Dar arrives in Kabul to ink Trans-Afghan rail project, hold bilateral meetings

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday to sign a framework agreement about the Afghan Trans railway project and hold bilateral meetings with Taliban leaders, Pakistan embassy official said.

Afghanistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Naeem Wardak welcomed Ishaq Dar on arrival in Kabul.

Federal Minister for Railways Mohammad Hanif Abbasi, Pakistan’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq and Federal Secretary Railways Syed Mazhar Ali Shah are among the high-level delegation.

Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov has already arrived in Kabul while bad weather in Islamabad delayed DMP Dar’s visit for some time.

The Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) Railway Project first agreed in February 2021, envisages a 573-kilometer track linking Tashkent to Peshawar via Kabul, with an estimated cost of $4.8 billion.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar will undertake a day-long visit to Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 17, 2025 to sign the Framework Agreement on Joint Feasibility Study for the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) Railway Project, a Foreign Office statement said.

He is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising the Minister for Railways, Special Representative for Afghanistan, and Ministry of Railways Secretary.

The UAP Railway Project aims to build a rail link to connect Uzbekistan with Pakistan via Afghanistan and facilitate access to Pakistani seaports for Central Asian States. By facilitating regional trade and transit, the project is expected to promote regional stability, growth and development.

It would be Ishaq Dar’s second visit to Kabul in three months. He last visited Afghanistan in April, which paved the way for improvement in relations.

During the visit, he will also hold a meeting with the Afghan Acting Foreign Minister and will call on the Acting Prime Minister of Afghanistan to discuss bilateral matters and exchange views on regional and international developments.

The UAP railway project has been under discussions in recent days during meetings and telephonic contacts among the countries involved.

Activities of the long-pending project got momentum after China expressed willingness to fund the project.

Ishaq Dar confirmed in May that China has expressed its intent to finance the UAP railway project, calling it a transformative step for regional connectivity. He made these revelations at a news conference in Islamabad on his return from Beijing where he attended a Pak-China-Afghan trilateral meeting at the foreign ministers level.

“We have already sent a draft framework to Uzbekistan and Afghanistan,” Dar said, adding that financing and coordination for this project has been taken up directly with China, which has responded positively.

“This project, along with the Peshawar–Kabul Highway and ML-1 upgrades, will massively boost Pakistan’s connectivity to Central Asian Republics and enhance the commercial potential of our underutilised ports,” according to Dar.

Also read: FM Dar to visit Kabul today for Trans-Afghan railway accord