West2West: Kazakhstan Adds a Regional Dimension to Trade with Afghanistan

In late September, a Kazakhstani official and business delegation led by Yerkin Tukumov, the Special Representative of the President of Kazakhstan for Afghanistan, visited Herat. The delegation included trade officials, representatives of the Mangystau and West Kazakhstan regions, and businesses. Officials called the new approach West2West, meaning cooperation between Kazakhstan's western regions and western Afghanistan. Kazakhstan and Afghanistan have held several business forums and exhibitions in recent years. However, the choice of Herat and the attempt to shift some cooperation from the intergovernmental to the interregional level make this initiative different. Since 2021, Kazakhstan’s economic dialogue with Afghanistan has developed mainly from the top down. The two governments set ambitious trade targets and sought to turn political engagement into commercial deals. The results looked impressive on paper. In October 2024, the two countries adopted a road map to raise mutual trade to $3 billion. In April 2025, documents worth $140 million were signed in Kabul, followed by 15 documents worth $303 million in Shymkent that October. Actual trade, however, grew much more slowly. In 2024, it totaled $545.2 million, while in 2025 it slipped slightly to $541.6 million. The $3 billion target remains more of a strategic benchmark than a near-term goal. According to official data from Kazakhstan, trade reached $581.1 million in January-July 2026, exceeding the total for the entire previous year. Kazakhstan’s exports accounted for $572.9 million, while imports from Afghanistan were just $8.2 million. Trade is therefore growing rapidly, but remains overwhelmingly one-sided. West2West is partly an attempt to broaden that relationship. Herat's Strategic Location Herat is one of Afghanistan’s main industrial and commercial centers, situated near several important transport routes. To the north is Torghundi, a rail border crossing with Turkmenistan. To the west runs the Khaf-Herat railway, which connects Afghanistan to Iran’s railway system. Herat could eventually become part of longer routes toward Kandahar and Pakistan, although much of the necessary infrastructure remains at the planning stage. During the September visit, officials opened a 43-kilometer section of the Khaf-Herat railway. Afghan sources estimate its cost at approximately $58 million. The section was built with the involvement of Kazakhstani company Integra Construction KZ. In August 2026, freight transported along the Khaf-Herat line totaled approximately 137,700 metric tons. Discussions have also focused on increasing its monthly capacity to 150,000 metric tons. Together with Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan has begun working on the Central Asia–South Asia railway project, which envisages a trans-Afghan connection to Pakistan’s ports. So far, the parties have agreed to conduct technical and economic studies, and no final route has been approved. The route through Turkmenistan is developing separately. Ashgabat views Torghundi-Herat as a joint project with Afghanistan linked to the expansion of the Serhetabat-Torghundi crossing and other infrastructure in western Afghanistan. Kazakhstan’s interest in Herat predates West2West. In 2023, Astana announced plans to establish a Kazakhstan Trade House in Afghanistan, with its main office in Herat. It opened in May 2024. Arman Yessentayev, its head, described Herat in 2023 as a...

Kazakhstan Afghanistan Mining Talks Focus on Aquamarine and Zinc

Kazakhstan is interested in processing Afghan technical aquamarine and zinc ore at its own facilities, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Economy Serik Zhumangarin has said. He spoke during talks in Kabul with Afghanistan’s acting Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund and acting Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Ghani Baradar. Kazakhstan holds a key position in Central Asia’s mining and metallurgical sector as an industrial and technological hub. According to Kazakhstan’s government, the country is among the few in the world with expertise in processing technical aquamarine, a beryllium-bearing mineral. Against this backdrop, Kazakh companies are showing growing interest in Afghanistan’s mineral resource development and industrial projects. During the meeting with Afghanistan’s deputy prime minister, the Kazakh side raised the issue of exporting the mineral from Afghanistan for processing in Kazakhstan, according to the Kazakh government’s press service. In October last year, specialists from Kazakhstan’s state mining company Tau-Ken Samruk visited Afghanistan’s Bamyan province, where they collected samples at the Pami-Kakrak zinc deposit. Subsequent chemical analysis by specialists from Kazzinc indicated that the ore could in principle be processed at Kazakh facilities. “We are interested in importing zinc ore from Afghanistan. Kazakhstan’s enterprises have the necessary expertise in technological modernization, engineering, equipment supply, and commissioning support,” Zhumangarin said. Kazakhstan’s Eurasian Resources Group, one of the world’s largest ferrochrome producers, has also expressed interest in exploring and developing Afghanistan’s chromite deposits. The two sides also discussed transport and logistics cooperation. “We support the implementation of the Trans-Afghan transport corridor, Central Asia-South Asia, which could facilitate the movement of up to 10 million tons of cargo toward the Pakistani ports of Karachi and Gwadar. We are also ready, together with Uzbek and Turkmen partners, to participate in the construction of railways through Mazar-i-Sharif and Turgundi to Herat,” Zhumangarin said. According to Kazakhstan’s government, bilateral trade between Kazakhstan and Afghanistan totaled $541.8 million in 2025, with authorities aiming to increase trade turnover to $3 billion in the near term. The talks fit into Kazakhstan’s broader policy of practical engagement with Afghanistan’s Taliban-led authorities, focused on trade, transit, mining, humanitarian aid and education rather than formal diplomatic recognition. Kazakhstan removed the Taliban from its list of banned organizations in 2023, while continuing to frame Afghanistan as both an export market and a possible route for Central Asian cargo toward South Asian ports. As previously reported by The Times of Central Asia, Kazakh geologists visited Afghanistan in April 2025 to collect samples containing beryllium, lead, and zinc from prospective mining sites in Nuristan province.