Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Works said preliminary talks have started with Tehran and New Delhi for the establishment of a railroad linking Iran’s Chabahar Port to Herat Province in western Afghanistan. “India has shown willingness to establish a railroad linking Chabahar and Herat and this is a milestone toward connecting Afghanistan to Chabahar Port,” TOLOnews quoted Mehdi Rohani, a spokesman of the Afghan ministry, as saying. Talks on the trilateral transit corridor started in 2013. Both Afghanistan and India are focusing on Chabahar and the trilateral transit corridor to reduce their dependence on Pakistan. In January, Afghan Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah paid a visit to Chabahar. “Chabahar, which is a transit gate in eastern Iran, is the best area for expansion of Afghanistan’s transit industry,” he said. The port city of Chabahar, which spans about 17,150 square km and has a population of nearly 200,000, is located in Sistan-Baluchestan Province in southeastern Iran.
