page_title: Transport in Afghanistan
section_title: Road
hierarchical_section_title: Transport in Afghanistan / Road
caption_attribution_description: English: Group of taxicabs in Kabul, Afghanistan, on 12 Feb 2002, shortly after beginning of ISAF mission in Afghanistan
context_page_description: Transport in Afghanistan is limited and in the developing stage. Much of the nation's road network was built during the 1960s but left to ruin during the 1980s and 90s wars. New national highways, roads, and bridges have been rebuilt in the last decade to help increase travel as well as trade with neighboring countries. In 2008, there were about 731,607 vehicles registered inside the country.
  Landlocked Afghanistan has no seaports, but the Amu Darya river, which forms part of the nation's border with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, does have substantial traffic. Rebuilding of airports, roads, and rail services has led to rapid economic growth in recent years. The nation has about 43 airports and a much smaller number of heliports.
context_section_description: Most major roads were built in the 1960s with assistance from the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviets built a road and tunnel through the Salang pass in 1964, connecting northern and eastern Afghanistan. A highway connecting the principal cities of Herat, Kandahar, Ghazni, and Kabul with links to highways in neighboring Pakistan formed the primary road system.
  The network includes 12,350 kilometers of paved roads and 29,800 kilometers of unpaved roads, for an approximate total road system of 42,150 kilometers as of 2006. Traffic in Afghanistan is right hand, with about 731,607 registered vehicles in the country (2008 estimate). The Afghan government passed a law banning the import of cars older than 10 years.
  Long distant road journeys are made by company-owned Mercedes-Benz coach buses or various types of vans, trucks and private cars. Although a nationwide bus service is available between major cities, flying is safer, especially for foreigners. There are occasional highway robberies by bandits or militant groups. The roads are also dangerous due to accidents and lack of security forces.
  The highway system is currently going through a reconstruction phase. Most of the regional roads are also being repaired or improved. For the last 30 years, the poor state of the Afghan transportation and communication networks has further fragmented and hampered the struggling economy.
  The following is a partial list of national roads:
  Kabul-Kandahar Highway (A-1)
  Kabul-Jalalabad Road (A-1), which links the national capital to the eastern city of Jalalabad and the Pakistani border at Torkham
  Kabul-Gardez Highway
  Kabul-Herat Highway (A-77)
  Kabul-Mazar Highway (A-76)
  Kabul-Fayzabad Highway
  Kandahar-Bamyan Highway
  Kandahar-Boldak Highway
  Kandahar-Herat Highway
  Kandahar-Tarin Kowt Highway
  Kunduz-Khomri Highway
  Herat-Islam Qala Highway
  Herat-Mazar Highway
  Route Trident (Lashkar Gah to Gereshk)
  Delaram-Zaranj Highway
  Gardez-Pathan Highway in Paktia Province (still under construction as of February 2015)
  A road bridge linking Tajikistan and Afghanistan, which cost $37 million, was inaugurated in 2007. The bridge, nearly 700 metres long and 11 metres across, straddles the Panj river which forms a natural border between the two countries, between the ports of Nizhny Panj on the Tajik side and Sher Khan Bandar in Afghanistan. The Delaram-Zaranj highway was constructed with Indian assistance and was inaugurated in January 2009.
  Due to the lack of public urban transport systems, taxis are highly popular in cities like Kabul.
caption: A group of taxicabs in Kabul, 2002
exif: {}