State Pao: Afghan Evening News Clips 15 August 2015

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significance not only for Pakistan and China but also for other
regional countries, in terms of economic and social development,
particularly Afghanistan. The CPEC also connects China to Europe
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.Middle East through Pakistan. The implementation of the project
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bring economic revolution as well as change the fate of the
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As an immediate neighbor, sharing a long border with.Pakistan,
Afghanistan will, indeed, be a major beneficiary of the economic
corridor as its completion will also contribute to the economic
prosperity of Afghanistan. Pakistan wants to see Afghanistan a
peaceful and prosperous country and is making efforts to improve
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connectivity with Afghanistan as both the countries have shared
future and goals. In this article, I would like to explain how
Afghanistan can be a major beneficiary of CPEC particularly its two
alignments. The western alignment of the corridor which originates
from Gwadar and runs through Khuzdar, Zhob and finally reaches -
Islamabad via D.I. Khan. In fact, the western alignment will have '
additional connectivity to link Afghanistan through Chaman. This t
route will provide an easy and short access to Afghanistan to reach
to the sea port of Gwadar which is almost 600 kilometer shorter A
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the existing transit route being used by the traders and people of
Afghanistan. This link will tremendously help facilitating and
promoting trade between the two neighbouring countries as well as
reducing travelling time. It is worth— stating here that the
Frontier _v
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Works Organization (FWO) has already completed 502 kilometer length_
of the 870 km western alignment connecting Gwadar with other parts
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Like the western alignment, the eastern alignment of the corridor
will also improve road connectivity between Afghanistan and
Pakistan. '
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This section of the corridor will run from Karachi to Lahore and
onward to Islamabad while passing through internal Sindh and parts
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southern Punjab. The eastern alignment will pass through the
-motorways starting from Karachi to Lahore (work on the Karachi-
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Motorway has already been commenced) and onward to Islamabad and
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Approved for Release: 2018/09/04 C06708887