Afghanistan logistics infrastructure is precarious. Afghanistan’s mountainous terrain, extreme weather conditions, its land locked status and its poor infrastructure present challenges to the humanitarian logistics and efficient conveyance of goods. After nearly four decades of conflict and repeated environmental calamities, Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world. Its human development indicators rank at or near the bottom among developing countries with extremely high levels of poverty and deprivation, especially among the rural population. Decades of chronic political instability have undermined the development of modern and democratic structures of governance, market and community.

The security situation is the one of the main factors affecting the overall logistics capacity. Security restrictions and/or areas inaccessibility are unpredictable and this needs to be considered in any logistics planning. Inaccessibility can be determined by ongoing conflicts and/or mines presence on the roads.

Truck companies might have restrictions to reaching some unsecured areas and transhipment to local trucks might be required.

Security is to be considered also for storage planning; limitations in storage and prepositioning options are a direct consequence of volatile security situation.

Planned infrastructures

Afghanistan, being in a strategic position for supply routes in the continent, is been considered for the development of regional infrastructures, through planned private and institutional international community investments.

It is not possible to predict when the planned infrastructures will be achieved.

Research material:

https://sites.google.com/site/indianoceancommunity1/trans-asian-highway

http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/TAR%20map_1Nov2016.pdf