The importance of the Herat-Mazar-e-Sharif-Wakhan railway in Afghanistan and Iran's approach |
Iran’s willingness to cooperate in the construction (bilateral or multilateral) of the Herat-Mazar-e-Sharif railway and the practical exploitation of the Iran-Afghanistan-China railway route could create a huge transformation in increasing trade in the region and transit in the North-South and East-West corridors.
In the past decade, with the announcement of Iran’s readiness to connect the Khaf-Herat railway to Mazar-e-Sharif (if the conditions of the Afghan government are met), the main steps for the Iran-Afghanistan-Tajikistan railway have been taken. The Herat-Mazar-e-Sharif-Wakhan railway, as a strategic route connecting Iran to China and Europe, has been the main focus of discussions between Iran and Afghanistan. Iran is advancing plans to create a new land rail corridor from Herat to Mazar-e-Sharif and continuing to Wakhan and China via Afghanistan.
Tehran has introduced the construction of the Herat-Mazar-e-Sharif railway as the first phase of the Iran-Afghanistan-China strategic corridor. From this perspective, the rail connection from Herat to Mazar-e-Sharif and then through the Wakhan Corridor to the Xinjiang region of China is a strategic route.
The Herat-Mazar-e-Sharif railway is also part of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran corridor plan, a 2,100-kilometer route.
In line with promoting the 14th government’s rail diplomacy. One of the main axes of the negotiation is to examine new transit routes, including a rail connection from Iran to China via Afghanistan.
Mehdi Safari, head of the Supreme Strategic Council of the North-South and East Transit Consortium, recently emphasized that to receive maximum transit, the establishment of a rail and road route with Afghanistan is being considered.
In January, Jabar Ali Zakiri, CEO of Iran........