Last month, an important transportation link was launched in our neighbourhood, but it failed to attract much attention and debate in our media for we were heavily occupied in our own internal matters.
Last month, an important transportation link was launched in our neighbourhood, but it failed to attract much attention and debate in our media for we were heavily occupied in our own internal matters.
Afghanistan and Turkmenistan opened the first section of a $2 billion railway link which they ultimately plan to extend to Tajikistan.
The opening of the railway link is seen as a significant step towards regional connectively which will promote economic, trade and commercial activities among the land-locked countries of central and western Asia and beyond.
The railway link is part of the so-called Lapis Lazuli Corridor which is being developed to improve freight links from Central Asia across the Caspian Sea to the Caucasus, Turkey, and Europe. The corridor is aimed at forging trade and transit cooperation between Afghanistan, former Soviet republics - Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia - and Turkey by reducing barriers blocking transit trade.
The proposed corridor connects Aqina, in Afghanistan’s northern Faryab, and Turqundi in western Herat provinces, to Turkmenistan’s Turkmenbashi, and after passing through the Caspian Sea, it runs through Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku and Georgia’s Tbilisi, ultimately going to the Turkish cities of Kars and Istanbul.
Interestingly, just days before the inauguration of the rail link with Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Ashgabat and announced Pakistan’s willingness to join the Lapis Lazuli Corridor (LLC).
He also announced Pakistan’s joining of the Ashgabat agreement that provides for transport link between Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan and seeks to create an international transport and transit corridor.
The objective of the agreement is to facilitate the transport of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. “I would like to take this historic opportunity to announce our agreement in principle to join the Ashgabat Agreement as well as the Lapis Lazuli Corridor,” the prime minister said, while addressing Global Sustainable Transport Conference in the Turkmen capital late last month.
“I am positive (it) will be beneficial not only to Pakistan but also to the entire Central Asian and South Asian region and beyond.”
The Afghan traders enthusiastically hailed the LLC as the “shortest, cheapest and safest route” to transport their goods to the outside world and hoped that it would reduce their dependency on Pakistan and Iran. “Afghanistan’s transit trade is always facing challenges by from the neighbouring countries that have inflicted massive expensive losses on the economy,” the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries said in a statement.
“Therefore, Afghanistan needs to seek alternative ways to be released (from) dependency and vulnerability to one or two (of) its neighbouring countries.”
In a major development, just days after the inauguration of the railway link between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, the Afghan Taliban promised to protect infrastructure projects in their war-ravaged country. Though the militant group made no direct mention of the LLC project, it said their guarantee for security covers highways, railways as well as TAPI gas project, and Mes Aynak copper mining project south of Kabul.
“The Islamic Emirate (of Taliban) not only backs all national projects which are in the interest of the people and result in the development and prosperity of the nation but are also committed to safeguarding them,” a statement from the militant group said, directing all its “mujahedeen” to help on the security of these projects which it deemed “are in the interest of Islam and the country”.
The comments by the Afghan businessmen reflect their long-standing unease over the problems they face in transiting their goods through Pakistani territory, particularly to and from India. But they must know that the full potential of the LLC could not be exploited until it is linked up with Pakistan and beyond.
Therefore, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s announcement of Pakistan’s willingness to join this project is a timely step and a confidence building measure to reduce tensions and encourage the neighbouring countries to take positive steps to increase their connectively and cooperation. Any trans-regional economic cooperation project cannot succeed unless mistrust is reduced between Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan.
The recent diplomatic spat at the Heart of Asia conference in Amritsar, where Afghanistan and India seem to have ganged up to admonish Pakistan for the region’s security and territorial problems can’t help to reduce regional tensions and improve cooperation among the regional countries.
Ideally, such regional forums must be used to reduce tension and discuss ways and means to promote regional cooperation, but it is unfortunate that such are misused to settle political scores.
Regrettably, the Afghan President’s strongly worded statement against Pakistan in India came hot on the heels of his one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Ashgabat, where the Pakistani leader assured of Islamabad’s full cooperation for the restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan, and extended full support for Afghan-led and Afghan-owned initiatives in this regard.
Moreover, General Raheel Sharif just days before his retirement as Pakistan army chief reportedly made a “farewell” telephone call to the Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah.
Such initiatives show Pakistan’s desire in reducing tensions and mistrust with Afghanistan.
The Afghan leaders need to respond in kind to build trust.
At the time when new alliances and groupings are being forged throughout the world with the main objective of forging economic integrity and regional connectivity, Pakistan and Afghanistan as well as Pakistan and India need to take concrete and solid steps to address their long-running problems to pave the way for mutual cooperation. India is undoubtedly one of the major economies of the world, but it is also home to the world’s largest poor population and it needs to improve its relations with neighbours as a means to fully exploit its economic potential and tackle the grinding poverty.
Poverty in Pakistan is also a major issue where four out of every 10 citizens live in acute poverty, while decades of war and fighting have reduced Afghanistan to one of the poorest nations of the world.
Therefore, none of these countries can afford more conflicts. It is high time for their leadership to show statesmanship, and take steps towards reducing tensions and diverting their resources for the betterment and progress of their teeming masses.
The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad
