On Thursday June 21, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon met here with Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, who arrived in Dushanbe to attend the International High-Level Conference on International Decade for Action, “Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028.”

According to the Tajik president's official website, Rahmon and Abdullah discussed a broad range of issues related to state and prospects of further expansion of bilateral cooperation between Tajikistan and Afghanistan.  

In the course of the talks, Tajik leader reportedly noted that Tajikistan was interested in expansion of constructive and long-term relations with Afghanistan.

He expressed gratitude to Dr. Abdullah and members of the Afghan delegation for an active participation in the Dushanbe water conference.

Emomali Rahmon reportedly said that Tajikistan was ready to train specialists for Afghanistan’s energy, health, construction and agrarian sectors.  

The two sides also exchanged views on problems of providing regional security, pointing to the necessity of intensifying the fight against terrorism, extremism, translational crime and drug trafficking, the Tajik president’s website said.

Dr. Abdullah also held meetings with Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov in Dushanbe on the sideline of the international high-level conference on water.     

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah is an Afghan politician, serving as Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan since September 2014.  From October 2001 to April 2005, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs.  Prior to that, he was a senior member of the Northern Alliance working as an adviser to Ahmad Shah Massoud.  He also worked as a medical doctor during the late 1990s.

The Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is a position within the Government of Afghanistan. The extra-constitutional post was created in September 2014 following the disputes that arose after the 2014 Afghan presidential election when both Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory in that election.  As part of a national unity agreement, it was agreed that Ashraf Ghani would assume the presidency and a new post of Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan would be created for Dr. Abdullah Abdullah.