Transport in Afghanistan

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Car Passing on Highway in Herat

Landlocked Afghanistan has no functioning railways, but the Amu Darya (Oxus) River, which forms part of Afghanistan's border with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, has barge traffic. During their occupation of the country, the Soviets completed a bridge across the Amu Darya and built a motor vehicle and railroad bridge between Termez and Jeyretan.

Most road building occurred in the 1960s, funded by the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Soviets built a road and tunnel through the Salang Pass in 1964, connecting northern and southern 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 highway system requires almost total reconstruction, and regional roads are in a state of disrepair. The poor state of the Afghan transportation and communication networks has further fragmented and hampered the struggling economy.

1 Railways
- 1.1 Railway links from adjacent countries
2 Highways (2003 est.)
3 Waterways
4 Pipelines
5 Ports and harbors
6 Airports
- 6.1 Heliports
7 See also
8 External links
9 References

[edit] Railways

There are 24.6 kilometers of broad gauge railways.

[edit] Railway links from adjacent countries

Iran - no
- nearest railhead at Mashhad - 1.435m gauge
- Railway under construction between Mashhad and Herat.
Pakistan - no
- railhead on border at Chaman - 1.676m gauge
- railhead on border at Khyber Pass - 1.676m gauge
Turkmenistan - 9.6 km 1.524-m gauge from Gushgy (Turkmenistan) to Towraghondi;
Uzbekistan - 15 km 1.524-m gauge from Termiz (Uzbekistan) to Kheyrabad transshipment point on south bank of Amu Darya (2001)
China - no
Tajikistan - no

[edit] Highways (2003 est.)

There are 8,231 kilometers of paved roads and 26,558 kilometers of unpaved roads, for an approximate total road system of 34,789 kilometers. This estimation is per CIA World Factbook annotation.

Since the fall of the Taliban many roads have been rebuilt with foreign assistance including

[edit] Waterways

There are 1,200 kilometers of waterways. Most of that total is made up of the Amu Darya River, which can handle vessels with weights up to 500 tons.

[edit] Pipelines

There are petroleum pipelines from Bagram, Afghanistan into Uzbekistan and Shindand, Afghanistan into Turkmenistan. These pipelines have been is disrepair and disuse for years. There are 180 kilometers of natural gas pipelines. There is a proposal for a natural gas pipeline across Afghanistan into Pakistan. See Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline

[edit] Ports and harbors

The chief inland waterway of land-locked Afghanistan is the Amu Darya River which forms part of Afghanistan's northern border. The river handles barge traffic up to about 500 metric tons. The main river ports are located at Kheyrabad and Shir Khan .

[edit] Airports

Main article: List of airports in Afghanistan

There are 47 airports. 10 of these have paved runways. Of those, 3 have runways over 3000 meters, 4 have runways between 2500 and 3000 meters, 2 have runways between 1500 and 2500 meters, and 1 has a runway under 1000 meters. 37 have unpaved runways. Of those, 1 has a runway over 3000 meters, 7 have runways between 2500 and 3000 meters, 14 have runways between 1500 and 2500 meters, 4 have runways between 1000 and 1500 meters, and 11 have runways under 1000 meters.

Kabul International Airport (3500 m runway) is the nation's largest airport and the primary hub for international civilian flights.
Kandahar Airfield (3200 m runway) is a dual-use airport serving civilian traffic to Kandahar.
Mazar-e-Sharif Airfield (3100 m runway) is a dual-use airport serving the northern and central portions of the country.
Herat Airfield (2600 m runway) is the primary civil airport for the eastern portion of the country.
Jalalabad Airfield (1800 m runway)

The airport at Bagram is also in service by the US military and allied forces. It has heavy traffic, especially helicopters. KBR and some other companies fly into and out of Bagram on a regular basis.

Afghanistan government priorities include upgrading of Kabul Airport to international airport meeting ICAO standards and upgrading Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad airports to international standards. ^[1]