Executive Summary:
- Uzbekistan is developing infrastructure to connect Central Asia to South Asia, partly through connecting to Afghanistan’s railway network. On May 21, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs for the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, announced the reopening of the final port of the railway that links Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
- Despite tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban-controlled government in Afghanistan, work on a railway project from Afghanistan to Pakistan is progressing steadily. Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are preparing for a feasibility study for the Termez–Naibabad–Maidanshahr–Logar–Kharlachi railway, which will last several months.
- Increased cargo flows through Central Asia—partly caused by recurring Afghanistan–Pakistan border disruptions—have prompted Tashkent to expand rail infrastructure and propose redirecting freight from the congested Saryagash–Keles crossing with Kazakhstan to a less busy crossing between the two countries.
Uzbekistan is developing infrastructure to connect Central Asia to South Asia, partly through connecting to Afghanistan’s railway network. On May 21, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs for the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, announced the reopening of the final, fifth port of the 75-kilometer (46.6-mile) Hairatan–Mazar-i-Sharif railway, which links Afghanistan and Uzbekistan (Ariana News, May 21). Uzbek companies, Sogdiana Trans and Uzbekistan Railways, performed maintenance, upgrades, and logistical expansion on the railway line starting in 2024. The Asian Development Bank partially funded the original construction of the route in 2010 and 2011 through a $165 million grant. The recent maintenance and upgrades were completed through $6.3 million in Taliban government funding and were executed by Uzbekistan’s state railways (Uz Daily, May 23).
According to the Taliban’s Ministry of Public Works, the dry port on this section of the route enables the simultaneous unloading of up to 50 wagons. Since 2011, cargo transported along the Hairatan–Mazar-i-Sharif route has steadily increased, demonstrating growing demand for international transportation across the Uzbek–Afghan border (TOLOnews, May 22). This demand has spurred cooperation between Tashkent and Kabul to improve cross-border logistics efficiency to simplify and speed up cargo movement. At the reopening ceremony, Baradar, speaking as a senior Taliban official, said that “in the future an agreement will be reached under which passports and visas will no longer be required” to travel between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan (TOLOnews, May 22).
In April, Uzbek specialists finished laying 1,000 meters of access tracks at the Naibabad, Afghanistan railway station (Daryo, April 23). Expanded access tracks will enable more freight trains to be handled while preventing congestion along the route by reducing their downtime. The next step is the construction of an additional 1,650-meter track and several modern warehouses (O’zbekiston temir yo’llari, May 22).
These infrastructure expansions are a part of the implementation of the Trans-Afghan Railway along the Termez, Uzbekistan–Naibabad, Afghanistan–Maidanshahr, Afghanistan–Logar, Afghanistan–Kharlachi, Pakistan route. This larger project, also known as the Kabul Corridor, lays the foundation for an alternative north–south transport axis. The Kabul Corridor’s proponents argue that it provides the shortest overland connection between markets in Europe, Central Asia, East Asia, and South Asia, eliminating the need for maritime crossings. Preliminary estimates by stakeholders in the project suggest that by 2030 the Trans-Afghan Railway could handle up to 22 million tons of cargo per year, and could grow to 34 million tons by 2040 (see EDM, October 16, 2025).
Since 2023, a broader 5,532-kilometer (3,437-mile) Belarus–Russia–Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan multimodal corridor has been under development (Yuz.uz, November 2, 2023). This logistics chain can deliver cargo from Kazakhstan to Pakistan in just 20 days—three times faster than by sea (The Astana Times, August 14, 2024). The route has the potential to extend to Europe and India. Incorporating the Kabul Corridor, the route would be both multimodal and shorter than the existing International North–South Transport Corridor (INSTC) via Iran.
Despite rising tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban-controlled government in Afghanistan, work on the railway project from Naibabad, Afghanistan to Kharlachi, Pakistan is progressing steadily. In accordance with the trilateral agreement signed in July 2025, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan are preparing for a feasibility study for the Termez–Naibabad–Maidanshahr–Logar–Kharlachi railway, which will last several months (O’zbekiston temir yo’llari, July 18, 2025). The results of engineering surveys will inform the feasibility study of the route, enabling the specification of its key parameters, including cost and a prospective timeline.
The repeated closure of border crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan throughout 2025 increased northern overland shipments via Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. This re-routing could put pressure on the Tashkent railway hub, as well as on rail routes from Tashkent to Samarkand, Bukhara, and Karshi, which are already in high demand for passenger transportation due to steady population growth and tourism in Uzbekistan (Meeting of the Council for Railway Transport of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Member States, May 19–21).
Tashkent is proposing new initiatives to increase the appeal of the north–south transit route through Central Asia and Afghanistan. At a May 19–21 meeting of the Council for Railway Transport of CIS Member States in St. Petersburg, the Uzbek delegation proposed amending some existing international plans for freight and container trains (Council for CIS Railway Transport; Uzbek Delegation Report on Meeting of the Council for Railway Transport for CIS Member States, May 19–21). For example, freight trains from Kazakhstan enter Uzbekistan via the overcrowded Saryagash–Keles border crossing. This section of the Uzbek–Kazakh border handles around 40 pairs of trains daily, making it the busiest crossing point in the entire CIS (Meeting of the Council for Railway Transport of CIS Member States, May 19–21).
Increased freight volumes at this border could increase the financial and time costs of using Uzbek transit for export shipments to South Asia via the Kabul Corridor. According to the Uzbek delegation, this issue could be addressed by redirecting freight traffic from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan from the Saryagash–Keles border crossing to the Oasis interstate crossing point in Karakalpakstan. This would relieve congestion at the Saryagash border station while freeing up capacity on the electrified Tashkent–Samarkand, Tashkent–Bukhara, and Tashkent–Karshi railway lines for growing domestic passenger traffic. Use of the Oasis interstate crossing point in Karakalpakstan would also shorten the railway route to Uzbekistan from the Baltic states, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia by 163 kilometers (101 miles), with the potential for connections to Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan (Uzbek Delegation Report on Meeting of the Council for Railway Transport of CIS Member States, May 19–21).
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