Six plus Three ("6+3") Initiative is a proposal of

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...

, aimed at peaceful resolution of the Afghan conflict with participation of the six neighbouring countries to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, plus the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, the

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

as main anti-terrorist actor in Afghanistan.

Background

The initiative was proposed by Uzbek leader Islam Karimov during NATO/EAPC Summit in Bucharest in April 2008. During his speech, Islam Karimov proposed five dimensions of stabilization of the situation in Afghanistan. First: resolution of social and economic problems, tackling with the issues of employment of population and strengthening the authority of power. This may serve for the aim of resolving the issue of drug production and trafficking, strengthening the trust of indigenous population towards the international coalition forces. Second: ensuring respect to religious and cultural values, customs and traditions of the multinational people of Afghanistan, including minorities. Third: step by step reforms in the sphere of state construction and establishing the civil institutions. Fourth: resolution of border problems of neighbouring Pakistan. Fifth: reviving " 6 plus 2" Contact Group, which functioned in 1997–2001 under the auspices of the United Nations. The Uzbek leader proposed to transform it to "6 plus 3" by including North Atlantic Treaty Organization, taking into account its anti-terrorist operations on Afghan land. So, the initiative foresees participation of the six countries surrounding Afghanistan: * * * * * * and three other parties: * * * John C.K. Daly, fellow researcher of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, in his recent article "Uzbek Afghanistan proposal relevant and timely - Afghanistan: Why "6 plus 3"?", published on 5 November 2009 underlines the importance of the current proposal by Uzbekistan.

Notes

References

TURKISH WEEKLY: President Karimov attends Partnership for Peace NATO SummitCENTRAL ASIA-CAUCASUS INSTITUTE: Post-Bucharest: NATO's prospects in Afghanistan
{{Pakistan–Russia relations War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Afghanistan–China relations Afghanistan–United States relations Afghanistan–Uzbekistan relations Afghanistan–Iran relations Afghanistan–Pakistan relations Afghanistan–Tajikistan relations Afghanistan–Russia relations Pakistan–Russia relations