The Zaranj-Delaram Highway is a strategic road project in Afghanistan, also known as Route 606, constructed and financed entirely by India as a key component of its regional connectivity strategy. The highway is approximately 215 km long and connects the city of Zaranj in Nimroz province, near the Iranian border, to Delaram, which lies on Afghanistan's main Herat-Kandahar Highway (the Afghanistan Ring Road).
The project was conceived to solve the problem of landlocked Afghanistan's dependence on Pakistan for sea access, as Pakistan had been denying India transit facilities to Afghanistan. Construction, undertaken by India's Border Roads Organisation (BRO), began around 2005 and the highway was officially handed over to the Afghan government on January 22, 2009. The highway's strategic mechanism is to link Afghanistan's road network directly to the Iranian port of Chabahar, bypassing Pakistan entirely.
This highway is a vital link in the larger Chabahar Agreement (International Transport and Transit Corridor), a trilateral agreement signed by India, Iran, and Afghanistan in 2003. It connects the Chabahar Port to the 1,300-mile Afghanistan Ring Road, creating a new trade route for India to access Afghanistan and Central Asia. The highway's security has been a major challenge; as early as 2011, the Taliban had effectively taken control of the road, which has since hampered commercial transport and derailed India's initial plans.