A railroad has been launched to link Khaf in northeastern Iran to Rozanak in Afghanistan’s Herat Province.
The strategic railroad linkup took place in a ceremony on Tuesday, which was attended by officials of Iran and Afghanistan, IRNA reported.
The rail project, which is seen as part of a puzzle connecting regional countries, was started in 2007.
Khaf-Herat railroad is also part of a major 2,000-kilometer-long East-West railroad running through China, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Turkey to Europe. It will provide landlocked Afghanistan with access to high seas via Iranian ports in northern country.
The construction project of the railroad had been stalled due to the change in Afghan government, but it was completed last year and an Iranian cargo train arrived in Afghanistan on Tuesday.
According to Governor of Khorasan Razavi Province Yakub Ali Nazari, the railroad will reduce the cost and time of transportation of Iranian goods to Afghanistan and connect Kabul with other Asian and European countries.
"With the launch of the only rail route between Iran and Afghanistan, our country's exports to Afghanistan will accelerate. One of the advantages of this railroad is higher speed and lower cost of supplying goods to Afghanistan, which will increase significantly by alleviating security and traffic problems at the Dogharoun border," he said.
Significant Development for Regional Connectivity
BNN Breaking wrote: In a significant development for regional connectivity, local Taliban officials in Herat Province have announced the official opening of the Herat-Khaf railroad.
The process of transferring commercial goods between Afghanistan and Iran through this railroad was inaugurated on July 11 in the presence of Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, and other Taliban officials.
During his speech, Mujahid emphasized the depth of cooperation between Afghanistan and Iran, highlighting the strong relations between the two countries. He conveyed a message from the leadership of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, expressing the desire for increased cooperation, equal rights and strengthened stability between the two nations.
The Taliban spokesperson stated that Afghanistan requires economic cooperation to ensure security and stability within the country.
Bakht al-Rahman Sharafat, the head of the Taliban administration, emphasized that the opening of the Herat-Khaf railroad would not only benefit Afghanistan but also the region. He stressed the interdependence of countries within the region and the potential for enhanced economic collaboration.
Iranian officials present at the ceremony expressed their support for boosting economic cooperation between Afghanistan and Iran. They highlighted Afghanistan’s potential as a bridge between East and West Asia, emphasizing the need for stronger ties in trade and commerce.
Taliban officials said the Herat-Khaf railroad is divided into four sections, with three sections already completed and the remaining section is expected to be finalized soon.
Two sections are located within Afghanistan, while the other two are situated in Iran.
The announcement of the official opening of this railroad comes at a time when relations between the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Iran have been strained due to Tehran’s claims on Hirmand River water.
This development signifies the changing stance of the Taliban regarding such development projects, as they had previously prevented their implementation before taking control of Afghanistan. The inauguration of the Herat-Khaf railroad holds great promise for fostering economic cooperation between Afghanistan and Iran, facilitating trade, and spurring regional growth.
Test Run in May
A test run of the railroad saw a freight train arrive in Herat Province on May 9 via the Khaf-Herat railroad.
According to Herat railroad officials, the freight on board weighed more than 600 tons, and included equipment and supplies for the company that built the Khaf-Herat railroad, Ariana News reported.
According to officials, an Iranian delegation arrived in Herat and the two sides discussed sustainable transportation via railroad.
Mufti Mohammad Nasim Mohammadi, the head of the Herat Railway Department, said the shipment included 17 wagons that transferred 655 tons of rail equipment and facilities for the contracting company.
Miad Salehi, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways, met with Bakht-ur-Rehman Sharafat, the head of Afghanistan Railways, in Tehran last year to discuss ways of completing a 225-km railroad between Khaf in Iran and Herat in Afghanistan, the International Railway Journal reported.
Work on the link began in 2007, which led to the opening of the 140-km Khaf-Rozanak section in December 2020 along with a free trade and customs processing zone on the border.
Former Afghan president, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani participated in the inauguration ceremony via video-conferencing.
Work remains to be completed on an 85-km section between Ghurian and Herat, as construction was halted during the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan last year, during which a section of the line near Rozanak was damaged.
Salehi expressed Iran’s determination to complete the railroad as soon as possible and stressed the need to take steps to determine ways of making the route operational.
“We welcome cooperation with Afghanistan. If Afghanistan is ready for long-term cooperation and practical agreements with our country, we will also declare our readiness in this regard,” he said.
Sharafat called for cooperation with officials of the Iranian Ministry of Roads and Urban Development to help resume construction.
The line is expected to improve trade and communications with Herat, one of the most prosperous cities of Afghanistan, which will provide a trade route to the Middle East as well as further afield to India, Europe and Southeast Asia.
The line is expected to carry about 320,000 passengers and 6.8 million tons of freight a year, including the export of oil, construction materials and food from Afghanistan and the import of grain, dried fruit, plants and medical supplies. The line is expected to connect with the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad and the north-south trans-Afghan line.
Connecting 5 Central Asian Countries
The rail project ultimately aims to connect at least five Central Asian countries, an Iranian transit official said earlier.
Iran is ready to make further investments and both sides are willing to finish the construction of the portation 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 the proposed $2 billion Five Nations Railroad Corridor that would link China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Iran over an estimated 2,000 km.
More than half of the project will cover several provinces of Afghanistan, including Kunduz and Herat.
Khatibi said Iran has made proposals with “various investment methods”, without elaborating further.
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 was the biggest “missing link” in the overall project, and if completed, it would signal a major transformation in regional transit.
Trade Partnership
Iran has been Afghanistan’s top trade partner in recent years and is a key provider of fuel to its eastern neighbor. Its trade with Afghanistan (non-oil exports plus imports) stood at 3,405 tons worth $1.66 billion in the fiscal 2022-23 (ended March 20), registering a 10% fall in terms of value compared with $1.85 billion in the year before, according to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration.
Iran registered a trade surplus of $1.6 billion with the neighboring country during the period, IRIB News reported.
The main exported goods include light oils and products, except for gasoline, oil and other products obtained from the distillation of coal tar at high temperature, liquefied natural gas, flooring, fresh apple, tomatoes, mineral oil and gasoline.
The above-mentioned goods accounted for 36% of the weight and 39% of the value of the total exports to Afghanistan during the year.
The report noted that most of the goods exported to Afghanistan from Iran is petroleum-based and petrochemical-based products.
Refined lead, sunflower seeds, plants and herbs used in perfumery and pharmaceuticals were the top products imported from Afghanistan during the period, accounting for 39% of the total import’s value.
Other imported goods include sesame, mung beans, pinto beans, single thread string, pepper, cotton, fennel seeds and other herbs.
Iran and Afghanistan have 815 kilometers of common border.
Afghanistan has always been one of Iran's most important neighbors due to its geographical location and diplomatic relations. Therefore, the provinces bordering this country are important regions. These provinces include Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan and Sistan-Baluchestan.
End Running Western Sanctions
Despite their current estrangement from the West, Iran and Afghanistan have test run a roundabout rail link that aims to connect with the rail networks of China and India, Sophia Nina Burna-Asefi, a research associate in the Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia team at The Risk Advisory Group, wrote for The Diplomat after the test run.
As market access to Europe is blocked off, the ostracized pair seek to find an alternative route.
Transport links have been a key part of Iran and Afghanistan’s strategy to bolster their international position in the wake of their estrangement from the West and the crisis in Ukraine. To this end, the trial run of the Khaf-Herat rail project provides an opportunity for Tehran and Kabul to show that, in spite of the efforts of the West, they are not isolated.
The project has a reported value of $75 million and is funded by Iran. Recently in the press, Iranian government officials have noted that this railroad would link up with the rail network of China and India.
The Khaf-Herat rail project has been part of a proposed $2 billion Five Nations Railway Corridor, which would run through Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and China. The total length is 2,000 km and the rail route runs from Herat to the Afghan-Tajik border and, after crossing Tajikistan, passes through Kyrgyzstan, where it will reach China’s Xinjiang region via the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railroad.
Iran’s railroad ambitions go beyond Afghanistan. By advancing a web of routes, Iran has sought ways to avoid isolation and export to alternative world markets. By aligning itself with powers such as China and Russia, Iran has signaled that despite the restrictions associated with Western sanctions, other options also exist.
Having been under the thumb of Western sanctions for a long time, Iran has created a well-developed sanctions-dodging supply chain. The sanctions against Iran span a period of more than four decades, while Afghanistan has been under sanctions since the Taliban government came to power in August 2021.
The Khaf-Herat railroad is part of Iran’s wider goal of establishing sanction-proof corridors in the region. In light of this, both Iran and Afghanistan share the objective of undermining Western sanctions, and since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, they have announced a flurry of joint transport initiatives toward this end.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has been rearranging the Eurasian political and supply chain map with considerable consequences. Against this backdrop, Iran has added fresh impetus to transport projects in the region. For Iran, the major rail projects it is involved in include the FNRC and the International North-South Transportation Corridor, a 7,200-km-long project conceived in 2000.
INSTC is made up of a multimodal network of ship, rail and road routes for moving freight through India, Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia, though financing and security concerns remain.
Despite this growing alignment, uncertainties persist. The development of new transit routes represents Iran’s efforts to help facilitate the flow of goods the West wants to stop. This new reality has elevated transport projects to provide a lifeline to the Iranian and Afghan economies.
By linking the Khaf-Herat railroad to the broader rail networks, Iran aims to take advantage of regional overland trade routes. Afghanistan and Iran teaming up their transport corridors could spell trouble for the West and can only make enforcing sanctions even more tricky.
