Afghanistan Regional Forum No. 5, February 2013
By Vladimir Paramonov and Alexey Strokov
In order to normalize the situation in Afghanistan and ensure long-term stability, coordinated international action is needed in Afghanistan to restore the following: (1) the transportation network; (2) industrial facilities; and (3) agriculture. This requires mobilizing the economic potential, above all, of the countries neighboring Afghanistan, including Uzbekistan. It is precisely Uzbekistan that—given competent coordination of international assistance—could play a decisive role in rehabilitating the northern provinces of Afghanistan, which are home to over two million ethnic Uzbeks (about 7 percent of the total population of Afghanistan) and formerly contained at least two-thirds of the country’s industrial facilities.
