Kazakh Deputy Premier Travels to Kabul as Central Asian States Accelerate Transit Plans

Kazakh and Uzbek officials are stepping up efforts to open rail and road corridors through Afghanistan that would give Central Asian exporters direct access to ports in South Asia and the Persian Gulf. On June 21, Serik Zhumangarin, Kazakhstan’s deputy prime minister, held talks in Kabul with senior Afghan figures focused on trade flows, customs procedures and transport links.

Astana said it is contributing to the final leg of a rail connection between Iran’s Khaf and Afghanistan’s Herat, a link that, once finished, would allow freight from western Afghanistan to reach Iranian harbors. Zhumangarin also discussed cooperation with Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan on routes that would tie Herat to Mazar-i-Sharif and to the Turkmen border crossing at Turgundy, creating longer north–south chains across the region.

Despite recent strains between Kabul and Islamabad, Kazakh officials reaffirmed support for a Trans-Afghan corridor to Pakistan. They estimate the route could handle as many as 10 million tons of cargo annually, routing goods to Karachi and Gwadar. Officials framed the plan as a way to diversify regional trade corridors beyond traditional northern routes to Russia and China.

In Tashkent earlier this month, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev reiterated his government’s push to gain port access via Afghanistan and said his administration was advancing the Trans-Afghan idea. Uzbekistan has increased its own engagement with Afghan authorities as it seeks cheaper, shorter transit options for its exports and imports.

Trade between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan reached nearly $1.7 billion in 2025, according to local trade tallies, and the two countries have set a goal of lifting annual commerce to roughly $5 billion within five years. Analysts say those targets will depend on resolving funding, security and customs coordination challenges, as well as on the speed of infrastructure work such as the Khaf–Herat line.

Local traders and logistics firms welcomed the talks, saying new overland links could cut shipping times and costs. But Kabul- and regional-based experts caution that political friction, border management and financing remain major obstacles. If those are addressed, however, observers say the moves could reconfigure how goods move between Central and South Asia.