Uzbekistan is actively developing critical infrastructure to connect Central Asia to South Asia via Afghanistan, despite ongoing Afghan–Pakistani tensions. On May 21, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, announced the reopening of the final port of the 75-kilometer Hairatan–Mazar-i-Sharif railway, significantly enhancing connectivity between northern Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.
This railway, maintained by Uzbek companies Sogdiana Trans and Uzbekistan Railways with $6.3 million in Taliban government funding, demonstrates growing demand for cross-border transportation. Work on the larger Termez–Naibabad–Maidanshahr–Logar–Kharlachi railway project, known as the Kabul Corridor, is also progressing, with Uzbekistan, Pakistan, and Afghanistan preparing a joint field expedition for a feasibility study. This corridor aims to establish the shortest overland link between markets in Europe, Central Asia, East Asia, and South Asia, projected to handle up to 22 million tons of cargo annually. Furthermore, a 5,532-kilometer Belarus–Russia–Kazakhstan–Uzbekistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan multimodal corridor is under development, capable of delivering cargo from Kazakhstan to Pakistan in 20 days. To manage increased traffic from Afghanistan-Pakistan border disruptions, Tashkent proposes redirecting freight from the congested Saryagash–Keles crossing to the Oasis interstate crossing in Karakalpakstan, shortening the route by 163 kilometers and optimizing rail capacity.
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