Road transport across Afghanistan: route, load and proof-of-delivery planning

How the domestic trucking market works

Afghanistan's domestic freight depends on trucks, and the market is organised differently from what many international buyers expect. The Logistics Cluster's capacity assessment (opens in a new tab) describes a decentralised system: transport companies rarely own large fleets, individual truck owners register their vehicles with those companies, and subcontracting is the normal way capacity is supplied. The Ministry of Transport's Transport Commission issues the transport slips that authorise a driver to take an assignment and oversees an official tariff calculated per 100 km, and axle weights are enforced at weighbridges.

Two consequences follow for a buyer. The truck that arrives may belong to someone other than the company you contracted, so the contract has to make that company responsible for the whole movement, not just the booking. And the price sits on a regulated base that moves with fuel, which the same assessment puts at 60–70% of transport cost; ask how each quotation treats fuel before comparing one with another.

Choose the route by access, not distance

The shortest road is not always the one that gets the load there. Highway 1 links Kabul, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif, but the roads beyond it are often unpaved, and the Logistics Cluster's road network assessment (opens in a new tab) records many that become impassable in heavy rain or winter, or passable only by lighter trucks. A route plan should name the corridor, any staging point where loads move to smaller vehicles, and the access window for the final leg.

Plan multi-province movements by corridor. Destinations that share a route and a season can move together; destinations that do not should not be forced onto one schedule. Zhikal runs its current nationwide NFI retainer this way — six delivery corridors, each with a standing team — so a task order goes to people who already run that road.

Conditions change, so check them close to dispatch. The Logistics Working Group is mapping the status of highways and inter-provincial roads on its information-exchange platform, updated daily, according to its August 2026 minutes (opens in a new tab); regional staff who drove a route last week remain the best source for the final kilometres.

Match the load to the vehicle before booking

Trucks in the domestic market range from small 5-tonne vehicles to 40-tonne trucks, and the right one depends on the tightest point on the route rather than the size of the load. A single large truck is efficient as far as Kandahar and no use if the district road beyond takes only vehicles under 10 tonnes; two smaller trucks from the start can cost less than a transfer halfway.

Give the transporter what it needs to plan the load: total weight and volume, the number and type of packages, stacking limits, anything fragile, and whether loading and offloading labour is needed at each end. A load planned on a description rather than on these facts is where damage and short deliveries begin.

What paperwork proves the movement?

Every transfer of responsibility should leave a document signed by both sides, completed on the day. For a donor-funded consignment the minimum set is:

• Packing list or loading sheet

  What was loaded, in what quantity and condition, checked against the dispatch instruction.

• Waybill

  Issued at dispatch and travelling with the load: consignor, consignee, vehicle, driver, cargo and quantities.

• Transport slip

  The Transport Commission authorisation the driver carries for the assignment, where it applies.

• Delivery note or goods received note

  Signed at handover by a named, authorised receiver, with any shortfall or damage written on the document itself.

• Exception record

  Delays, re-routing, shortages and damage, recorded when they happen together with the decision taken.

• Photographs

  Of the load at dispatch and at delivery, dated, where the contract requires them.

Plan for exceptions, not just for arrival

Something will go wrong on a long movement: a closed road, a checkpoint delay, a breakdown, a receiver who is not there. What matters is whether the plan already says who decides and how quickly the client hears. Agree the escalation route and the decision rules — when to wait, when to re-route, when to return — before dispatch.

At Zhikal, access, security or supply disruptions are reported to the client within 24 hours with a proposed alternative, and each consignment is followed through the regional focal point for the zone it is crossing. The final leg into districts is an operation of its own; the last-mile delivery guide covers handover planning in detail.

What to ask a transport provider

The answers to these questions separate a provider that runs the route from one that resells it.

• Who is responsible if a subcontracted truck fails?

  The contracted company, in writing.

• Which corridors have you run recently?

  Named routes and dates, not a nationwide coverage claim.

• How is fuel treated in the price?

  Fixed, indexed or passed through — and what happens if prices move during the contract.

• Who carries loss and damage?

  With insurance services reported suspended since March 2022, liability has to be settled in the contract itself.

• What comes back with the delivery?

  The documents you will receive, in your format, and how quickly.

• Who handles customs, if the goods are imported?

  Zhikal does not; it moves goods inside Afghanistan once they are cleared for onward movement. Know which party holds that step before booking.