Nearly three years have passed since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, to the dismay of much of the world. While the Central Asian states were among the countries that didn’t welcome the return of the Taliban, most of them took a different approach to the Afghan militant group than they did when the Taliban first ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s. Trade has grown steadily between Central Asia and Afghanistan since August 2021, and Central Asian officials meet regularly with Taliban representatives to discuss cooperation on major projects. Joining host Bruce Pannier to discuss the Taliban’s new relations with its northern neighbors are guests Qadir Habib, director of RFERL’s Radio Azadi; Pahlavon Turgunov, managing editor at RFERL’s Uzbek Service; and Farruh Yusupov, director of RFERL’s Turkmen Service.
