The Taliban's Ministry of Public Works announced on December 27 that China's first rail transit shipment arrived in Herat via Iran's rail network.

Mohammad Ashraf Haqshenas, a spokesman for the ministry, said that the shipment included 1,000 iron coils from Bandar Abbas to Herat's Roznak station.

A spokesman for the Taliban's Ministry of Public Works wrote on Friday, December 27, "The shipment, which had started its departure from Chinese territory, arrived in Afghanistan via the Islamic Republic of Iran's rail network."

Haqshenas called the transfer of this cargo through the Bandar Abbas-Herat transit route "an important step in the development of Afghanistan's transit communications and connecting the country to open waters".

He also said that with the completion of the Khaf-Herat railway, new capacities will be created for the Afghan economy and will be the ground for the expansion of trade and transit in the region.

The project to connect Afghanistan to international waters through Iran's railway system began a few years ago. The work of this major project has been implemented in several phases since Ashraf Ghani's government.

Previously, Afghan traders had access to international waters only through Pakistan and the port of Karachi.

Pakistan's strictures have caused Afghan businessmen to transfer their trade through Karachi to Iran’s Chabahar port.