The Salang Tunnel ( prs, تونل سالنگ ''Tūnel-e Sālang'', ps, د سالنگ تونل ''Da Sālang Tūnel'') is a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

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 bordere ...

, located at the

Salang Pass The Salang Pass ( ps, د سالنګ لاره; prs, كتل سالنگ ''Kutal-i Salang'', el. ) is the primary mountain pass connecting northern Afghanistan with Parwan Province, with onward connections to Kabul Province, southern Afghanistan, ...

in the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Province ...

mountains, between the

Parwan Parwan (Dari: ), also spelled Parvan, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 751,000. The province is multi-ethnic and mostly rural society. The province is divided into ten districts. The town of Imam Abu Hanif ...

and

Baghlan Baghlan (Dari: بغلان ''Baġlān'') is a city in northern Afghanistan, in the eponymous province, Baghlan Province. It is located three miles east of the Kunduz River, 35 miles south of Khanabad, and about 500 metres above sea level in the ...

provinces 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 ...

, about 90 kilometers north of the capital city 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 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

. Nearly above sea level, it was completed by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1964 and connects northern Afghanistan with the capital, Kabul, and southern parts of the country. The Salang Tunnel is of strategic importance and is the only pass going in a north–south direction to remain in use throughout the year, although it is often closed during the cold winters by heavy snowfall.

Overview

Inside the Salang Tunnel in November 2013

The tunnel represents the major north–south connection in Afghanistan, cutting travel time from 72 hours to 10 hours and saving about . It reaches an altitude of about and is long. The width and height of the tunnel tube are . Other sources say that the tunnel is no more than wide at the base and high, but only in the centre.U.S.-Pakistan dispute chokes Afghan supply route
Retrieve 4 June 2012. It was noted in 2010 that about 16,000 vehicles pass through the Salang Tunnel daily. Other reports say that the tunnel was designed for 1,000 vehicles a day, but is now handling seven to ten thousand vehicles a day. It forms part of the Highway 1 (Ring Road).

History

In 1955, Afghanistan and the

signed an agreement to initiate joint development of the Salang road, initially via the historic

route. The tunnel was opened in 1964 and provided a year-round connection from the northern parts of the country to

. The tunnel was the highest road tunnel in the world until 1973, when the

United 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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

built the

Eisenhower Tunnel The Eisenhower Tunnel, officially the Eisenhower–Edwin C. Johnson Memorial Tunnel, is a dual-bore, four-lane vehicular tunnel in the western United States, approximately west of Denver, Colorado. The tunnel carries Interstate 70 (I-70) under ...

— just slightly higher and slightly longer — in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

. A ventilation system was built in 1976. It is known for a deadly fire which occurred in November 1982, and several avalanche incidents. A series of avalanches led to the deaths of as many as 172 people in February 2010 either as a direct result of the avalanche or through being trapped. After the 1989

Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan The final and complete withdrawal of Soviet combatant forces from Afghanistan began on 15 May 1988 and ended on 15 February 1989 under the leadership of Colonel-General Boris Gromov. Planning for the withdrawal of the Soviet Union (USSR) from t ...

, maintenance suffered, and eventually, in the course of combat between the

Northern Alliance The Northern Alliance, officially known as the United Islamic National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan ( prs, جبهه متحد اسلامی ملی برای نجات افغانستان ''Jabha-yi Muttahid-i Islāmi-yi Millī barāyi Nijāt ...

and the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...

in 1997–1998, the tunnel's entrances, lighting and ventilation system were destroyed, so that it could only be transited by foot in the dark. After the overthrow of the Taliban-led government in the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan, a joint effort between agencies from Afghanistan, France, Russia, the United States and others cleared the mines and debris and reopened the tunnel on January 19, 2002. In the early 2010s it was still receiving

ISAF ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

funding for repair and renovation. Between seven and ten thousand vehicles currently pass through the tunnel each day. In 2012, the United States Agency for International Development (

USAID The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

) made a technical study for a new tunnel reaching from the Olang region in Parwan province to DoShakh in Baghlan province, going through the mountains of the Hindu Kush, further than the current tunnel. The design shortened travel distance by .

Incidents

1980 accident

During the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Sovie ...

, the tunnel was a crucial military link to the south, yet was prone to ambushes by the Afghan mujahideen fighters. On February 23, 1980 as a result of a road traffic accident, a

Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...

convoy was trapped and 16 of its servicemen suffocated from exhaust gases.

1982 fire

On November 3, 1982 a deadly fire killed an estimated 64 Soviet soldiers and 112 Afghans; apparently after a collision, a tanker truck blew up in the tunnel, and the fire engulfed a military convoy. Other sources offer some variation in the number of fatalities, although the Guinness Book of World Records 2007 cites the same figure of "about 176" fatalities.

2002 avalanche

Several weeks after reopening several hundred people were trapped in the tunnel due to an

avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and eart ...

at its southern end. While most people were rescued, fatalities occurred due to asphyxiation and freezing. After further rehabilitation, in July 2004, the tunnel could carry two-way traffic.

2009 avalanches

Avalanches in the approach to the tunnel killed at least ten people in January 2009.

2010 avalanches

On February 8, 2010, a series of at least seventeen avalanches struck the area around the tunnel, burying miles of road, killing 175 people and stranding hundreds more. Hundreds of cars were buried in the snow. More than 150 people are expected to have been killed in total, according to officials. At least 400 injuries were reported. The Afghan National Army and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

used their helicopters to rescue at least 2,500 people who were trapped inside their vehicles. The avalanches were caused by a sudden blizzard that struck the area, closing the tunnel and the roads around it on both side of the tunnel. The tunnel was reopened on February 12, 2010.

2022 fire

On 18 December 2022, a fuel tanker exploded, killing at least 12 people and injuring 37 others.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 35, 19, 19.5, N, 69, 1, 37.0, E, type:landmark_region:AF, display=title 1964 establishments in Afghanistan Afghanistan–Soviet Union relations Road tunnels Roads in Afghanistan Soviet foreign aid Tunnels completed in 1964 Tunnels in Afghanistan