Nimruz
Nimruz operates as alternative trade corridor: 700km to Chabahar Port offers 30-40% cost savings when Pakistan borders close.
Nimruz is Afghanistan's strategic alternative—the potential bypass route when Pakistan closes borders. The province's capital Zaranj sits just 700 kilometers from Iran's Chabahar Port, connected by the India-built Delaram-Zaranj Highway (218 km, $175 million construction cost). When tensions with Pakistan escalate—as they did throughout 2024-25—Afghan traders look westward through Nimruz toward this Iranian outlet to the sea.
The route's appeal is economic: Chabahar could cut Afghan transportation costs by 30-40% compared to Pakistani routes. In practice, the corridor operates episodically. The Zaranj-Milak crossing over the Helmand River shut in May 2023 after clashes between Iranian and Taliban border guards over water rights, then reopened in October 2025 following diplomatic visits. The pattern reveals dependence: Afghanistan's landlocked geography creates existential need for transit access, but neighboring powers control the valves.
March 2024 brought negotiations between Taliban and Iranian officials about establishing a customs office in Nimruz and expanding transit relations. September 2025 saw Iranian Industry Minister Seyed Mohammad Atabak visit Kabul to advance Chabahar connectivity. Yet the trade imbalance remains stark: Iran exports $2 billion annually to Afghanistan; Afghan exports back total just $30 million. The 2024 India-Iran agreement for IPGL to operate Chabahar's Shahid Beheshti Terminal over ten years adds another power into the equation. Nimruz functions as a corridor that everyone wants to control but no one wants to develop—its value lies in what passes through, not what stays.