- Afghan Officials Pledge to Complete Vital Passage of Silk Road on Wakhan-China Road
- Trans-Afghan project through Wakhan Corridor is vital Silk Road passage, bordering China
- Wakhan Corridor is a very good alternative way for Afghan exports to China
- Afghanistan aims to boost export of goods to China through Wakhan Corridor
- Construction work on the Wakhan-China road, a vital passage of Silk Road, to be completed before the onset of winter, 2024 claim the Afghan Officials from Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development.
- Wakhan Corridor, 350 km long and 8 to 40 km, is a narrow mountainous area located at the junction of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan.
- Officials of the Chamber of Commerce and Investment believe completion of Wakhan-China Road will lower Afghan traders’ dependence on neighboring countries
By: Muhammad Arif, Editor NSN.Asia
Kabul: The remaining construction work on the Wakhan-China road, a vital passage of Silk Road, will be completed before the onset of winter, 2024, Officials from the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development announced on Saturday during a presentation of their annual report.
The construction work on the bridges, culverts, and retaining walls of the 50-kilometer Wakhan-China road is ongoing, said Mohammad Younus Akhundzada, the acting Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, according to local media.
Akhundzada further added by saying “the Wakhan road was contracted during the Republic era by councils and private companies at a cost of 360 million afghani. With the return of the Islamic Emirate and the suspension of the councils’ activities, the construction contract for the 50-kilometer Wakhan road was resumed last year”.
“During a trip, I was accompanied by friends from China and the Chinese ambassador. They wanted to inspect the area to see if a railway line could be constructed along the road. They initially thought several kilometers of tunnels would be needed on this road; however, it was proven to them that not even one kilometer of tunnel is required”, said the acting minister.
Moreover, Akhundzada also mentioned that the World Bank has promised to resume its incomplete projects in Afghanistan.
He stated, “The matter has now progressed to the point where they are considering returning. They abandoned nearly twenty thousand projects halfway and fled the country. We made it clear to them that they left nearly twenty thousand projects unfinished and took with them the salaries of thousands of our employees for a month. This led them to say that they will return.”
In April 2024, the Acting Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development announced during a meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Kabul that the construction of the Wakhan road will be completed in the near future.
Experts believe that completing silk Road is great achievement and success as this road connectivity project has tremendous the geopolitical significance.
The construction of the Wakhan-China Corridor is seen as a sign of the Taliban’s sincerity and confidence in cooperating with China under the Belt and Road initiative (BRI), a flagship project of economic and infrastructure development launched by China in 2013.
Afghanistan-China trade volume stood around one billion dollars in the last eight months, according to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. Most of Afghanistan-China trade is done through ports of Pakistan.
Recent news reports also show that the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan has partially stabilized, leading to a stable environment both inside and outside Afghanistan.
Moreover, extending the China Pakistan Economic Corridor of BRI into Afghanistan could promote more convenient regional cooperation and develop Afghanistan into an important trade and transport hub connecting the Eurasian continent in the future.
Highlighting the vital significance of Wakhan-China road, officials of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) have said that the Wakhan road could play a fundamental role in finding new trade partners for Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan is a landlocked country and needs to strengthen its relations with neighbors especially with those neighbors who are of significant economic importance, hence the Wakhan corridor is an important and strategic economic route for the strengthening of economic ties.”, Mohammad Younus Momand, the first deputy of the Chamber of Commerce and Investment, told local news media.
In recent years, Chinese companies have invested in various development projects of Afghanistan, thus leading to create job opportunities in Afghanistan.
“If Wakhan corridor is executed and managed seriously, it will have very good results, and moreover, it creates domestic and regional trusts and connects Afghanistan with the entire region”, Sayed Masoud, an Economist told media.
Earlier, the Acting Minister of Industry and Commerce said that the Islamic
Long-term wars and internal conflicts since 1979 have damaged Afghanistan’s economy and economic development process, leading to diverse social-economic crisis.
Expressing optimism about the Wakhan Corridor with China, the spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate said that constructing the Wakhan Corridor with China, the start of the Trans-Afghan project, and the extraction of more mines were among the high priorities of the Islamic Emirate for the year 1403.
