Berlin  - The German military are mulling plans to build a 67- kilometre railway in Afghanistan to haul in supplies from nearby Uzbekistan, the German news magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday.

It said the line would connect the main German logistics base in Afghanistan, at Mazar-i-Sharif, with the town of Hairatan on the Uzbek border, where a bridge was erected by the Soviets in 1982 crossing the Amudarya border river.

This would enable a direct connection to the Uzbekistan rail network and to the Uzbek city of Termez, where the German air force has its main local logistics site for incoming supplies from Germany.

Spiegel said the military hoped that the German Aid Ministry and international organizations would contribute to the cost of building the line, since the link would also boost the economy of the region. No costings for the project had been done yet.

The idea for the railway route dated back to Soviet times, when engineers proposed a 200-kilometre line from Hairatan via Mazar to Pul-i-Khumri, but this was never built. (dpa)