Trans-Afghan Railway Revives the Silk Road: The Geoeconomic Integration and Geopolitical Transformation in South,Central and West Asia

Abstract

Afghanistan’s emergence as a central pivot challenges traditional regional security frameworks, positioning it at the intersection of South, Central and West Asian geopolitical dynamics. The construction of the Trans-Afghan Railway, connecting Uzbekistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan, represents more than a transportation infrastructure project. It aims to act as an instrument of regional geoeconomic transformation. This article argues that the railway is reconstituting Afghanistan’s regional identity from a fragile buffer state into the core node of an emerging Asian supercomplex. Afghanistan’s re-emergence revives its historic role along the ancient Silk Road, which once channelled trade, culture and imperial aspirations across Asia. The article adopts a qualitative, theory-led approach that combines the regional security complex theory with the spatial and geopolitical mapping of corridor projects, drawing on institutional documents, regional agreements, policy reports, and curated media and official digital sources. The infrastructural centrality of Afghanistan is reconceptualised as both an opportunity and a source of vulnerability. The article proposes that Afghanistan’s role in the regional security architecture can no longer be assessed in isolation or as a spillover zone; rather, it is better understood as part of a larger inter-regional security complex in which South Asia, Central Asia and West Asia are beginning to fuse strategically through trade, transport and regional security mechanisms. This evolution is indicative of a broader departure from Cold War and early post-9/11 security paradigms and calls for a reassessment of how power, influence and stability are produced in landlocked and post-conflict spaces. This delicate nexus of development and stability will be essential for anchoring Afghanistan as a resilient transit state within an increasingly interdependent and volatile Eurasian order.