DUSHANBE, April 18, 2013, Asia-Plus  -- Dushanbe and London will sign an agreement on British military property withdrawal from Afghanistan via Tajik territory.

Tajik Foreign Minister, Mr. Hamrokhon Zarifi, and British Ambassador to Tajikistan, Mr. Robin Jeremy Ord-Smith, are expected to ink the document in Dushanbe today.

This document provides for withdrawal of not only military property but also office equipment, Ambassador Ord-Smith told Asia-Plus in an interview.

“We asked the Tajik side to provide its air space and territory for withdrawal of our property from Afghanistan,” British diplomat said, noting that they were not negotiating the withdrawal of their troops via Tajik territory.

According to him, the United Kingdom has been considering several transit routes for the withdrawal of its property from Afghanistan.  “We have reached an agreement with Uzbekistan on withdrawal of our materiel from Afghanistan by its railroads,” Mr. Ord-Smith noted.

British diplomat stressed that the United Kingdom is ready to provide Central Asia’s countries that will provide corridor for withdrawal of the British property from Afghanistan with some of its equipment.

“The agreement that will be signed today does not provide for handover of a part of British military property to Tajikistan,” said Ambassador Ord-Smith.  “The issue of handover of a part of equipment to Tajikistan will be discussed at a meeting of senior representatives of the defense offices of the two countries that is expected to take place in late April.”

We will recall that the for the first time the issue of using Tajik territory for withdrawal of British military equipment via Tajikistan was discussed during a visit of Britain’s Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Nick Harvey, to Tajikistan in March 2012.  He was reportedly in Tajikistan to discuss with Tajik leaders possible transit routes for the withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan in 2014.

Harvey told journalists in Dushanbe after talks on March 2 that a proposed route for the troops'' withdrawal would go through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and therefore the cooperation between the three Central Asian countries is needed.  According to him, members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) could leave behind some of their equipment in Afghanistan and possibly in the three Central Asian countries.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said in December 2012 that nearly 4,000 British troops would withdraw from the war-torn South Asian state in 2013.

An estimated 5,500 British troops will remain in Afghanistan by December 2013.

Mr. Colin Roberts, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, visited Tajikistan on March 18-20 this year.

According to Interfax, Mr. Roberts told journalists on March 20 that an agreement authorizing British servicemen to transit their property from Afghanistan via Tajikistan is ready to be signed.

“Dushanbe did not ask for a part of the military property the UK used in Afghanistan as a gift in return for signing the agreement,” Roberts was quoted as saying.

The UK is to move 11,000 containers of property and 3,000 armored vehicles from Afghanistan.

“This refers only to the transit of military property via Tajikistan. We haven''t agreed on withdrawal of servicemen via Tajikistan," the British diplomat was quoted as saying by Interfax.