Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev is keen that India joins a railway project in Afghanistan that will help in stabilizing the country and connect it to Eurasia and Iran.

The railway, almost 650 km in length, which will connect Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat cities and will later be extended to Kabul, is a major project agreed to by President Ashraf Ghani and President Mirziyoyev.

The preliminary surveys for the project have already been completed. “Uzbekistan support a greater presence of India in Central Asia that will also help Afghanistan,” sources said.
Uzbekistan has an interest in opening trade and connectivity routes all the way to the Indian Ocean.
The project, for which Uzbekistan has already pledged $500 million, could become another major regional connectivity project for India, after its construction of the Zaranj-Delaram Highway in Afghanistan and the Shahid Beheshti port in Chabahar, Iran.