MFA comments on reports about opening of borders with Afghanistan

In particular, Reuters reported that Uzbekistan is ready to open borders for refugees from Afghanistan who are on the list of people from risk groups in need of evacuation compiled by the FRG authorities.

Later it became known that on August 30, Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov had a meeting with the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, Heiko Maas, who arrived in Tashkent on a visit.

“Special attention is paid to issues related to the current situation in Afghanistan. Heiko Maas again expressed gratitude to the Uzbek side for assistance in organizing the evacuation of German and other foreign citizens from Afghanistan. The parties expressed their readiness to continue close cooperation in the Afghan direction,” the MFA press service said.

As the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported, in order to ensure security, at present the Uzbek-Afghan border is completely closed and land crossing through the “Termez” checkpoint is not carried out.

The Foreign Ministry stressed that in the near future, the opening of the “Termez” checkpoint on the Uzbek-Afghan border is not planned.

“Any attempts to cross the border, regardless of their reasons, will be suppressed in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Over the past 12 days, Uzbekistan has provided assistance to a number of states in the implementation of humanitarian operations to evacuate its citizens from Afghanistan. They arrived in Uzbekistan and left the republic exclusively by air,” the statement said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Uzbekistan does not accept Afghan refugees on its territory, and offers assistance in transit, which provides for their strictly limited time in the country.

“We emphasize again that the Uzbek side is firmly committed to maintaining traditionally friendly and good-neighborly relations with Afghanistan and the principles of non-interference in the internal affairs of the neighboring country,” the MFA concluded.