Turkmenistan plans to introduce its section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) railway into operation already next month, while the beginning of construction of Tajikistan’s section of this regional railway remains questionable due to tension in Afghanistan.
Usmon Qalandarov, the deputy head of Tajik Railways (Tajikistan’s state railway company), says Tajikistan will intensify work on construction of its section of the TAT railway only after improvement of situation in the neighboring country.
Local experts, however, believe that Tajikistan should strive for implementation of this project irrespective of domestic political scene in Afghanistan and possible thaw in relations with Uzbekistan.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov recently held a meeting to discuss issues related to introducing the Turkmen section of the TAT railway into operation. The Turkmen section is expected to be finished in the first half of November.
Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has stopped financing the TAT railway project. Si Si Yu, ADB’s Country Director for Tajikistan, told reporters in Dushanbe on December 15, 2015 that the ADB has stopped financing the railway project because of the increasing tension in Afghanistan.
“We do not intend to finance construction of a railway in country where (Afghanistan) security is not guaranteed,” Yu said. “It’s very risky.”
“We will probably return to this project when the security situation in Afghanistan improves,” ADB’s country director for Tajikistan added.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) for construction of the rail link connecting the three countries was signed during a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan that took place in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on March 20, 2013.
The 400-kilometer railroad is expected to connect the Afghan town of Akina-Andkhoy to Atamurat-Ymamnazar in Turkmenistan and Panj in Tajikistan.
The presidents of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan officially inaugurated the construction of the railway connecting the three nations on June 5, 2013. Presidents Hamid Karzai, Emomali Rahmon and Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov participated in the ceremony that took place in Turkmenistan’s northeastern province of Lebap. They buried a time capsule with a message to future generations under the first section of the railway line near the town of Atamyrat.
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) railway will be a part of a broader regional transportation initiative that will open a new transit corridor between Central Asia and world markets through Indian Ocean ports, a route less than half as long as Central Asian existing railway export options through Russia to the Baltic Sea coast. The TAT railway has a regional strategic implication, as it will enable Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan to have a railway line bypassing Uzbekistan. While the TAT railroad will diversify the transport routes of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, the greatest beneficiary will be Tajikistan, as the TAT rail line will allow it to overcome its current transportation deadlock and dependency on Uzbek railroads for transit. In the past Uzbekistan has frequently blocked its railway lines linking to Tajikistan, using Tajik transit dependency as leverage for political pressure.
