Afghan Copper

If China does build a rail line to Aynak and Kabul, it would have transformed the geo-politics of Afghanistan. For centuries, the rulers of Afghanistan have preserved their independence against foreign domination, by denying transport links to the rest of the world. They discouraged the building of rail links into Afghanistan and formally barred its citizens from travelling by rail. During the Great Game of the 19th century, the Russians brought the rail line up to Termez on the Uzbek side of the border with Afghanistan. British India extended its rail network up to Peshawar (the Khyber Pass) and Chaman (the Bolan Pass). Afghanistan today has barely 25 km of railway, and all of it on its frontiers. Since 2001, there has been talk about pushing the rail lines from Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan into Afghanistan. It could well be China that brings modern railways into Afghanistan.

Kashgar beckons

China’s rail corridor into Afghanistan will have to begin at the Silk Road city of Kashgar, its western-most railhead. Nearly a decade ago, Beijing had extended its South Xinjiang Railway to Kashgar, which is close to the Chinese borders with Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Beijing is already in talks with Islamabad on a grand scheme to build a rail line from Kashgar across the Karakoram Range into Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. China has been debating plans to extend the rail line westwards into Central Asia to the Fergana valley — that is divided between Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. From Fergana valley into Kabul and Aynak is a relatively easy road that has been traversed by many an adventurer, including Babur, the great Mogul.

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