Transportation in Afghanistan

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 hobbled the struggling economy.

Railways:

• total: 24.6 km
• broad gauge: 9.6 km 1.524-m gauge from Gushgy[?] (Turkmenistan) to Towraghondi[?]; 15 km 1.524-m gauge from Termiz[?] (Uzbekistan) to Kheyrabad[?] transshipment point on south bank of Amu Darya (2001)

Highways: (1998 est.) total: 21,000 km paved: 2,793 km unpaved: 18,207 km

Waterways: 1,200 km
note: chiefly Amu Darya, which handles vessels with DWT up to 500 (2001)

Pipelines: petroleum products - Uzbekistan to Bagram[?] and Turkmenistan to Shindand[?]; natural gas 180 km

Ports and harbors: Kheyrabad[?], Shir Khan[?]

Airports: 46 (2001 est.)

Airports - with paved runways: (2001 est.)

• total: 10
• over 3,047 m: 3
• 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4
• 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
• under 914 m: 1

Airports - with unpaved runways: (2001 est.)

• total: 36
• over 3,047 m: 1
• 2,438 to 3,047 m: 7
• 1,524 to 2,437 m: 13
• 914 to 1,523 m: 4
• under 914 m: 11

Heliports: 2 (2001 est.)

Reference Much of the material in this article comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000.