Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border
The Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border is 144 km (89 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Turkmenistan to the tripoint with Tajikistan along the Amu River.[1] It is the shortest of Uzbekistan's external borders. The city of Termez in Uzbekistan and the town of Hairatan in Afghanistan are the closest major populated centers to the border.
Large volumes of trade between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan pass through the border on daily basis.[2][3][4] Citizens of Afghanistan could stay for up to 10 days in Termez without a travel visa.[5]
Description
The entire border follows the thalweg of the Amu River, from the Turkmen tripoint in the west to the Tajik tripoint in the east. The border is paralleled on the Uzbek side by a road and railway line, and there is a major crossing point between Termez in Uzbekistan and Hairatan in Afghanistan.[6]
It was reported in 2001 that Uzbekistan had built a barrier along the border, consisting of a
History
The border was inherited from the old Soviet Union–Afghan border, which largely took its current shape during the 19th-century Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia known as the Great Game. With the Russian Empire having conquered the Khanate of Khiva and the Emirate of Bukhara, and with the British Empire controlling British India, the two powers were compelled to leave Afghanistan as an independent buffer state between them.[6]
In 1873, Britain and Russia agreed on a rough formulation of the border, with the Amu River declared to be the border going east from the vicinity of the village of Khwaja Salar to Lake Zorku, with the Wakhan Corridor to remain in Afghanistan. The western section of the border (i.e. the bulk of the modern Afghan–Turkmen boundary) was to be determined at a later date by a boundary commission.[6]
Tensions mounted as the Russians expanded further into what is now Turkmenistan in the early 1880s, reaching a crisis with the
The easternmost section of the border (now forming part of the Afghan–Tajik boundary) was not finally delimited until 1893–95, with
In 1921, a Soviet–Afghan treaty was signed whereby Russia agreed "to hand over to Afghanistan the frontier districts which belonged to the latter in the last century, observing the principles of justice and self-determination of the population inhabiting the same". However, this treaty was never implemented and was explicitly annulled by the Frontier Agreement of 1946, which kept the boundary as it was, with riverine islands to be subsequently allocated by a joint commission.[6]
In 1979, Soviet troops of the
The bridge was closed from 1997 to 2001 due to Uzbek fears of
Border crossings
- Hairatan (AFG)-Termez (UZB) (rail and road, see Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge)[12][13]
Settlements near the border
Afghanistan
Uzbekistan
See also
References
- ^ CIA World Factbook - Afghanistan, 8 September 2018
- ^ "500,000 metric tons of goods imported, exported via railroads". Pajhwok Afghan News. 24 November 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ "ACCI: Transit Through Afghanistan Up 50%". TOLOnews. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ "Over 93K Tonnes of Imports, Exports Moved By Rail in a Week: Officials". TOLOnews. 10 October 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ a b "First Part of Joint Market Opens on Border with Uzbekistan". TOLOnews. 27 December 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ a b c d e f International Boundary Study No. 26 - Afghanistan-USSR Boundary (PDF), 15 September 1983, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ McElroy, Damien (November 11, 2001). "Tashkent urged to allow UN aid across bridge". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on November 7, 2012. Retrieved 2007-06-07.
- ^ "BBC Timeline: Soviet War in Afghanistan". 17 February 2009. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ Hairatan and the Friendship Bridge, retrieved 8 September 2018
- ^ "CNN - Aid flows as key Afghan border bridge re-opens". 9 December 2001. Retrieved 2018-09-08.
- ^ "Uzbekistan bracing for possible Afghan refugee crisis | Eurasianet". Eurasianet. July 3, 2021. Retrieved 2022-12-27.
- ^ Caravanistan - Uzbekistan-Afghanistan border crossings, retrieved 2018-09-08
- Institute for War & Peace Reporting. Archived from the originalon September 26, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-07.