Central Asian states are cultivating growing connections to Pakistan, as decades of suspicion and hostility give way to a mutual desire to expand trade and strengthen regional security.
A trip by Kyrgyzstan’s president, Sadyr Japarov, to Islamabad on December 3-4 highlights the rapid expansion of engagement. The visit, the first such visit by a Kyrgyz leader in over two decades, yielded a variety of agreements covering such areas as trade, education, tourism, energy, and agriculture.
A business forum held in conjunction with the presidential trip attracted sizable interest from the Pakistani business sector. Bilateral trade turnover in 2024 stood at a meager $16 million in 2024 and has remained flat during the first three quarters of this year. Officials from both countries, however, set a target of boosting the annual trade volume to $200 million by 2027-28.
Security was also a major point of discussion, Afghanistan being the primary topic of interest. The Taliban presence in Kabul has suddenly shifted from being a source of division to a factor fostering collaboration.
For decades, Kyrgyzstan and other Central Asian states found themselves on the opposite strategic side of Pakistan, which incubated the rise of the Taliban radical Islamic movement and supported its eventual takeover in the late 1990s of most of Afghanistan. Central Asian states were strong backers of militia groups that successfully opposed the Taliban in northern Afghanistan at that time.
After the radical Islamic movement was driven from power following 9/11, Pakistan provided crucial support for the ultimately successful Taliban insurgency, which toppled the US-backed republican Afghan government in 2021.
But now, amid a rapid deterioration of Pakistani-Taliban relations, Central Asian states are finding common cause with Islamabad.
In Islamabad, Japarov and Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif “reaffirmed their commitment to a peaceful and stable Afghanistan and a sustainable future for its people,” according to a Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement. “They agreed that the Afghan Taliban regime must honor its commitments to the international community.”
Japarov’s press service said the two states would expand cooperation to contain extremism and transnational crime relating to Afghanistan.
Tajikistan, which has seen two cross-border attacks by Afghan militants reportedly operating beyond Taliban control in recent weeks, also has engaged Pakistan in recent months on enhancing security cooperation and information sharing.
Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s largest current trade partner with Pakistan, is a prime driver of the region’s expanding commercial ties with Islamabad. Business contacts have rapidly increased during the second half of 2025. Uzbek and Pakistani officials aim to increase bilateral turnover to $2 billion over the mid-term.
Kazakhstan is also expressing growing interest in Pakistan. Trade volume more than doubled during the first seven months of 2025 compared to the same period the previous year, but still only stood at a comparatively modest $90 million. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s scheduled trip to Pakistan in January is widely expected to catalyze trade; officials in both countries have expressed a desire to see annual turnover reach $1 billion in “the near future.”
A key to developing commerce between Central Asia and Pakistan is the establishment of efficient land and rail connections. A major consideration for landlocked Central Asian states is gaining access to Pakistani seaports, potentially enabling a significant expansion of global trade.
In November, Uzbek Railways and the International Road Transport Chamber of Pakistan signed a cooperation agreement to develop trade via two major land routes: Pakistan-China-Tajikistan-Uzbekistan and Pakistan-China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan. While viable, those routes are dotted with potential bottlenecks.
A much more direct and efficient rail route would traverse Afghanistan. Uzbek Railways and a Pakistani firm have discussed the costs and engineering challenges of constructing a trans-Afghan railway. But security concerns appear to be keeping the project on the drawing board.
By Eurasianet