Afghanistan–Uzbekistan barrier

Map of Uzbekistan with Afghanistan to the south.

The Uzbekistan–Afghanistan barrier is a border barrier, built by Uzbekistan along its 130-mile border with Afghanistan along the Amu Darya River. It is the most heavily guarded border in the world, second only to the border barrier between North and South Korea. It consists of a barbed wire fence and a second, taller, 380-volt electrified barbed-wire fence, land mines and a patrol of heavily armed Uzbek soldiers.^[1][2] It stretches along the entire Uzbek-Afghan frontier from Turkmenistan to Tajikistan.

Days after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, when America announced the start of military operations against the Taliban regime based in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan fortified the border fence in the province of Surkhandaria to stop any illegal migrants or refugees crossing the border. However, there is one bridge, the Afghanistan-Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge, that crosses the Amu Darya river and the barrier.^[3]

See also

• Uzbek-Kyrgyzstan barrier

References