ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is in Kabul today, Thursday, to sign a framework agreement to conduct a joint feasibility study for the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) Railway Project, the foreign office said in a statement.
The UAP Railway Project aims to establish a vital trade and transit corridor linking Uzbekistan with Pakistan via Afghanistan, offering the Central Asian republics direct access to Pakistani seaports. The rail link is expected to significantly boost regional connectivity, facilitate trade and contribute to long-term economic integration and political stability in the broader region.
For Pakistan, which seeks to position itself as a regional connectivity hub, the UAP railway is also strategically important in strengthening economic ties with Central Asia and securing stable transit through Afghanistan, a country whose internal security dynamics continue to impact broader regional development goals.
“The DPM/FM’s visit underscores the importance Pakistan attaches to the successful realization of the UAP Railway Project,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The signing of the Framework Agreement on Joint Feasibility Study between the three participating countries in Kabul will be an important step toward its implementation.”
Uzbekistan and Afghanistan signed an agreement in 2017 to extend a railroad connecting the two countries that would eventually give Uzbekistan a direct link to seaports.
Landlocked Uzbekistan’s access to marine shipping is very limited.
RENEWED ENGAGEMENT
While in Kabul, Dar will also meet Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister and is scheduled to call on the country’s acting prime minister. The meetings will cover a wide range of bilateral issues as well as regional and international developments.
The visit comes amid a tentative thaw in Pakistan-Afghanistan relations, which have been strained in recent years due to a surge in militancy in Pakistan that Islamabad blames on Afghan-based insurgent groups.
Islamabad has repeatedly urged the Taliban-led government to prevent militant groups, particularly Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), from launching attacks on Pakistani security forces and other targets from Afghan soil. Kabul denies harboring militants.
In December, the Afghan Taliban said bombardment by Pakistani military aircraft in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province had killed at least 46 people, most of whom were children and women.
Pakistan has not confirmed the strikes but has said that it is carrying out “anti-terrorist operations” against militants it blames for attacks in Pakistan and who it says have safe havens in Afghanistan, a charge that Kabul denies.
Efforts to repair the fractured ties gained momentum during a China-hosted trilateral dialogue in Beijing in May between the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Afghanistan and China. Islamabad and Kabul agreed in principle to send ambassadors to each other’s country as soon as possible, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had announced after the summit.
The upcoming signing of the UAP railway pact, a long-discussed infrastructure project championed by all three governments, is also being seen as one of the first tangible outcomes of renewed engagement between Islamabad and Kabul.
