EAST GATE The ‘rail war’ between Washington, Delhi and Beijing over Middle East routes

Iraq has drawn up a plan called the “Development Path” which aims to connect the south with the Turkish border in the north. A project of almost 17,000 million euros in which several partners are involved, from Iran to Qatar. In response to the “Silk Road”, the United States – together with Saudi Arabia, the Emirates and India – are studying a capillary network from Asia to Europe.

Milan () – To strengthen the transport system and connections between countries with strategic alliances from an economic, industrial and commercial point of view, several Middle Eastern countries are focusing their attention on rail transport to develop new routes or boost the (few) existing ones. The last and ambitious project was presented at the end of May by the Iraqi government, to connect Asia and Europe with a work that is around 17,000 million euros and a route of more than 1,200 kilometers. Baghdad’s stated goal is, on paper at least, to turn Iraq into a regional transit hub thanks to a plan that combines rail and highways, boosting long-distance routes. However, the Iraqi is not the only project under development: others have recently emerged, starting with the route that is proposed to link the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and then reach India through maritime connections.

Baghdad’s ambitions

A route that crosses the entire country from east to west, with more than a thousand kilometers in length, and which has been renamed the “Development Route”, to make its purpose and objectives clear from the name. The plan was presented a few days ago by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and its first objective is to connect the port of Grand Faw in the south, an area rich in oil, with the Turkish border in the far north, in Iraqi Kurdistan. . Experts and the authors of the plan believe that it should rival even the Egyptian Suez Canal as a regional hub, and since it was presented it has captured the interest of many countries in the region. Officials from the Transportation Ministry of Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates listened to the Iraqi prime minister. “We believe that this project – stressed al-Sudani – will be the pillar of a sustainable economy that does not depend solely and exclusively on oil; This connection will also be at the service of Iraq’s neighbors in the region and will be a contribution to efforts in favor of economic integration.”

The project includes high-speed trains for both cargo and passengers, with maximum speeds of up to 300 km per hour, but does not exclude highways, with a plan to modernize the country’s road network, obsolete in some points. The current rail network offers slow transport of goods and oil, as well as an overnight passenger train from Baghdad to Basra that takes 12 hours to cover the 500 km. The new line is made up of some 15 stations that includes the cities of Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and should – at least according to the promoters – be completed “within three to five years maximum”. Work has already started on the commercial port of Great Faw, in the far north of the Gulf.

For Iraq, the project is a way of looking to the future, leaving behind the 20 years of wars, sectarian violence and jihadist fanaticism that began in 2003 with the US invasion and the fall of then-raisin Saddam Hussein. It is true that in recent years the bloodiest and bloodiest stages of the country’s recent history seem to have passed, and armed confrontations and attacks that claimed numerous civilian victims have decreased. However, political stagnation and sectarian and partisan interests, combined with the economic crisis, have slowed down – at least so far – the reconstruction process, which should also cover the transport network and infrastructure.

An anti-Chinese key network

The Iraqi is not the only railway project for the coming years in the Middle East. Proof of this is the recent meeting in Riyadh between US national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, United Arab Emirates national security adviser Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. The US website Axios reports on a project under study to build a regional rail network sponsored by Washington (and New Delhi), with the purpose of countering similar projects promoted by Beijing in the Asian continent. The objective is to connect the Gulf region and the Arab countries through a capillary network, in which India would also participate through maritime routes that depart from regional ports. As far as the giant of the Asian subcontinent is concerned, the issue of transportation these days is the subject of strong controversy and accusations after the dramatic train accident last week, in which hundreds of people died. The disaster has once again put the issue of safety, including rail safety, in the center of discussion in a country where it is common practice to see people travel in overcrowded vehicles and even on roofs or holding on to the outside of them. .

The project is one of the key initiatives the White House wants to implement in the Middle East to counter China’s growing influence along the New Silk Road (BRI). In particular, the region is a fundamental part of the mega-project promoted by Beijing that risks engulfing, or cannibalizing, the region’s trade routes and economy. That is why a similar plan has been thought of to oppose the Chinese, a plan that was born during the conversations that were held in the last 18 months in a forum called I2U2 in which the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and India participate. This is a working group launched at the end of 2021 precisely to discuss strategic infrastructure projects in the Middle East region. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to Axios that the project’s stone guest “from day one” was China, although “nobody said it out loud.” The idea of ​​the rail connection was raised at the behest of Israel, which, however, is not involved in the project at the moment, but could become a partner in the near future. Also and above all if the plans for the “normalization” of relations with regional realities continue, especially Saudi Arabia, although at the moment they are in a phase of stagnant negotiations. Returning to the project, the United States and the administration of President Joe Biden insisted from the beginning on the entry of Riyadh, which supposedly in recent times would have established too close ties with China, which in turn has been able to exploit the progressive US withdrawal from the region.

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