Afghanistan confirms direction of the Trans-Afghan railway

The Taliban government says the Mazar-e-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway, which connects Uzbekistan with Pakistani ports, will pass through Baghlan and Bamiyan.
 
The Afghan interim government has approved the direction of the Trans-Afghan railway Spot reported citing government spokesman Inamullah Samangani.

According to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers, the route from Mazar-i-Sharif will pass through Baghlan and Bamiyan. No other details were provided.

“The Mazar-i-Sharif-Baghlan-Bamiyan route has been approved for a railway project from Uzbekistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan,” Samangani said.

Earlier, the construction of the 573-kilometer-long Mazar-e-Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway connecting Tashkent with northern Pakistan was publicized. It was reported that a total of $4.8 billion in loans would be raised for the project. Allegedly, Russian Railways has expressed interest in the project. The transit between South and Central Asia is up to 20 million tons of cargo per year.

The initiative to build the Trans-Afghan railway was put forward in 2018. Its construction was scheduled to begin in September 2021, but a change of government in Afghanistan prevented it.

As a result of negotiations in December last year, the Afghan interim government joined the project.