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In 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S would sponsor a “New Silk Road” that would emerge from Afghanistan to better link the country in with its neighbors to increase its economic potential and help with the rebuilding effort after decades of turmoil and war. Unfortunately, this bold plan appears to have flopped before it even got started.
Now China is making good on this ambition by integrating Afghanistan in with their Belt and Road initiative — a major part of what could be called the real New Silk Road.
As part of this endeavor, a pair of cargo trains departed from two Chinese cities at the end of August bound for Afghanistan, opening up another node on a rapidly expanding new logistics network which now spans across the Eurasian landmass.
An Afghan policeman patrols alongside a new railway track in Hairatan, on January 2, 2012, close to the northern border of Afghanistan with Uzbekistan. (AFP PHOTO/Qais Usyan)
On August 25, the first Afghanistan-bound train ceremoniously departed from Nantong, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, carrying 85 containers. The side of the train was draped with a banner that read “Congratulations on the Central Asian trains (Nantong – Afghanistan – Hairaton) launching” and on the front was a similar sign topped off with a bright red pom-pom. This train arrived at its destination in Hairatan on August 7 after a 15-day journey which took it across the whole of China, through eastern Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. This was the first of what is projected to become a bimonthly route, which also includes feeder lines to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, as well as the ancient Silk Road centers of Samarkand and Bukhara in Uzbekistan.
A second China-Afghanistan train departed a few days later from the eastern Chinese city of Yiwu, which is perhaps best known as being the place where Christmas ornaments are made. That one is set to arrive in Mazar-I-Sharif today. This train will make the 7,500 kilometer journey laden with over 100 containers carrying over $4 million worth of cargo in 15 days. Mazar-i-Sharif sits on the Uzbekistan border, 75 kilometers down the line from Hairatan, and is Afghanistan’s second most important commercial center and a key logistics hub for the Central Asia/Middle East region. This train is expected to do one run each week.
New direct cargo rail routes connecting cities in China with those across Eurasia have been commencing at an increasing rate since the first lines from Chongqing and Chengdu were launched out of beta in 2013, and there are now in the ballpark of 35 to 40 currently in operation. Yiwu alone has five international rail lines connecting it with cities in Spain, Iran, Russia and four Central Asian nations.
These new international rail routes don’t only provide a much needed middle option between expensive air and slow sea freight and give China a strategic back door to decrease reliance on its eastern sea ports, but are also used to physically establish closer ties between the nations they pass through. These rail lines can be thought of as infrastructural diplomacy, and often lay the groundwork for enhanced political and economic cooperation. They are the first stage of what often becomes complete economic corridors which contain new large-scale industrial zones,logistics centers and even new cities. While China’s long-term plans for Afghanistan are currently not clear, if projects like Khorgos Gateway are any indication these two new rail routes could be followed up by big investments, big projects and big dreams.
Now China is making good on this ambition by integrating Afghanistan in with their Belt and Road initiative — a major part of what could be called the real New Silk Road.
As part of this endeavor, a pair of cargo trains departed from two Chinese cities at the end of August bound for Afghanistan, opening up another node on a rapidly expanding new logistics network which now spans across the Eurasian landmass.
An Afghan policeman patrols alongside a new railway track in Hairatan, on January 2, 2012, close to the northern border of Afghanistan with Uzbekistan. (AFP PHOTO/Qais Usyan)
On August 25, the first Afghanistan-bound train ceremoniously departed from Nantong, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, carrying 85 containers. The side of the train was draped with a banner that read “Congratulations on the Central Asian trains (Nantong – Afghanistan – Hairaton) launching” and on the front was a similar sign topped off with a bright red pom-pom. This train arrived at its destination in Hairatan on August 7 after a 15-day journey which took it across the whole of China, through eastern Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. This was the first of what is projected to become a bimonthly route, which also includes feeder lines to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan, as well as the ancient Silk Road centers of Samarkand and Bukhara in Uzbekistan.
A second China-Afghanistan train departed a few days later from the eastern Chinese city of Yiwu, which is perhaps best known as being the place where Christmas ornaments are made. That one is set to arrive in Mazar-I-Sharif today. This train will make the 7,500 kilometer journey laden with over 100 containers carrying over $4 million worth of cargo in 15 days. Mazar-i-Sharif sits on the Uzbekistan border, 75 kilometers down the line from Hairatan, and is Afghanistan’s second most important commercial center and a key logistics hub for the Central Asia/Middle East region. This train is expected to do one run each week.
New direct cargo rail routes connecting cities in China with those across Eurasia have been commencing at an increasing rate since the first lines from Chongqing and Chengdu were launched out of beta in 2013, and there are now in the ballpark of 35 to 40 currently in operation. Yiwu alone has five international rail lines connecting it with cities in Spain, Iran, Russia and four Central Asian nations.
These new international rail routes don’t only provide a much needed middle option between expensive air and slow sea freight and give China a strategic back door to decrease reliance on its eastern sea ports, but are also used to physically establish closer ties between the nations they pass through. These rail lines can be thought of as infrastructural diplomacy, and often lay the groundwork for enhanced political and economic cooperation. They are the first stage of what often becomes complete economic corridors which contain new large-scale industrial zones,logistics centers and even new cities. While China’s long-term plans for Afghanistan are currently not clear, if projects like Khorgos Gateway are any indication these two new rail routes could be followed up by big investments, big projects and big dreams.
