ISLAMABAD: Kazakhstan has offered to fully finance a proposed railway linking Central Asia to Pakistan’s ports via Afghanistan, according to a media report, a move that could revive long-stalled regional connectivity plans and deepen Pakistan’s role as a transit hub for landlocked economies.
The proposal would connect Kazakhstan to Pakistan’s ports of Karachi and Gwadar through Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, providing Central Asia with direct access to warm waters and offering Pakistan a long-sought overland trade corridor to the region.
“We are not asking Pakistan for a single penny,” Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Pakistan, Yerzhan Kistafin, said in an interview with Geo News on Tuesday. “This is not aid. It is a mutually beneficial investment.”
Pakistan has for years sought to position itself as a gateway for Central Asian trade, offering its ports to landlocked economies as part of a broader strategy to integrate South and Central Asia.
However, its ambition has faced setbacks, most recently in October last year when border skirmishes with Afghanistan prompted Islamabad to shut key crossings, suspending transit and bilateral trade.
Kistafin said the rail project would treat Afghanistan not as an obstacle but as a transit partner, arguing that trade and connectivity could help stabilize the country.
“Connectivity creates responsibility,” he said. “Trade creates incentives for peace.”
Under the proposed plan, rail cargo would move from Kazakhstan through Turkmenistan to western Afghanistan before entering Pakistan at Chaman and linking with the national rail network.
Geo News reported the Afghan segment, spanning about 687 kilometers, is expected to take roughly three years to build once agreements are finalized, with Kazakhstan financing the project.
