ASHGABAT: The leaders of Russia, Turkiye and Iran meet Friday in Turkmenistan, an isolated Central Asian state which is marking 30 years of official neutrality with a rare international summit.
The principle of “permanent neutrality” is at the heart of the former Soviet republic’s foreign policy — a doctrine that has contributed to making Turkmenistan one of the world’s most isolated countries.
On the guest list are Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, along with other regional leaders.
Here’s five things to know about the desert nation and its position on the world stage:
- Presidential dynasty -
Turkmenistan, which borders Iran, Afghanistan, and the Caspian Sea, has only had three presidents since gaining independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
The first was Saparmurat Niyazov, who proclaimed himself both “president for life” and the “father of the Turkmen” (Turkmenbashi), and ruled for 15 years.
The Berdymukhamedov family took over in 2006, with father Gurbanguly becoming president before handing the job to his son Serdar in 2022.
In reality, the pair rule in tandem. Gurbanguly retains immense power and is the subject of an intense personality cult.
Officially proclaimed “leader of the Turkmen nation” and Arkadag, which means hero-protector, he built a vast city named after himself, Arkadag, at a cost of at least $5 billion. He also erected gigantic golden statues of himself, while Serdar is regularly praised in the state-run media.
- Neutrality and isolation -
Turkmenistan is one of the world’s most secretive countries, often compared to North Korea for its inaccessibility.
Since the United Nations supported Turkmenistan’s “permanent neutrality” status in 1995, it has become a foreign policy cornerstone. An almost 100-meter (300-feet) tall Neutrality Monument, resembling a rocket and featuring a golden statue of the first president, stands in the capital Ashgabat.
The status prohibits Turkmenistan from fully joining any union or military alliance, and is used by the government to implement its isolationist policies.
Ahead of the summit, Serdar Berdymukhamedov published yet another book — presented as a “precious gift for the Turkmen people” — extolling the virtues of neutrality.
Turkmenistan’s closest relations are with China, Russia, Iran, and Turkiye thanks to gas contracts. Cooperation with the West remains limited.
According to Amnesty International, Turkmenistan is “effectively closed to international human rights NGOs, UN special mechanisms and independent media.”
Information on the country is fragmented, tightly controlled and generally unverifiable, “aimed solely at praising the regime,” according to Reporters Without Borders.
- Lots of gas, little water -
While Turkmenistan is estimated to have the world’s fourth-largest natural gas reserves, water supplies are scarce — and the situation is expected to worsen due to climate change, scientists warn.
Three-quarters of the country is covered by the vast Karakum desert.
Cotton is another important industry for the Turkmen economy, but the high use of water has contributed to water shortages across the region.
- Methane ‘Gateway to Hell’ -
A massive five-decade-old fire raging in a natural gas crater is the country’s top tourist attraction. The fire has been burning in the Karakum desert since 1971, when Soviet scientists accidentally ignited it.
Turkmen authorities have repeatedly stated their intentions to close the Darvaza crater, dubbed the “Gateway to Hell,” but so far without success.
Emissions are a huge problem. Turkmenistan is the world’s top methane leaker, according to the International Energy Agency.
- Sacred animals -
Local breeds of horse and dog are sacred and have been elevated to the status of national symbols.
On the orders of Gurbanguly, numerous statues honoring the Alabai — or Central Asian shepherd-dog — and the Akhal-Teke horse have been erected and the animals are celebrated on public holidays.
Gurbanguly has even composed a song in honor of his favorite horse.
The father-and-son duo regularly give and receive dogs and horses as gifts, including to other world leaders. They are often filmed cuddling the animals in public.
Russia, Turkiye, Iran presidents in Turkmenistan for rare summit
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Russia, Turkiye, Iran presidents in Turkmenistan for rare summit
- The leaders of Russia, Turkiye and Iran meet Friday in Turkmenistan, an isolated Central Asian state which is marking 30 years of official neutrality with a rare international summit
Afghanistan says it thwarted Pakistani airstrike on Bagram Air Base as fighting enters fourth day
- The fighting has been the most severe between the neighbors for years
- Pakistan accuses Taliban government of harboring militant groups that stage attacks against it
KABUL: Afghanistan thwarted attempted airstrikes on Bagram Air Base, the former US military base north of Kabul, authorities said Sunday, while cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan stretched into a fourth day.
The fighting has been the most severe between the neighbors for years, with Pakistan declaring that it’s in “open war” with Afghanistan.
The conflict has alarmed the international community, particularly as the area is one where other militant organizations, including Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group, still have a presence and have been trying to resurface.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of harboring militant groups that stage attacks against it and also of allying with its archrival India.
Border clashes in October killed dozens of soldiers, civilians and suspected militants until a Qatari-mediated ceasefire ended the intense fighting. But several rounds of peace talks in Turkiye in November failed to produce a lasting agreement, and the two sides have occasionally traded fire since then.
On Sunday, the police headquarters of Parwan province, where Bagram is located, said in a statement that several Pakistani military jets had entered Afghan airspace “and attempted to bomb Bagram Air Base” at around 5 a.m.
The statement said Afghan forces responded with “anti-aircraft and missile defense systems” and had managed to thwart the attack.
There was no immediate response from Pakistan’s military or government regarding Kabul’s claim of attempted airstrikes on Bagram or the ongoing fighting.
Bagram was the United States’ largest military base in Afghanistan. It was taken over by the Taliban as they swept across the country and took control in the wake of the chaotic US withdrawal from the country in 2021. Last year, US President Donald Trump suggested he wanted to reestablish a US presence at the base.
The current fighting began when Afghanistan launched a broad cross-border attack on Thursday night, saying it was in retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes the previous Sunday.
Pakistan had said its airstrike had targeted the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Afghanistan had said only civilians were killed.
The TTP militant group, which is separate but closely allied with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, operates inside Pakistan, where it has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in bombings and other attacks over the years.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of providing a safe haven within Afghanistan for the TTP, an accusation that Afghanistan denies.
After Thursday’s Afghan attack, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif declared that “our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us.”
In the ongoing fighting, each side claims to have killed hundreds of the other side’s forces — and both governments put their own casualties at drastically lower numbers.
Two Pakistani security officials said that Pakistani ground forces were still in control on Sunday of a key Afghan post and a 32-square-kilometer area in the southern Zhob sector near Kandahar province, after having seized it during fighting Friday. The captured post and surrounding area remain under Pakistani control, they added. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity, because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
In Kabul, the Afghan government rejected Pakistan’s claims. Deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat called the reports “baseless.”
Afghan officials said that fighting had continued overnight and into Sunday in the border areas.
The police command spokesman for Nangarhar province, Said Tayyeb Hammad, said that anti-aircraft missiles were used from the provincial capital, Jalalabad, and surrounding areas on Pakistani fighter jets flying overhead Sunday morning.
Defense Ministry spokesman Enayatulah Khowarazmi said that Afghan forces had launched counterattacks with snipers across the border from Nangarhar, Paktia, Khost and Kandahar provinces overnight. He said that two Pakistani drones had been shot down and dozens of Pakistani soldiers had been killed.
Fitrat said that Pakistani drone attacks hit civilian homes in Nangarhar province late Saturday, killing a woman and a child, while mortar fire killed another civilian when it hit a home in Paktia province.
There was no immediate response to the claims from Pakistani officials.
