Before the Soviet–Afghan War there was no fixed road or rail link between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union. In 1982, several years after falling under Soviet occupation in Operation Storm-333, Afghanistan agreed to allow the Soviet Union to build a permanent replacement for the temporary pontoon bridge to resupply the Soviet 40th Army and Afghan National Army. It formally opened on May 12, 1986, at a ceremony attended by Afghan General Secretary Babrak Karmal and Soviet Uzbek First Secretary Sharof Rashidov. It was planned to link the Soviet railway network to Kabul by building a rail line across the bridge and through Puli Khumri and Bagram Air Base.