Tajikistan Road Corridors to Afghanistan

There are three viable corridors through Tajikistan that compare favorably overall with the existing rail corridor through Uzbekistan to Khairaton, Afghanistan based on current Uzbek railway tariffs. 

For further information on Customs in Tajikistan, please see the following link: 1.3 Tajikistan Customs Information

For contact information for Tajikistan Government contacts, please see the following link: 4.1 Tajikistan Government Contact List

Khujand – Nijny Pyanj  -  Kunduz

This corridor involves railroad movement from Kazakhstan and transiting through Uzbekistan as far as Khujand province in northern Tajikistan. Rail transport 350 km from Sariagash on the Kazakhstan – Uzbekistan border is $32 per mt. At Spitamen or another station in Khujand province wheat from Kazakhstan is offloaded from hopper wagons either for bulk storage in silos or is transloaded in bulk in 30 to 35 mt trucks for movement southwards. Thanks to new tunnels and avalanche galleries, the toll highway over the two mountain passes from Khujand to Dushanbe (320 km) is now open year-round. Per mt trucking rates are $35 to Dushanbe. Onward movement another 200 km to Nijny Pyanj is only another $10 per mt due to the lack of tolls or high mountain passes.  

From Dushanbe wheat or wheat flour can also be transported by truck via Kulyab to Khorog / Ishkashim in the Pamirs on the Afghanistan border. Favorable trucking rates from Dushanbe to ($30 per mt) should be possible due to the large number of 25 to 40 mt trucks returning empty via this route to China particularly in summer when there is high demand for building materials. 

Bishkek – Osh –Nijny Pyanj or Ishkashim

The Bishkek – Osh route completely bypasses Uzbekistan. It involves rail transport across Kazakhstan as far as Bishkek in northern Kyrgyzstan where there is modern and sufficient wheat storage and milling capacity among private companies. Wheat and other goods are moved on a good highway over mountain passes 672 km to Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan and then into Tajikistan via Karamik pass and through the Rasht valley where much highway improvement is going on and which is open year-round. The highway to Nijny Pyanj bypasses Dushanbe 20 km to the east goes through Kurgan Tyube. 
From Osh via a mountain pass further east commodity can also be trucked through the Pamirs via Murghab to Khorog and Ishkashim on the Afghanistan border with bridge crossings. This corridor was mostly used during the 1980s and 1990s by Russia to supply some regions of Afghanistan. Today truck traffic from Kyrgyzstan via this corridor is very light amounting to just a few trucks per month.  
According to Ministry of Transport officials, to avoid the high railroad tariffs for transit through Uzbekistan, the US government used the Bishkek – Osh – Tajikistan - Afghanistan corridor for movement of 450 mt of non-military supplies.  
 
Around 2004 or 2005, WFP moved goods by rail from Riga to Osh, Uzbekistan and by truck through Murghab to Khorog and into Afghanistan via Ishkashim to a WFP storage facility there at the time. 

Kashgar, China – Nijny Pyanj/ Shehon Bandar

The railroad connecting Xinjiang with deep sea ports in eastern China ends in Kashgar. There is a good highway on the Chinese side to the border and a Chinese company is currently improving the highway from the border crossing at Kulma to Murghab in the Pamirs (91 km). A new customs terminal is being built at Kulma, which will reduce waits at the border (currently up to 8 hours). 
Trucks carrying 60 mt move goods to two different terminals in the Pamirs: Murghab and Tang (30 km northeast of Khorog). Tajik trucks of 25 or 40 mt capacity receive goods transloaded at these terminals for movement to Dushanbe via Khorog. Trucking time from Kashgar to Khorog is about 3 days. From Khorog to Nijny Pyanj it requires one long day per interviews with truck drivers.  
Other Tajikistan transportation companies send their 25 to 40 mt trucks to Kashgar or even to Urumchi. The round trip takes about 10 days in winter including loading in Kashgar and waiting time at the border. Highway improvements have reduced the turnaround time from 14 days four years ago. Continuing roadwork on various sections of the route by Chinese, Iranian and Turkish companies, particularly from Khorog to Kulyab will reduce the trucking time by at least another day. 
Tajikistan’s largest trucking company, Sorbonotrans, is a major carrier from Urumchi and Kashgar. There is one Tajikistan trucking company, Tojiron, that moves Chinese goods in transit from Kashgar across Tajikistan to Nijny Pyanj. This company reportedly does about 15 trucks of 40 mt per month.  
Truck volumes have increased in the last year or more and should increase even more with the completion of roadwork and the new customs terminal. 
Relatively few goods move from China to Afghanistan via this route since the main Chinese supply route is over the Karakorum pass through Pakistan to Kabul. 
The Kulma border point is closed to international travelers for entry into China but it could be opened once roadwork and the new customs terminal is completed. 

Tajikistan – Afghanistan border crossings

There are four official border crossing points at bridges over the Pyanj River between Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and one river ferry crossing. There are two additional bridges activation of the border crossing currently pending. Only two of these, Nijny Pyanj to the west and Ishkashim to the east in the Pamirs have sufficient road connections for movement of goods to population centers and the main road network within Afghanistan.  
The other four crossing points are at bridges built over the Pyanj River near Khorog, Vanj, Darvaz and Shurobad. Vanj and Shurobad bridge crossings have not yet opened though all customs facilities have been built. Only Aga Khan Focus is given to access to these two border crossings to deliver WFP food aid hauled in transit across Tajikistan after entering from Nijny Pyanj or Ishkashim. These four bridge border crossings service only local areas isolated from the rest of Afghanistan’s road network. 
Over 90% of trade between Tajikistan and Afghanistan is via Nijny Pyanj and Shehon Bandar crossing borders which is linked by a good highway through the Khatlon Valley with Dushanbe and within Afghanistan to Kunduz 60 km to the south. In 2004 the United States built a bridge at this crossing point to replace the river ferry as well as funding modern customs facilities on both sides of the border including a truck scanner on the Tajik side.  
There is a certain volume of goods from other countries that transit Tajikistan to the Nijny Pyanj / Shehon Bandar entry point. Monthly from 15 to 20 trucks of 25 to 40 mt operated by a single Tajik company, Tojiron arrive in Kunduz and beyond from China via the Kashgar – Murghab – Khorog – Kulyab corridor. There is an indeterminate amount of transit traffic from Kyrgyzstan and via Khujand province in the north.  
Ishkashim crossing has much smaller volumes of trade moving from Tajikistan. Chinese goods reach most of Afghanistan via the Karakorum pass through Pakistan and to Kabul so there are few if any large trucks transiting Tajikistan to Afghanistan via Ishkashim. The road from Ishkashim to Faisabad in Afghanistan still needs much improvement. It has been closed in 2013 and 2014 to personnel of international organizations due to security concerns. 
There is transit movement of humanitarian goods, mainly food supplied by WFP, from Faizabad, Afghanistan via Ishakashim and from Mazar Sherif via Nijny Pyanj to the Pamir region of Tajikistan for reentry into Afghanistan across the bridges at Khorog and Darvaz.

Corridor Mountain passes 

Kashgar – Nijny Pyanj via Murghab

Kashgar – Kyrgyzstan – Karamik - Nijny Pyanj 

Bishkek-  Karamik – Nijny Pyanj

Khujand – Nijny Pyanj

Bishkek – Murghab  - Khorog