Afghanistan Road
The Afghanistan Road Initiative, announced by President Bush in September
2002, seeks to reconstruct Afghanistan’s major and rural roads, and improve economic growth, security, and political integration along the corridor linking three of Afghanistan’s largest cities—Kabul, Kandahar, and Herat.
- The Kabul-Kandahar highway has been open to traffic since late 2003. Travel between Kabul and Kandahar now takes 5-6 hours-a year ago, it took 9-16 hours depending on the mode of transportation. People living near the highway enjoy better access to markets, healthcare, schools, and jobs. At the national level, the highway has already begun to contribute to Afghanistan's economic growth, security, and national unity.
- All bridge construction and rehabilitation on the Kabul-Kandahar highway is complete. Special attention was paid to these critical sections of the highway, and their completion is a significant milestone. To elaborate on the benefits previously mentioned, the new highway directly facilitates trade between Afghanistan and its neighbors. Stronger economic ties will lead to better political cooperation in the region and help encourage foreign investment.
- More than 2,000 Afghan truckers and construction personnel worked on the highway, a factor critical to the success and sustainability of this initiative.
Linking International Humanitarism and the War on Terror
Reconstruction of the Afghanistan highway illustrates a successful union between two bodies of theory and practice that are rarely linked analytically: international humanitarianism and the global war on terror. At the humanitarian level, the Kabul-Kandahar highway was a generous development contribution by the governments of the United States, Japan, and Saudi Arabia to one of the world's most desperately poor places. The newly paved roadway will enable impoverished farmers to access new markets, spare sick children and pregnant women from an hours-long trip to health clinics, and facilitate school construction in isolated regions. On the counterterrorism level, the highway was a sizeable force in the war on terror. The terrorist enemies of President Karzai's post-Taliban government found the roads threatening, as evidenced by their repeated attempts to disrupt its construction. As a counterterrorism weapon, the highway was carefully targeted to cut directly through the former Taliban strongholds in southeastern Afghanistan, and bolster the central government's ability to link the nation's two largest cities and extend services to ethnic Pashtun regions. The success of the road initiative in linking international humanitarianism and the global war on terror provides a tangible framework for these theories to act in unison in future reconstruction efforts.
- The process of creating infrastructure in any wartorn country must view security as the highest priority-almost every other development objective is negatively affected by poor security. Several innovative techniques were developed to facilitate work in high-risk environments-working with military colleagues, civilian partners, and the Afghans themselves-to help reach significant milestones in highway reconstruction.
- Incorporation of the Afghan people in the road reconstruction process is critical to the success of the program. The Afghan people are empowered in helping to renew transportation infrastructure and in turn, strengthening Afghanistan's economy. Also, the reconstruction effort created financial gains for individuals by providing thousands of jobs for Afghans.
- The most powerful engine for economic development in Afghanistan as a whole is regional trade.
- The reconstruction process must incorporate the capabilities of other governments and international organizations that can play an important leadership role, especially in countries like Afghanistan. For example, the Japanese government is funding 116 km of the Kandahar-Herat highway, and the Saudi government is expected to fund another 115 km.
Note: Results for this initiative were reported through USAID's consolidated reporting system
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