New Freight Line to Uzbekistan First of Several Intended to Speed Afghan Goods to International Markets
In addition to conducting audits and investigations, SIGAR monitors and chronicles broad trends within Afghanistan, including trade and economic development, and publishes them in the Quarterly Report to Congress.
In the transportation sector, SIGAR's most-recent Quarterly Report to Congress noted a small but important step forward with the opening of a new 75-kilometer freight rail line from the Uzbek-Afghan border to the Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif.
The new Hairatan rail line is currently operated by Uzbekistan's national railway; the Afghan Railway Department will take over the Hairitan line after three years of training and plans to extend rail lines from Herat to Iran and Torkham to Pakistan.
Freight rail is viewed as a major driver of economic development, a way of speeding goods from landlocked Afghanistan to markets in Central Asia and beyond, and a means of accommodating import growth projected by the World Bank.
Below are links with more information on the Hairitan railway: