In a strategic move, the Taliban administration in Kabul announced in late February a $35 million investment in Iran’s southern port of Chabahar. With Afghanistan being a landlocked country, this Iranian port has the potential to be a vital gateway providing access to international markets.
Located nearly 600 miles (970 kilometers) from the village of Milak on the Iran-Afghanistan border, Chabahar is Iran’s only port with direct access to the Indian Ocean and can connect to Afghanistan by land via the Chabahar-Zahedan-Sarkhs railway.
Though it has refrained from formally recognizing the Taliban regime in Kabul, Iran handed over the Afghan Embassy in Tehran to Taliban representatives in February last year. It has maintained close trade and commercial engagement and cooperation with Kabul, and with Iran and Afghanistan facing international sanctions, both countries seem eager to take economic ties to a new level.
Roberto Neccia, an independent researcher and Iran analyst, told Al-Monitor that the Taliban’s interest in Chabahar port is not surprising, considering that the Afghan deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, visited Tehran last November.
