Afghan railroads, past, present and future
A photo of the Khyber Pass railway from the Railway Gazette International archives.
On the back of the picture is a handwritten caption: “On the Khyber Railway – a push trolly on a down grade entering a tunnel, after it has already passed through the top tunnel. P.W.R.”.
PWR is presumably Pakistan Western Railway. The back of the picture has a 30 March 1962 date stamp; this might be when the picture was developed or when the magazine received it, rather than when the picture was taken.
Electrification and extension to boost Central Asian connections, Railway Gazette International, 29 September 2011.
I can’t find much hard information on exactly what is being funded in Afghanistan.
Railway Gazette International on the latest Afghan rail plans:
Afghan rail strategy takes shape
[…]
The first phase would start at Sher Khan Bandar on the Tajik border, connect at Naibabad with the 1520 mm gauge line now under construction from Uzbekistan, and continue through Mazar-i-Sharif to Herat, with the possibility of a link to the Turkmemistan Railways line at Towraghondi. A branch would run from Shirbirghan via Andkhvoy to the Aqina border crossing with Turkmenistan.
[…]
A second phase would see a Chinese-backed line built from Mazar-i-Sharif to Kabul, Jalalabad and Torkham, near the Khyber Pass. The long-proposed extension of Pakistan Railways’ Chaman line to Kandahar is also planned.
Source: Railway Gazette International, 2010-06-28
Some old articles from Railway Gazette regarding a unrealised 1960s scheme for a rail link from the Pakistan Railways railhead at Chaman to Spin Boldak, a short distance across the border in Afghanistan.
Spin Boldak is a major border crossing point, and it seems that railway extension plans have been talked about every so often.
20 May 1966
Talks between Afghanistan and Pakistan were held on May 4 1966 regarding building a railway to Spin Baldak. 
2 September 1966
Construction to Spin Baldak “is to begin soon”.
17 May 1968
Bad news: the Spinbaldak scheme, which was to have been financed by the US Agency for International Development, has been abandoned.
(clippings © Railway Gazette International)