More than 160,000 tons of cargo shipped to Afghanistan via Tajik territory

 DUSHANBE, January 20, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- More than 160,000 tons of cargo were shipped to Afghanistan via Tajik territory last year, the Tajik Railways head Amonullo Hukumatullo remarked at a news conference in Dushanbe on January 19.

According to him, the cargo mainly included air fuel destined for International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

“Since there is now direct rail link connecting Tajikistan and Afghanistan, the cargo was transported from the Tajik railroad station “Kolkhozobod” to the Afghan settlement of Sherkhan Bandar by vehicles,” Hukumatullo said.

He noted that Tajik Railways had opportunities to ship cargo bound for Afghanistan in larger volumes.  “However, many Afghanistan-bound freight cars were stranded on Uzbek territory for a long time,” said the Tajik rail company head, “2,000 to 2,500 freight cars bound for Afghanistan were hold up in Uzbekistan from February to August 2010.”

We will recall that NATO uses Central Asian routes to transit nonmilitary supplies, including food and fuel, to Afghanistan.