The highway thus provides land-locked Afghanistan an alternative way to access the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf, instead of relying solely on Pakistani routes.

"The road is much shorter and more stable than any of the routes in Pakistan, making it perhaps the most efficient means of reaching Afghanistan.

India helped build the road known as Route 606 in 2009 to bypass Pakistan during commercial trade at a cost of US$152 million.

These improvements consisted of paving the road, but frequent fighting in the area due to the war in Afghanistan hindered construction.

Over 300 BRO engineers and technicians were deployed on the project, accompanied by 70 Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel for their security.