Uzbekistan to Purchase 100,000 Tons of Afghan Cotton

DID Press: Uzbekistan has agreed to purchase 100,000 tons of cotton from Afghan farmers while expanding cooperation with Afghanistan in agricultural supplies, infrastructure development, and cross-border trade, Taliban officials said.

Mawlawi Ahmad Jan Bilal, head of the Taliban’s General Directorate of State-Owned Companies, met with Jamshid Khodjayev, Uzbekistan’s Deputy Prime Minister, to discuss strengthening economic and commercial cooperation between the two neighboring countries.

According to the Taliban’s General Directorate of State-Owned Companies, Bilal said bilateral relations continue to expand and noted that trade between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan has reached approximately $2 billion over the past year.

During the meeting, Khodjayev announced that Uzbekistan would purchase 100,000 tons of Afghan cotton from local farmers.

He also expressed Uzbekistan’s readiness to cooperate in supplying chemical fertilizers, improved seed varieties, and encouraging Uzbek investors to participate in infrastructure and development projects across Afghanistan.

Khodjayev added that the Afghan-Trans railway project’s feasibility study has been completed and that an Uzbek technical team will remain in Kabul to coordinate exports of Afghanistan’s fresh fruit.

The meeting comes as Kabul and Tashkent have intensified efforts in recent months to expand economic cooperation, increase bilateral trade, and strengthen collaboration in transit, investment, and regional connectivity.