A total of 4.18 million tons of goods worth $1.84 billion were exported from Iran to neighboring Afghanistan during the last Iranian year (March 2021-22), registering a 40% and 20% decline in weight and value respectively compared with the year before, according to the spokesperson of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
Blaming the decline on power transition in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over in July 2021, Rouhollah Latifi said, “Afghanistan went through months of crisis and cargo owners were skeptical about sending consignments across our borders,” ILNA reported.
The official noted that the purchasing power of Afghans has fallen as the economic situation in their country has deteriorated, which has also led to the cancellation of many projects there and adversely impacted Afghanistan’s foreign trade.
“Over the same period [March 2021-22], we imported more than 17,000 tons of goods worth $19.5 million from our eastern neighbor. The figures registered a 200% and 360% rise in volume and value respectively compared with the previous year,” he said.
Talks With Taliban to Resume Rail Connectivity Project
Iran is holding talks with the Taliban to resume the construction of an ambitious rail project that ultimately aims to connect at least five Central Asian countries, according to an Iranian official.
Iran is ready to make further investments and both sides are willing to finish the construction on a rail line connecting Khaf in northeastern Iran with Herat in northwestern Afghanistan, according to Iranian transit official, Abbas Khatibi.
Khatibi, a deputy head of the Construction and Development of Transportation Infrastructures Company of Iran, was quoted as saying by Tasnim News Agency that the project could boost trade and reduce transit costs.
“This railroad can also link Afghanistan with Iran’s southern ports,” he said, adding that when fully complete, the project could eventually carve a path linking China to Turkey.
The project is part of a proposed $2 billion Five Nations Railway Corridor that would run through China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran for an estimated 2,000 km.
More than half of the project is proposed for Afghanistan, running through several provinces, including Kunduz and Herat.
The first section of the four-part Khaf-Herat railroad was inaugurated in December 2020 and linked Khaf with the Afghan town of Rozanak about 150 km (93 miles) away.
But plans to complete the line and expand its reach to Afghanistan’s third-largest city of Herat were thrown off course when the former Afghan government collapsed amid a chaotic exit by the United States and western forces in August.
Khatibi, the Iranian official, said the Khaf-Herat project is estimated to cost 4.3 trillion rials (about $17 million), and that Iran has made proposals with “various investment methods”, without further elaboration.
He also said the railroad – which runs for 225 km, 77 km of which are in Iran – would have the capacity to transport up to one million passengers and 6 million tons of goods each year.
Khatibi said a 657-km track in Afghanistan between Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif is currently the biggest “missing link” in the overall project, and if completed, it would signal a major transformation in regional transit.
Iran, which has been Afghanistan’s top trade partner in recent years, is a key provider of fuel to its eastern neighbor. However, Iran has yet to officially recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan, with the administration of President Ebrahim Raisi saying that would hinge on the formation of an “inclusive” government in Afghanistan.
A 26-member Taliban delegation visited Iran recently. The Taliban has not commented on the proposed rail project.
The Taliban has appealed to the international community to recognize its so-called Islamic Emirate as it faces diplomatic isolation. Western sanctions mean the country has been cut off from international financial institutions and aid has dropped to a trickle in a country where more than half of the population faces food insecurity, Al Jazeera reported.
