China is making great advancements on its "One Belt, One Road" initiative that seeks to connect China to various nations, such as Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and others. However, its new Sino-Afghan Special Railway Transportation scheme seems to have run into some problems.

According to a report released by Radio Free Afghanistan, Uzbek authorities have imposed a ban on bringing the cargo into their country using the train passing through Afghanistan because of security concerns.

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The train link between China and Afghanistan is meant to facilitate trade between the countries. The latter wants to use the train for transporting dried fruits, saffron and other products to the former. Meanwhile, China wants to transport copper using the train. The Metallurgical Corp. of China has $3 billion worth of copper mining contract in Afghanistan.

According to CNBC, Uzbekistan wants the cargo to depart the Afghan border city of Hairatan using ships instead of using rail. With the goods screened at its border at the Amu River, the next destination would be the train.

Based on records, Afghanistan had at least two Uzbekistan-bound trains which left empty from Afghanistan.

The Sino-Afghan railway was inaugurated in September this year. Initially, the schedule entailed two trains each month. However, the frequency will likely to be increased, particularly to a regular weekly run, by the end of the year.

With this new development, the plans to increase the frequency may be in jeopardy. The rail route is expected to cut the transportation time to 15 days, down from two to three months taken by sea transportation.

TagsAfghanistan, Uzbekistan, Sino-Afghan Rail