Leading off… Turkmenistan and Afghanistan say they are making progress in building a pipeline across Afghan territory to Pakistan and India.But progress is proving hard to define, given the opaque nature of the Turkmen and Taliban regimes.
A March 16 report distributed by Trend, an Azerbaijani news agency, stated that Turkmen and Afghan officials are engaged in talks to accelerate the land rights acquisition process for the pipeline route.
It added that by the end of the year almost 12,000 Azerbaijan-manufactured pipes needed for construction will be delivered.In addition, a state-connected Turkmen news outlet, Turkmenportal, asserted that pipeline construction on the initial 153-kilometer section of the pipeline in Afghanistan, running from the Turkmen border to the city of Herat, is “proceeding at a rapid pace.” The report goes on to state that 15.5 kilometers of pipe has been installed, and surveying work has been completed for 93.1 kilometers of the section.
The “rapid pace” of construction is open to interpretation, however.A report published last October by an Afghan outlet indicated that 14 kilometers of pipe had been completed.
In case you missed it in the Caucasus … In Armenia, a small coalition of opposition parties, known as the Armenia Bloc, has nominated former president Robert Kocharyan to be its candidate for prime minister in the country’s upcoming parliamentary election in June, according to the Arminfo news agency.
Meanwhile, Armenia’s Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan announced March 16 that a draft of the country’s proposed new constitution will be submitted to the leadership of the governing Civil Contract party for discussion and potential revision. “We have made significant changes in the context of trying to further decentralize the branches of power and balance them, for example, by providing oversight mechanisms to the National Assembly over the activities of the prime minister,” Galyan said.
Earlier, she indicated that the draft would be published in March.The draft, once circulated and debated, will be put to a nationwide referendum.The process could have ramification for the Armenian-Azerbaijani provisional peace deal, as Azerbaijan has insisted that Armenia’s constitution be amended to omit any reference to territorial claims to the Nagorno-Karabakh territory, which Baku reconquered in 2023.
Azerbaijan could generate up to $3 billion in revenue once the planned Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) becomes operational, Vugar Bayramov, an Azerbaijani MP, told an international gathering in Baku.
TRIPP is the centerpiece of the provisional peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan signed last summer.Work on the route, which would traverse Armenian territory to connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave, has yet to start.
Once completed, TRIPP is envisioned as a key cog in the emerging Middle Corridor trade route connecting Central Asian and European markets.Meanwhile, across the Caspian… Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Water Resources is developing an early warning system to measure water consumption in the country, according to a report published by the Kazinform news agency.
The new system will feature a database of “irrigation infrastructure” and the installation of remote monitoring technologies in agricultural areas. “The implementation of the project is aimed at increasing the transparency of water distribution, strengthening control over the use of irrigation water and introducing modern digital tools for water management in agriculture,” the agency quoted a ministry official, Kairatgali Khairulla, as saying.
Tajikistan’s transport minister, Azim Ibrohim, held talks with World Bank officials in Washington on March 11, making a plea for assistance in constructing the country’s signature infrastructure project, the Rogun Dam.
He also sought bank assistance for a project to improve road safety and maintenance as part of a broader effort to improve the country’s trade and connectivity capacity.
Bank officials gave no immediate response to Ibrohim’s pitch, according to a report distributed by the official Tajik news agency Khovar.The World Bank reportedly paused support for Rogun last August, expressing concern about the project’s economic sustainability.
It seems Turkmenistan’s paramount leader, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, was very displeased with the outcome of his recent, mysterious visit to Florida in mid-February.A decree signed March 6 by his son, Serdar, the country’s nominal president, summarily sacked the Turkmen ambassador in Washington, Meret Orazov, and the country’s UN representative, Aksoltan Atayeva, who had held their posts for 25 and 32 years respectively.
According to a March 16 report by the opposition news outlet Chronicles of Turkmenistan, Berdymukhamedov traveled to the United States seeking a seat on President Trump’s Board of Peace.
Those efforts clearly failed, as Berdymukhamedov did not participate in the board’s inaugural meeting in Washington.The US-based envoys apparently were held responsible for the failed effort.
Uzbekistan is significantly expanding its diplomatic footprint in the United States.Tashkent recently announced the opening of a consulate in Seattle, and has plans to open similar diplomatic outposts in Chicago, Philadelphia and Orlando.
Ahror Burkhanov, a former Foreign Ministry press secretary, has assumed the post of Consul General in Seattle.The expansion is aimed at “further expanding and strengthening mutually beneficial trade, investment, and commercial relations … as well as qualitatively improving the business environment [and] supporting entrepreneurial activity,” according to a presidential decree issued in late 2025.