Economics
China Lays New Brick in Silk Road With First Afghan Rail Freight
- New rail route cuts travel time and expands China’s influence
- Offers a link in Xi Jinping’s ‘one belt, one road’ endeavor
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on Oct. 28, 2014.
Photographer: Lintao Zhang/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
For centuries, Chinese products have wended their way thousands of kilometers across mountains and deserts to the heart of central Asia, Afghanistan. Now, for the first time, the trade is carried by rail.
With the first train last week pulling in to Hairatan, northern Afghanistan, China marked another advance in President Xi Jinping’s Silk Road project to deepen his nation’s influence along old trade routes. For Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the new link also marks a small step toward a dream of turning his landlocked country into a transit hub of Asia.