The railway overview gives Afghanistan only about 400 kilometres of unelectrified track, mostly built to Russian gauge. A newer connection with Iran, completed in 2020 in this account, uses standard gauge instead. The example divides a roughly 130-kilometre route between about 60 kilometres in Afghanistan and 70 in Iran. Such separate links do not yet form a substantial integrated network. Afghan governments' suspicion of railway construction is connected with the possibility that lines could become invasion corridors for powers to the north or south.
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Afghanistan's rail gauges and fear of invasion corridors
Limited track, incompatible gauges, and fear of foreign invasion constrain the railway network described in the Afghanistan example.