The contemporary borders of the nations of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan are the products of The Great Game in Central Asia between the British and Russian Empires.[2] As a result, the two countries have some cultural ties, with Afghanistan having 1.2 million Turkmen,[3] 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,[when?] Afghanistan imports more than 320 million kilowatt-hours of electricity every year from Turkmenistan.[citation needed]
Turkmenistan opened a major railway link to Afghanistan in 2016 to facilitate fuel exports.[4]
Like the rest of the world, Turkmenistan has also not officiallyrecognized the Taliban government, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as legitimate. However, Turkmenistan has de facto 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 is Fazal Muhammad Sabir, appointed in March 2022.[5][6][7]
Turkmenistan
Afghanistan
