Despite Proclaimed Neutrality, Turkmenistan Increases Border Defenses

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Despite Proclaimed Neutrality, Turkmenistan Increases Border Defenses
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 11 Issue: 37
February 26, 2014 04:27 PM Age: 8 hrs
By: John C. K. Daly

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Despite the diplomatic hands-off approach of the past 18 years, on February 13, 2014, during a meeting in Ashgabat of Turkmenistan’s State Security Council—chaired by the country’s president and supreme commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov—reports were read concerning governmental measures to strengthen state border security (Informatsiia AMI Trend, TURKMENinform, February 13). Moreover, law enforcement and military agencies also presented reports on their efforts to maintain public order and political stability, improve the armed forces’ material and technical bases, enhance their training, as well as boost the border forces’ fight against drug trafficking. Nonetheless, Berdimuhamedov noted that “Turkmenistan has always been and remains committed to the now centuries-old traditions of peace, friendship and good neighborliness, which largely determine the favorable climate in the whole Central Asian region” (Voice of Russia, February 14).

It is hardly surprising that Turkmenistan should be concerned about its borders, as several of its neighbors are politically unstable. Turkmenistan shares a 462-mile-long border with Afghanistan (the longest border with Afghanistan of all the Central Asian countries), a 616-mile frontier with Iran, 235 miles of border with Kazakhstan, 1,007 miles with Uzbekistan, as well as Caspian maritime frontiers with Azerbaijan, Iran, Russia and Kazakhstan.

In particular, Turkmenistan remains concerned about the instability in neighboring Afghanistan and has previously offered to mediate among the warring parties involved in the Afghan conflict, while also providing economic assistance to its neighbor, particularly supplying electricity (Vremia Vostoka, February 14). An estimated 1.5 million Turkmens live in Afghanistan—composing roughly 3 percent of the country’s overall population, primarily in Afghanistan’s northern Faryab and Jowzjan provinces, which border Turkmenistan. Thus, pursuing a proactive policy, Turkmenistan’s government has already reached out to ethnic-Turkmen leaders in Faryab and Jowzjan. In early February 2014, a group of Afghan clerics met with Turkmen officials, including Deputy Foreign Minister Wepa Hojiev. But highlighting the sensitivity of the issue, the meeting was not reported by state media in either country (Azatlyk, February 16).

Nonetheless, the turmoil in Afghanistan is slowly roiling toward Turkmenistan’s border. In April 2013, the fiercest fighting in more than a decade erupted in Faryab province. Local media reported a nine-day battle between Afghan National Army (ANA) troops and roughly 700 Taliban fighters. While the ANA ultimately prevailed, five months later fighting again flared up. Reportedly, “no go” zones under Taliban control currently exist in Faryab and Jowzjan provinces, causing increasing numbers of Afghanistan’s Turkmens to acquire arms (centrasia.ru, February 19).