A New Taliban Diplomat Takes Up Post in Uzbekistan

On October 9, Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry posted a press release. In the accompanying photo, Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov, donning a crisp Western-style blue suit, stands beside a bearded man in a white shalwar kameez and a black turban. The two men are pictured, stone-faced, between two Uzbek flags.

The press release announced the reception by Saidov of Abdul Ghafar Bahr (also referred to as Abdul Ghafar Teravi or Terawi), the new head of Afghanistan’s diplomatic mission in Uzbekistan.

To date, although no nation has officially recognized the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, the group’s de facto ambassadors and diplomatic representatives have proliferated across Asia. While China’s acceptance of a Taliban ambassador in January 2024 received significant global attention, less notice has been made of the fact that there are Taliban diplomats heading missions in all five Central Asian states, even Tajikistan which also plays host to the Afghan opposition.

In March 2022, only seven months after the Taliban took Kabul, Fazel Mohammad Saber was received in Turkmenistan as the Taliban’s first envoy in Central Asia – officially taking up the post of charges d’affaires at the Afghan embassy in Ashgabat.

Central Asia has been at the forefront of the Schrodinger’s diplomacy that has cropped up around the Taliban. While there is no sealed box, and no possibly dead cat, there remains a distinct opacity with regard to the Taliban’s position of representing, or not, the country known as Afghanistan. That lack of clarity hasn’t impeded Afghanistan’s relations with the countries of Central Asia.

Uzbekistan in particular is a vital case study, both for Uzbek engagement with an international pariah state, but also for the rare glimpse of internal Taliban politics put on display via the post in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan was among the few countries to maintain an embassy in Kabul despite the sudden change of government in August 2021; the Afghan mission in Tashkent continued operating too. The erstwhile Republic’s ambassador, Ahmad Khalid Elmi – appointed in 2019 –  served under the Taliban’s supervision until February 2024. In that period of time, relations between Afghanistan, under new management, and Uzbekistan continued apace.

In February 2024, Elmi was recalled and Maghfoorullah Shahab appointed charges d’affaires. Shahab’s appointment, however, triggered some consternation in Kabul, and accusations of nepotism. Shahab’s father, Shahabuddin Delawar, was the Taliban’s acting minister of mines and petroleum at the time.

In March 2023, the Taliban’s top leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada had issued a decree reminding “all officials in the ministries, departments, and independent authorities that no one is allowed to appoint family members or relatives in government positions.”

Whoops.

Shahab was dismissed in April and Bahr named his replacement. Delawar was reassigned to head the Afghan Red Crescent Society in July.

Bahr, however, only arrived in Tashkent in September.

Interestingly, the day after Bahr presented his credentials in early October an Uzbek company signed a 10-year agreement with the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum to invest $1 billion into Afghanistan’s energy sector. That deal builds on the nearly $2.5 billion in trade and investment deals that Uzbek Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov saw finalized during his August visit to Kabul.

Aripov is technically the highest-ranking foreign leader to have visited Afghanistan since the Taliban’s 2021 return to power.

While some reports refer to Bahr as an “ambassador,” it’s important to note that this term is not used in Uzbek Foreign Ministry statements. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, that was also carried on Telegram, Saidov wrote: “Met with H.E. Abdul Ghafar Terawi, who is starting his tenure as the Head of the Diplomatic Mission of #Afghanistan in #Uzbekistan.”

He went on to state that “Our countries share a common history and interests of prosperity that serve as an impetus for the development of cooperation ties in all areas. We also discussed the acute topics on bilateral, regional, and global agendas.”

On the Uzbek Foreign Ministry website, Bahr (Terawi) is again referred to as the “new head” of the diplomatic mission of Afghanistan.

However, a press release posted by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs does refer to Bahr as an “ambassador.”