Afghanistan: TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

TRANSPORTATION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Overview: Afghanistan’s transportation system, which prior to 1979 was rudimentary except for a modern system of main roads, suffered severe damage during the ensuing two decades. In the early 2000s, the road system, which provided the only transport in most parts of the country, has been an urgent reconstruction project. Some 79 percent of public transport expenditures for the period 2005–11 were earmarked for road improvement. No rail system exists. After suffering damage to most airports during the wars, the air transport system has been reviving in the early 2000s. Because landlocked Afghanistan has been very dependent on routes through Pakistan, with which relations have been tense, a top priority is diversifying Afghanistan’s access to seaports and to new markets in India by making new bilateral transportation agreements.

Roads: The main internal road system that was built in the 1960s included about 2,000 kilometers of roads. In 2003 Afghanistan had 8,200 kilometers of paved roads and 26,600 kilometers of unpaved roads. Heavily damaged in the 1980s and 1990s, the main arteries connect the cities of Ghazni, Herat, Kabul, and Kandahar with roads crossing the Pakistan border. Critical commercial and military roadways through the Salang and Tang-e Gharu mountain passes, respectively north and east of Kabul, were badly damaged during the Soviet occupation and ensuing conflicts. A new highway connects Kabul with Kandahar, and in 2004 work began on a connector between Kandahar and Herat. Germany is financing a road connecting Jalalabad with the Pakistan border. India, Iran, and Pakistan are constructing roads connecting Afghanistan with their respective national road systems. Provincial roads, which also received heavy damage during conflicts of recent decades, generally have not been repaired since the end of hostilities. In 2003 only about 28,000 vehicles were licensed privately; the government’s goal was to increase that number to more than 100,000 by 2010. In 2002 some 33,500 taxicabs were in operation.

Railroads: In 2006 Afghanistan had no functioning railroads. For a variety of geopolitical and practical reasons, numerous plans for a trans-Afghan line failed to materialize in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Only five short domestic lines were built, including one line passing across the Friendship Bridge into Uzbekistan. Otherwise, lines built toward Afghanistan by surrounding countries stopped at the border. A 2002 plan would build a new line to link the major cities of Afghanistan with the Iranian port of Bandar-e Abbas and with Pakistan. However, in the early 2000s road building is a much higher priority of infrastructure restoration than is railroad building. Only US$100,000 of public transport funds for the period 2005–11 were earmarked for railroad construction. In 2006 plans called for five new freight dispatch stations along the borders to link domestic roads with railroad lines from neighboring countries.

Ports: Afghanistan is landlocked; the main ports along its chief waterway, the Amu Darya River, are Kheyrabad and Shir Khan.

Inland Waterways: The most important inland waterway is the Amu Darya River, whose 800 kilometers along Afghanistan’s border can accommodate vessels up to 500 deadweight tons.

Civil Aviation and Airports: In 2005 some 46 airports were in operation; 10 had paved runways, but only three had runways longer than 3,000 meters. Nine heliports also were in operation. In 2005 Kabul International Airport, the only destination for international flights into Afghanistan, was under renovation and did not have international certification. Connections to Kabul were made via Delhi, India; Islamabad, Pakistan; and Baku, Azerbaijan. Airports at Herat, Jalalabad, and Mazar-e Sharif also were renovated in the early 2000s. The military conflicts of 1979–2001 destroyed many of the aircraft of the national line, Ariana, and damaged most of the civilian airports. After a series of crashes in 1998–99, Ariana lost its international flight status; the airline regained approval for international flights in 2002. In 2004 Ariana began regular flights to Delhi, Dubai, Frankfurt, Islamabad, Istanbul, and Moscow. In 2003 the first private airline, Kam Air, began flights. However, in 2005 both Ariana and Kam were rated as having poor safety regulations. Beginning in 2002, Afghanistan has received substantial foreign assistance; India has trained flight staff and contributed three Airbuses.

Pipelines: In 2004 Afghanistan had 387 kilometers of natural gas pipelines.

Telecommunications: In 2004 Afghanistan had an estimated 50,000 main telephone lines and 600,000 cellular phones. In 2002–3 two foreign-owned mobile telephone companies began operations, bringing investment commitments of US$180 million and heralding a significant improvement in national telecommunications. Both cellular networks have been unreliable in their first years of operation, however. In the early 2000s, expansion occurred almost entirely in mobile phones; between 2002 and 2004, only 7,000 new landlines went into service. The number of Afghans with Internet access increased rapidly between 2000 and 2005, multiplying from an estimated 1,000 to 25,000. In 2004 public Internet facilities were available in Herat, Kabul, Kandahar, and Mazar-e Sharif. However, in 2005 Internet cafés in Kabul increasingly were targeted by terrorist attacks.

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