New international legal foundations are being laid for the meridional and latitudinal integration of South and Central Asia, and ultimately for the strengthening of ties in the new macro-region of Central Eurasia, writesGuzel Majtdinova.
In recent years, the concept of “Central Eurasia” has been actively introduced into scientific discourse to designate the central part of the Eurasian continent – the “pivot area”. Central Eurasia includes the basins of several rivers This vast space would be more accurately called “Central Eurasia” rather than “Central Asia”. (Suyunbaev M.N., Uzbekov D.S. Geopolitical features of Central Eurasia. P.20-21.) In our opinion, it is advisable to consider Central Eurasia today as a single region which includes the territories of post-Soviet Asia, the northern parts of India and Pakistan, Afghanistan, and part of Iran. The construct of “Central Eurasia” would thus infrastructurally connect India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, the new states of post-Soviet Asia, and Siberia; that is, territories from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean. This “Vertical Integration” obviously meets the interests of the joint development of the continental countries of Central Eurasia, which are in dire need of access to world sea trade routes. In the context of the implementation of the international policy of “interconnectedness of Central and South Asia” in Central Eurasia, an important role is given to transport cooperation, as well as issues of economic and humanitarian integration.
In the context of the new world order, the states of post-Soviet Asia, having passed the stage of statehood formation, the definition of their national interests and foreign policy concepts, are now implementing their national development strategies. Tajikistan is implementing its National Development Strategy until 2030; Uzbekistan is building a New Uzbekistan, the Uzbekistan-2030 strategy; Kazakhstan – the Kazakhstan-2050 Development Strategy; and Kyrgyzstan – the National Development Strategy of the Kyrgyz Republic for 2018-2040. The new states take coordinated positions on most important regional and global problems. In late June 2018, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution, titled “Strengthening regional and international cooperation to ensure peace, stability and sustainable development in the Central Asian region”, which for the first time recorded the consolidated position of all five Central Asian states on the main problems facing the region and reflected the multilateral policy of sustainable regional development.
Currently, the new states of post-Soviet Asia have adopted a course towards modernisation. The states of post-Soviet Asia, which understand that given this modernisation, new actors need markets for their products, additional sources of resources for industrial development, as well as investments in strategic sectors of the economy and humanitarian development, they are intensifying the implementation of both east-west and north-south transport projects. By putting forward new communication projects, they seek to access world trade sea routes, more actively integrate into the world economic system and strengthen cooperation within the framework of integration structures.
In the formation of new communication hubs in Central Eurasia, the Caspian and Amu Darya transboundary regions are important, as they are gradually becoming international centres of economic interaction in Central Eurasia. Amid a push for regionalisation, a new trans-Caspian region was formed around the Caspian Sea, and a new Amu Darya transboundary region is being formed in Central Eurasia. The Amu Darya River is the backbone of this geopolitically important new region: the state borders of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and the CIS border pass along this river. The Tajik-Afghan border is the external limit of the CSTO; the most important transport and energy links to the South Asian countries and the deep-water sea ports of Gwadar and Chabahar will pass through the Amu Darya and through Afghan territory. The sustainable development and security of neighbouring states are interdependent in this region. Russia, together with Iran and India, is implementing the International North-South Transport Corridor in these two regions together with the new states, which has four transit routes: the western – through the territory of Azerbaijan; the trans-Caspian – through the waters of the Caspian Sea; the eastern – through the territory of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan; and the trans-Afghan – through the territory of Afghanistan. Russia has supported the construction of the Western (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan) and Eastern (Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan) railways through Afghan territory. These transit projects serve the national interests of the post-Soviet countries of Asia.
The states adjacent to the two system-forming water zones are currently implementing strategically important connectivity projects. We focused on the connectivity projects being implemented in the Amu Darya transboundary region. There, Turkmenistan, with the participation of Kazakhstan, has agreed with the Afghan side on the implementation of the Torghundi-Herat-Kandahar-Spin-Buldak Trans-Afghan railway corridor to access the Pakistani seaport of Gwadar. In September 2024, the company Turkmendemiryollary financed and began construction on the 12-kilometer Torghundi-Sanobar Afghan railway line, which can be expanded in three directions: to the borders of Pakistan, Iran and the shores of the Caspian Sea, with access to the international seaports of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. The completion of the Torghundi-Herat-Kandahar-Spin-Buldak railway is strategically important for the states bordering Afghanistan in implementing national development strategies. Since 2020, Iran has been building the Chabahar-Zahedan railway line to use the potential of the Chabahar deep-water port. In 2023, the Taliban government (unrecognized in Tajikistan) announced its intention to build a 1,468-kilometer Mazar-i-Sharif-Herat-Kandahar railway. In order to ensure cargo transportation from the southern deep-water ports to the borders of Central Asia, it is important to connect the Zaranj-Kandahar transport artery with the Herat-Kandahar railway line, and then build the Torghundi-Herat railway links to the borders of Turkmenistan. Another alternative is the Herat-Mazar-i-Sharif railway line to Termez in Uzbekistan. The accelerated implementation of these projects would be possible with the financial support of the SCO.
Tajikistan also faces the task of implementing projects aimed at accessing world trade routes and closer cooperation with southern partners. Tajikistan has already established communications across the Caspian Sea via the Mumbai-Chabahar-Central Asia and Karachi-Chabahar-Iran-CA5 transport arteries. Trans-Afghan connectivity projects are important for Tajikistan, as they provide the country with opportunities to strengthen its economic ties with the outside world. The transit potential of the Wakhan Corridor is strategically important for the Tajik state. The Wakhan Corridor in Tajik and Afghan Badakhshan is of great geopolitical importance for the integration of South and Central Asia. In terms of developing alternative communications and restoring the geopolitical integrity of Central Eurasia, it would be important to discuss within the SCO the possible construction of a railway through the Wakhan Corridor, which would contribute to strengthening cooperation between Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, India, and China.
The participation of India, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan is also important in these projects. The implementation of the project gives Tajikistan the opportunity to export goods via the shortest route: via the China-Pakistan Railway to the seaport of Gwadar and Karachi. If the Iran-Afghanistan-China connectivity projects are implemented, with the possible participation of Tajikistan through the Wakhan Corridor, this will provide an impetus to strengthen the role of the Trans-Border Amu Darya Region in international cooperation and in strengthening the “interconnectedness of Central and South Asia.”
In 2024, the Taliban government (unrecognized in the Republic of Tajikistan) announced the completion of a gravel road from the Kyrgyz settlement of Bozai Gumbaz in Little Pamir to the Wakhjir Pass separating Afghanistan and China, that is, the preliminary work on a railway track has been completed. Iran, which has improving economic ties with China, is extremely interested in building a road through the Wakhan Corridor. Tehran, after the completion of the Khaf-Herat railway, is ready to take part in the construction of the railway along the Wakhan Corridor to the junction of the borders of Tajikistan, China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Perhaps, in the western part, the future Wakhan Railway will be connected to the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan and Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan routes.
Many transport projects linking Tajikistan with the South Asian countries are expected to be implemented in the future via Afghanistan and Iran. The construction of a road from Ishkashim, Tajikistan through the Sarkhad Gorge (Afghan Wakhan) along an existing country road (this road was used historically) to Pakistan and India is quite promising. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to build a modern highway and tunnels along this well-trodden road via the joint efforts of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other SCO members.
The construction of the Swat highway is strategically important for Tajikistan, as it will give the country the shortest route not only to Pakistan and India, but also provide access to the Trans-China-Pakistan railway and highway, and will reduce the delivery time of goods to the sea ports of Karachi and Gwadar. The discussion of the construction of the 101 km-long Swat highway, connecting Tajikistan with Pakistan via the Wakhan Corridor at the Dorakh Pass, where the road connects with existing transit links in Pakistan, has already begun at the expert level. The length of the road from Ishkashim to Pakistan’s Dorakh Pass should be only 183 km, but the difficult mountainous terrain and highlands will complicate the construction of such an important road. Most importantly, there is a lack of investment for the implementation of this project. At present, it is necessary to attract funding within the SCO to develop a feasibility study in order to implement the strategically important project.
The Wakhan Corridor in Tajik and Afghan Badakhshan is of great geopolitical importance for the integration of South and Central Asia. Tajikistan is considering the possibility of implementing a project that provides for the construction of a 500 kV high-voltage power line through the Wakhan Corridor, which will connect the eastern part of Tajikistan with the north-western part of Pakistan through a 15-kilometer gorge in Afghanistan. The accelerated implementation of the CASA-1000 power transmission line project proposed by Dushanbe could connect the electric networks of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. This would seriously contribute to the development of Central Eurasia, strengthen regional cooperation and ensure security. The CASA-1000 project will allow for the creation of a single electric power market between the countries of Central and South Asia (CASAREM), which will provide access to the regional electric power market. The implementation of the projects proposed by the Tajik side include the construction of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan (Mazori Sharif) – Tajikistan railway line, a gas pipeline along this route, as well as the acceleration of the construction of the CASA-1000 and Rogun-Mazori Sharif-Herat-Mashhad power transmission line projects, as well as the development of the electric network along the planned Rogun-Mazori Sharif-Kabul-Peshawar railway route, which could connect the electric networks of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. They would not only contribute to the implementation of Tajikistan's geostrategic interests, but could seriously contribute to the development of Northern Afghanistan, strengthen regional cooperation and ensure security. The completion of the Rogun hydroelectric power station and the large-scale development of the Panj transboundary region are strategically important for the sustainable development of Tajikistan and Central Eurasia.
As the north-south integration of Central and South Asia strengthens, the role of the transit transboundary Amu Darya region will sufficiently increase. Meanwhile, the geopolitical problems existing here are interconnected with each other and create a tense geopolitical knot in this new transboundary region. Geopolitical factors influencing sustainable regional development are as follows: controversial water issues; environmental problems associated with the shallowing of the Amu Darya; economic and social problems, border and ethnic issues, strategic rivalries between external actors, and increased transnational threats to regional stability. Amid these realities, the security policy of states in the Amu Darya transboundary region is aimed at a comprehensive solution to existing problems and strengthening international cooperation to ensure border stability and create a security belt around the Tajik-Afghan, Uzbek-Afghan and Turkmen-Afghan borders. This would aid in combating transnational threats and strengthening interaction with external actors in order to counter non-traditional threats, as well as aid in water resources management, ecosystem protection, and social and economic development, allowing the countries of the region to maintain its stability and promote long-term development.
In this context, a long-term CSTO programme has been adopted to ensure security in the Tajik-Afghan border zone. Currently, the states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are working on an agreement to create a common free trade zone. Thus, new international legal foundations are being laid for the meridional and latitudinal integration of South and Central Asia, and ultimately for the strengthening of ties in the new macro-region of Central Eurasia.