The contemporary borders of the nations of
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 ...
and
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
are the products of
The Great Game
The Great Game is the name for a set of political, diplomatic and military confrontations that occurred through most of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century – involving the rivalry of the British Empire and the Russian Empi ...
in Central Asia between the British and Russian Empires.
As a result, the two countries have some cultural ties, with Afghanistan having
1.2 million Turkmen, the third largest Turkmen population behind Iran and Turkmenistan.
Afghanistan depends on Turkmenistan for meeting a large part of the country's electricity needs. At present, Afghanistan imports more than 320 million kilowatt-hours of electricity every year from Turkmenistan.
Turkmenistan opened a major railway link to Afghanistan in 2016 to facilitate fuel exports.
Turkmenistan has not
officially recognized the
Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
led government, the
Islamic Emirate of 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 ...
, as Afghanistan's legitimate government. However, Turkmenistan has
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
diplomatic relations with the Taliban government and has facilitated the Taliban's appointment of diplomats to the Afghan Embassy in Ashgabat. The current
chargé d'affaires
A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...
is Fazal Muhammad Sabir, appointed in March 2022.
See also
*
Torghundi
Torghundi, also spelled Turghundi or Towrgondi ( ps, تورغونډۍ, translit=Tōrghūnḍəi, tk, Torghundi), is a border town in northern Herat Province of Afghanistan. The town's main attraction is the Torghundi custom house and border che ...
, a border crossing between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan
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Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India Pipeline
The Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) Pipeline, also known as Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline, is a natural gas pipeline being developed by the Galkynysh – TAPI Pipeline Company Limited with participation of the Asian Development ...
(TAPI)
References
External links
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Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
Bilateral relations of Turkmenistan
{{Bilateralrelations-stub