Press TV- Afghanistan and Uzbekistan have signed an agreement to extend a railway between the two countries which could give Uzbekistan a strategic access to the Persian Gulf through Iran.


The agreement over the project � which would be within the framework of the Trans-Afghan Transport Corridor that has been in the pipeline for over 12 years � was signed in Uzbekistan�s capital Tashkent on Thursday by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.

The plan is to construct a new railway with a total length of above 1,000 kilometers from Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan�s northern province of Balkh and to the western city of Herat which is close to the border with Iran.

�The line would extend from Neyababad in Mazar-e-Sharif to Herat on one side and to Kunduz on the other,� Afghan media quoted Abdul Bari Seddiqi, the deputy head of Afghanistan�s railway administration as saying.

�Uzbekistan can be connected to the Afghan railway lines via this link,� Seddiqi added.

Uzbekistan signed an agreement with Iran and Afghanistan in 2005 to build an interstate north-south transport corridor which could connect the landlocked former Soviet republic to international waters.

The rail link from Mazar-e-Sharif to Herat is expected to provide a new regional trade route that could eventually connect five countries: China, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Iran.

In 2011, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan put into service a 75-kilometer rail link connecting Afghanistan�s border city of Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif. Uzbekistan Railways has constructed the line through an investment of $170 million.

Since then, Uzbekistan had expressed its interest to extend the rail link to Herat and a connection to Iran.

Currently, a rail link from Herat to Iran is being constructed, allowing traffic from Uzbekistan to the Iran�s Persian Gulf ports.