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The Kabul–Kandahar Highway (NH0101) is a road linking
The Kabul–Kandahar Highway (NH0101) is a road linking Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...
's two largest cities, Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...
and Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
, passing through Maidan Shar, Saydabad
Saydābād ( ps, سيد اباد) is a city in Maidan Wardak Province, central Afghanistan. It is the administrative center of Saydabad District, and located along the main Kabul-Kandahar Highway.
The city of Saydabad has a population of 7, ...
, Ghazni
Ghazni ( prs, غزنی, ps, غزني), historically known as Ghaznain () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana ( gr, Αλεξάνδρεια Ωπιανή), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan ...
, and Qalati Ghilji fa, قلات خلجی
, nickname =
, settlement_type = City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, imagesize = 300px
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, flag_size ...
. This highway is a key portion of Afghanistan's national highway system or "National Highway 1". The entire highway from Kandahar to Kabul is on flat surface, with no mountain passes. Approximately 35 percent of Afghanistan's population lives within of the Kabul to Kandahar portion of the Ring Road
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
.
Overview
The Kabul-Kandahar highway was in major disrepair due to over two decades of war and neglect. TheUnited States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
funded the repair and rebuilding of of road (at a cost of about $190 million), while Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
funded . About of the highway were already usable prior to the repairs. The rebuilding project was overseen by the Louis Berger Group
Louis Berger (formerly known as Berger Group Holdings) is a full-service engineering, architecture, planning, environmental, program and construction management and economic development firm based in Morristown, New Jersey. Founded in 1953 in H ...
, with assistance in planning and design by Turkish and India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
n engineers. Phase one of paving was completed in December 2003 and the highway was opened to traffic. The journey from Kandahar to Kabul generally took travelers 18 hours but, since the rebuilding, has been shortened to roughly 6 hours.
Route
The Kabul–Kandahar Highway traverses theprovinces
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...
, Maidan Wardak
Maidan Wardak ( Pashto: ; Dari: ), also called Wardag or Wardak, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the central region of Afghanistan. It is divided into eight districts and has a population of approximately 500,00 The capit ...
, Ghazni
Ghazni ( prs, غزنی, ps, غزني), historically known as Ghaznain () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana ( gr, Αλεξάνδρεια Ωπιανή), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan ...
, Zabul, and Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
.
Deaths
As of early 2004,Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
fighters continued to harass travelers of the corridor. Afghan guards, soldiers, mercenaries, and workers have been killed along the route. In October 2003, they kidnapped a Turkish contractor, and that December they kidnapped two Indian workers. In February 2004, Taliban rebels shot down a Louis Berger Group helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...
, killing three.
In March 2004, rebels murdered a Turkish engineer and an Afghan guard. Another Turkish engineer and a translator were kidnapped. This action prompted the United States to set up small civilian-military teams in three locations along the route. These teams no longer exist.
On May 8, 2016, a major vehicular crash killed at least 73 and injured over 50 people along the Kabul-Kandahar highway in Moqor District of Ghazni Province
Ghazni ( Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in southeastern Afghanistan. The province contains 19 districts, encompassing over a thousand villages and roughly 1.3 million people, making it the 5th most populous province. Th ...
. Two buses traveling from Kabul to Kandahar collided with a fuel tanker, causing a fiery inferno. The vehicles were reportedly speeding to avoid ambush by the Taliban
The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...
."Fuel-tanker crash kills over 70 in Afghanistan's Ghazni". Al-Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
May 8, 2016. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/afghanistan-road-crash-ghazni-160508115025713.html
At least 35 persons died in September 2016 when a fuel tanker collided with a passenger bus.
See also
* Kandahar–Herat HighwayReferences
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kabul-Kandahar Highway Transport in Kabul Kandahar Roads in Afghanistan