first meeting very promising i would say and so many opportunities to explore so the all parties involved so have been discussing and we and was it got to to the linkage was it got to the c5 plus one format indeed afghanistan is a high is a hot topic within the framework of c5 plus one so every single time when the leaders are gathering so we are focusing on on the security issues and touching upon the afghanistan constellation process as well and in this regard i think these two formats may have future in terms of in terms of working together and at this point i just wanted to stress on another format is that we i mean the usbekistan and government and its leadership are in favor of and i'm talking about tifa trade and investment framework agreement that has been signed several years ago and now we are very much looking forward to to joining afghanistan to to this format and actually being a part of the economic dimension of the c5 plus one platform has actually so being a part of this tifa format and hopefully so this year during the summit of the tifa ministerial we'll be able to achieve compromise and afghanistan finally will be will be the member of this format so that is the way how we are envisioning the involvement of afghanistan into c5 plus one format scott i want to say a word that we support what the ambassador who's back just on a set and we favor an ever stronger relationship between c5 and afghanistan and in the c5 plus one format one being the united states and in fact when mr boron and i traveled to usbekistan we had a session with the c5 ministers focused on afghan peace and preparing for that peace should have happened as i said challenges are obviously still there what the implications could be in terms of regional development trade and what the united states is prepared to do to help and we think that's of an important format and increased cooperation and integration of afghanistan with it we believe is an important objective and we we applaud what the the ambassador who's back just on set thank you very much let me just turn briefly to the ambassador has a cut off and then to you investor afghani about this issue in terms of integrating afghanistan into the c5 plus one or other regional institutions yeah scott thank you very much i mentioned in my introductory remarks that we welcome afghanistan's full membership at the trade and investment framework agreement that exists between central asia and the united states we think that c5 plus one format that has been initially proposed by kazastan plays an important role in the region and we think that great involvement of afghanistan into this platform would be very instrumental and afghanistan remains to be one of the important topics of the discussions at the c5 plus one meetings at the ministerial level and so we're looking forward to welcome afghanistan and that would be my answer thank you ambassador afghani thank you sure i just want to add a few additional points to what has been already said about this and addressing the incentives why why these mechanisms should be supported and improved number one afghanistan is the shortest path connecting central asia and south asia there is an abundance of energy resources in central asia that south asia is really very much in need um likewise there is a certain products that like cotton that central asia could export to south asia and south asia in turn can export one of their prominent products or the top products which is garments which is very much here among the region and there is abundant opportunities as such that should there be mechanisms more for cooperation and connectivity than all of these could service and benefit all of us in terms of the c plus five c five plus one we are looking forward to join to be joining this platform because this would contribute in terms of coordination towards peace and stability in the region for security in the region as well as economic development some practical suggestions in terms of how we could uh take this uh into action would be a lot of the american companies over the past few years have taken lots of interest and have started their businesses in uzbekistan with the help of dfc and thanks to ambassador khalilzad on the trip that they made uh to the region we think that it is not too difficult to expand their branches to afghanistan that way this this would uh plan the seeds of cooperation we would put our labor and and the and the youth young population of afghanistan into work and that would contribute in turn into stability and economic development i believe that the investment in infrastructure is key to peace and stability in afghanistan and in the region why is that because uh infrastructure would bring connectivity to the region connectivity will bring people together and that's what belz trust without trust we can't have peace whether it is within the nation or outside and abroad so i think that this equation of being least integrated region needs to be uh inverted and reversed in order for all of us to reach the uh potentials that we have and we all deserve thank you very much for that let me take another question from the audience and this is from jennifer grossman and she says how can women in afghanistan and central asia be supported in peace building and in economic development so let me go back to you ambassador afmani obviously women's rights is a key concern of many afghans in negotiations with the taliban so how do you see that playing out and what can be done to better empower women and include women in the peace process well my first reaction is how can you have peace and development without incorporating full participation of women peace and development or simply not going to take place and descend in afghanistan and in the region unless you utilize all the human capacity and the potential and the country has and neglecting half of its resources of course is not going to get us anywhere uh in terms of the how we could practically put that into action the initiatives like ambassador bakavov referred to in terms of exchanges capacity building providing opportunities for the women entrepreneurs for women businesses to be part of it is of is of immense importance another very important aspect as we are at the brink of this unprecedented opportunity for peace is that we need to ensure two very important aspects of for a durable and sustainable peace to be very well elaborated in this process one of course is we have heard a lot about the meaningful but i would say substantive participation of women women should not be an issue on the table but they should be a party in the table in order to make sure that uh we would achieve sustainable and durable peace number two is economic development must be a very essential part of uh moving forward and uh thinking about the future of afghanistan not only between the islamic government of afghanistan and the taliban that they're negotiating but also and uh something that our partners who have helped us so significantly over the past two decades and we are extremely grateful for that as well as the neighbors who will be playing a role and have played a major role uh need to concentrate on what is our agenda of breaking from this cycle of conflict and that is true development that is true economic integration because other than that we are not living in a world that we can insulate and isolate ourselves therefore we need to all be invested and look into creative ways we are countries in the region with very young population we need to invest in them and make sure that we provide them the opportunities that they deserve and women are a very integral and fundamental part of this uh i don't uh of course i understand why this question should be first directed to me but i think i need all the other panelists to be talking more than i do about this in order for this to really materialize thank you thank you it's a good point well let me give ambassador tazikhan off a chance uh to elaborate on that since he mentioned this topic a bit first call thank you very much i absolutely agree with uh ambassador of afghanistan that uh women empowerment is absolutely important issue i mentioned in my remarks in the beginning that two years ago in september 2018 kazakhstan initiated the regional conference on the environment of women in afghanistan so we hosted a high-level delegation from afghanistan at the ministerial level there were women represented from all capitals of central asia and the main topic was their entrepreneurship exchange of experience and knowledges how women from all the countries of central asia and afghanistan can support each other and help each other to uh promote education etc so if you go into the um cities of kazakhstan you will find hundreds of afghanistan students studying in kazakhstan and a lot of girls among them and i mentioned that european union for example has allocated two point two and a half million dollars for the special program of girls vocational education and we are about to start implementing this this project and i also encourage very much encourage our us partners to to look into the women entrepreneurship and empowerment of women of afghanistan through the lenses of women global development and prosperity prosperity initiative and much could be learned from the experience of central asian countries first and foremost kazakhstan uh where we have uh quite a sensible sizable number of women in the parliament we have uh women in the government and and we have a special entities and bodies bringing together women entrepreneurs throughout the country and i think the sky's the limit and we we are ready to work hand in hand with our us partners in this direction thank you thank you very much we just have a minute remaining in the session and i want to ask a question from pamela constable of the washington post she asks it to investor khalilzad and that is what do you see looking forward are the greatest regional challenges to concluding a peace agreement i think the biggest challenges is to decrease the prospects or the potential for spoiling behavior uh because of unrelated problems of afghanistan and one has to do with our relations with iran uh that iran uh has not been as supportive as it should be uh in the effort to get to inter afghan negotiations and to an afghan settlement largely because of the the state of our relationship with them and their recommendations if i take seriously what the deputy minister foreign minister of iran said in Kabul uh a few days ago was he doesn't like the peace process and he doesn't like the u.s military presence in afghanistan which which means a formula that they prefer is that the u.s abandons afghanistan without the peace process which means war so that's one too i worry also whether other differences or rivalries whether it's in the gulf or in south asia could also pose a challenge with regard to the regional support for a peace process we have worked very hard without european allies with russia with china we have the format of the trilateral with russia and china in support of the peace process we have worked hard with india and pakistan in support of the peace process and support and the government of afghanistan's initiative recently to host a regional meeting that brought india and pakistan together in support of peace and we have worked also with our gulf friends all of whom we hope will be supportive uh i think for peace to uh to be achieved and be sustained there is a need for brother participation in afghanistan in the peace process and support for it and including women i i i'm very proud of uh ambasso rahmani she is a an example of what afghan women have the potential to do and the achievements that they have had an our role in that in that process including starting with the constitution where we supported the idea of a 25 representation of women at the minimum in afghan parliament and i have to say that also the iraqis then uh imitated afghanistan and put the same thing in their constitution so uh and i am insisting uh on behalf of the united states that women be at the table during negotiations but at the same time it is very important for peace to be achieved and sustained that the region also is positively engaged and and and uh we have even agreed to sit in in meetings focus on afghanistan with iran because we would like iran also to be supportive so pamela who knows afghanistan well has asked a great question thank you very much ambassador now let me turn to ambassador rahmani for the last word what are your comments on regional challenges for afghanistan's future and future peace thank you scott i like to uh end on a positive note and not focus on challenges but opportunities uh from the region and having said that i would like to again reiterate what i said at the end of my remarks let's get to work let's work together let's break this cycle and loop off let's wait and see how the politics of the region will turn in afghanistan and continue to be in this wait and see mode and instead break it for once and and get to work take a bit of risk invest in the things that we haven't done in the past uh uh decades and see how it goes we have already tested the wait and see for too long i think it's time to get uh to to do it differently i would also say that this is the same idea about the women participation we we had it for too long without them it is better now to give them a chance so let's put all our forces together and focus on positive things focus on what we have done and build on it and focus on economic development for the region that is the root that will lead us to peace not uh the one that is that is focused and and uh continuously concentrating in this war tax of what is going to happen and how uh we can be risk averse because we cannot the today's world is completely at a different stage that we cannot just isolate and isolate ourselves therefore uh we can take this the bold steps of getting practical and working on regional economic cooperation that's the road to peace for afghanistan and for the region i thank you well thank you very much thank you for ending on a positive note and as i mentioned at the outset we wanted to have this format of a conversation these participants because there is good news and there is support coming from the central asia region for afghanistan so let me have ambassador rachmani's positive words be the conclusion of this let me thank the speakers for their time and for their efforts to support a peaceful resolution of the afghan conflict and let me thank all of you that are watching on youtube on twitter and have participated by asking questions and and post we hope to have more of these conversations again and we'll see you then