Afghanistan Joins BRI with Rail Link to Iran

With a short 78 km cross-border link to Iran’s standard gauge rail (SGR) rail network at Khaf, Afghanistan is now potentially linked to the world through the developing port at Chabahar. Both Afghanistan’s President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani were present for the virtual event, at which an Iranian train full of agricultural goods rolled into the Afghan town of Rozanak, about 15 km inside the western border. The line is expected to soon reach Herat, Afghanistan’s third largest city.