UNIPATH STAFF
Expressing respect for Turkmenistan’s “positive neutrality,” Gen. Michael E. Kurilla, commander of the U.S. Central Command, visited the country in April 2023 with the goal of strengthening security cooperation.
Gen. Kurilla held meetings in the capital Ashgabat with Turkmen military leaders and senior representatives from the Foreign Ministry. They included Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vepa Hajiyev, Minister of Defense Lt. Gen. Begench Gundogdyev and Chief of the General Staff Col. Akmurat Anemetov.
As Kurilla engaged with these officials in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan Minister of Foreign Affairs Rasit Meredow arrived in Washington, D.C., for annual bilateral consultations with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Turkmen leaders praised the recently established training and educational partnership between the Armed Forces of Turkmenistan and the Montana National Guard, part of the U.S. National Guard’s State Partnership Program.
In a goodwill gesture, Kurilla joined Anemetov to lay a wreath at a monument to honor Turkmen Soldiers who died fighting in World War II.
Kurilla left the visit convinced that Turkmenistan and the U.S. shared visions about the territorial integrity and stability of the Central Asian states.
“Visits like this allow the kind of enduring relationships that cannot be built over the phone or through a video teleconference,” the general said.
During his meeting with the U.S. secretary of state in Washington, Turkmenistan’s foreign minister addressed security topics that included how to reduce instability in neighboring Afghanistan.