AfghanTelecom is building a fibre route to China that will also connect Tajikistanand Kyrgyzstan.

AjmalAyan (pictured), head of state-owned Afghan Telecom, said the new link will runthrough the Wakhan corridor, a 350km-long narrow strip of territory innorth-eastern Afghanistan that extends to China and separates Tajikistan fromPakistan.

Nearly480km of fibre cable will connect Afghanistan to China’s own fibre network, hesaid.

Ayan,a former official in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology,said the company is also working on projects to connect networks in Tajikistanand Kyrgyzstan through Silk Route fibre network.

Atthe same time Afghanistan is undertaking a nationwide programme of buildingfibre routes to improve connectivity and reduce prices.