Storage is scarce outside the main cities
The Logistics Cluster's storage assessment (opens in a new tab) describes Afghanistan's storage capacity as insufficient for current needs. Many facilities are outdated, climate-controlled space is limited, especially in rural areas, and reliable warehouses are hard to find outside the major cities. Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif have better options, though good space there is often fully booked and expensive.
Two things follow for a programme. Provincial space has to be found, inspected and secured before a distribution plan depends on it. And the operating standard has to come from the programme: the assessment's table of commercial warehouses for rent records floor area, construction and condition, but its columns for minimum operating standards and procedures read "N/A" throughout, while the humanitarian warehouses listed beside them state standards for security, inventory management and pest control. A building can be rented; the standard has to be written into the contract.
This article covers general cargo that has already cleared customs; customs clearance itself is outside Zhikal's services. Medicines and temperature-sensitive goods need facilities and certification of their own.
Choose the arrangement before the building
Each way of holding stock puts the cost, the staff and the risk in a different place. The Logistics Cluster's Logistics Operational Guide describes the storage arrangements (opens in a new tab) humanitarian agencies use; a managed service goes one step further and puts the operation itself under contract.
Your own warehouse
Owned or leased and run by your staff. Full control, but you recruit the storekeepers, write the procedures and carry the cost and the risk.
Rented commercial space
A whole building or only the space you use. Quick to start where space exists; the controls are only what the contract says.
Shared or common storage
Space in a partner's warehouse or in common humanitarian storage. Useful for a short or uncertain need, with each party's liability agreed in writing.
A managed service
A provider runs the space, the storekeeping and the records in your formats. It suits a programme with no staff or premises where the stock has to sit.
Check the site against the stock and the season
Size the requirement from the stock rather than the floor: peak volume, the number of items, any kitting or repacking, how long goods will stay and which carry expiry dates. Then walk the building with the Operational Guide's site selection checklist (opens in a new tab): room for trucks to load and turn, ground that does not flood, a roof and walls that keep out water and pests, sound floors, power and water, a perimeter wall and gates, and distance from likely targets and hazards such as fuel stations.
Leave room to work. The guide's layout advice (opens in a new tab) gives about 70% of the floor to storage and 30% to movement and handling, with stock on pallets and clear of the walls. Its safety and security (opens in a new tab) section asks for an intact, lit perimeter, guards working shifts that cover day and night rather than one live-in guard, a visitor log, and fire extinguishers no more than 25 metres apart, checked every 30 days.
Then check the season. The storage assessment names unreliable electricity among the main constraints, so ask what happens to lighting, security and record-keeping when the power fails, and where meltwater goes in spring. Stock held for winter belongs on the recipients' side of the pass; the winter pre-positioning guide covers the timing.
Which records should a warehouse keep?
Months after a distribution, the records are what show where the stock went. The Operational Guide's section on warehousing documentation (opens in a new tab) describes the standard set; the contract should name each record and who signs it.
Goods received note
Raised at intake against the purchase order and the waybill, with quantity, condition and expiry. If the waybill is wrong or missing, the GRN is the record of what arrived.
Stock card and bin card
Kept with the goods, updated at every movement, written in the language the storekeepers work in, and in agreement with the ledger.
Inventory ledger
The central record of receipts, dispatches and balances, with expiry dates and the donor each item belongs to.
Release order
The signed instruction that lets goods leave. Without one, nothing is released.
Waybill
What left, on which vehicle, for which destination, signed by whoever receives it.
Stock report and loss report
Balances, receipts, dispatches and items near expiry for each month, and a signed report for anything lost, damaged or spoiled.
Every transaction carries a reference number that also goes on the stock card, so any item can be traced from receipt to dispatch, and goods change hands only against the next person's signature. Where stock belongs to several donors or projects, the guide's chapter on recording stock (opens in a new tab) recommends separate records for each, which keeps reporting and closeout simple. If the programme has its own forms, require the provider to use them, so the records fit the audit the programme will face.
Count, reconcile and report
Records are only as reliable as the last count that tested them. The Operational Guide's section on monitoring and counting (opens in a new tab) describes three kinds:
- Cycle counts: part of the stock counted on a schedule, with fast-moving and valuable items counted more often.
- Spot checks: a visitor picks three to seven lines from the ledger and counts them blind alongside the storekeeper. They take minutes and can happen on any visit.
- A full count: at least once a year, with all movement stopped and two teams counting the same stock in turn. The counters should not be the people who control the stock.
Every difference is recorded and explained. A loss that survives a recount needs a loss report, a corrected ledger and notice to the owner of the stock; a variance quietly adjusted to make the books agree is what an auditor looks for.
For expiry dates, the same guide's physical storage guidelines (opens in a new tab) advise dispatching first-expired, first-out, refusing goods with less than six months of shelf life left in normal circumstances, and warning the programme as dates approach. Food, soap and several hygiene items carry dates.
Put liability for loss in the contract
The Logistics Cluster's transport assessment (opens in a new tab) records that the authorities suspended the operations of all insurance companies in March 2022, halting insurance services across the country. Check the current position before relying on any policy, and write liability into the contract either way: who bears loss, theft and damage in storage, how a loss is valued, how quickly it is reported, which records settle it, and what happens at the end, from the closing count and the return of records to the disposal of damaged or expired stock under the donor's rules.
Ask every bidder to price the same volumes on the same basis. Commercial storage is commonly charged as handling in and out per pallet or cubic metre, storage per pallet position or cubic metre per week or month, and a charge for security. Extra labour for kitting or repacking should be listed on its own line.
Clear unit rates also make a contract easier to share. The Logistics Working Group's August 2026 minutes (opens in a new tab) record that agencies' long-term agreements are under review for shared contracting under the UN80 joint supply chain initiative. A storage contract with defined services and unit rates is easier to extend to a partner or call off as task orders; the page for UN agencies and NGOs explains how task-order frameworks work with Zhikal.
A checklist for the request for quotation
Answer each line in the request, so that quotations can be compared and the contract enforced.
Arrangement, location and term
Dedicated space, a whole facility or a managed service; the province and district; start and end dates, and any extension.
Volumes and commodities
Peak volume in pallets or cubic metres, the number of items, expiry-dated goods and any kitting or repacking.
Site standard
Access, drainage, roof, power, perimeter, guards and fire equipment, confirmed at a site visit before award.
Records
Goods received notes, stock and bin cards, the ledger, release orders and waybills, kept by donor and project, in your templates where you have them.
Release authority
Named signatories, and the rule that nothing leaves without a signed release order.
Counts
A cycle-count schedule, the right to unannounced spot checks, a full count at least once a year and a closing count at handover.
Losses and liability
Reporting time, valuation basis and who pays, written without relying on insurance.
Reporting
A monthly stock report with receipts, dispatches, balances, expiries and losses.
Rates on one basis
Handling, storage, security and extra labour, priced on the same volumes.
Where Zhikal fits
Zhikal provides warehousing in Kabul and, on an assignment basis, in the provinces where a programme holds stock: receiving against goods received notes, stock and bin cards, cycle counts with variance reports, dispatch planning and proof of delivery, with each client's stock held separately and reported in its own format. One documented contract covered warehouse management across ten provinces for twelve months, with audit-ready records and warranty obligations, and warehousing is one stage of the current UN Women non-food-item retainer. Goods leave storage by road transport, and the NFI and hygiene-kit guide covers inspection before acceptance. To discuss a storage requirement, send the volumes, locations and dates.
Sources
- 2.6 Afghanistan Storage Assessment (opens in a new tab)
Logistics Cluster, Logistics Capacity Assessment. Storage capacity and conditions by city, and the commercial and humanitarian warehouses listed with their operating standards.
- 3.2 Afghanistan Transporters (opens in a new tab)
Logistics Cluster, Logistics Capacity Assessment. How the domestic trucking market, transport slips and tariffs work, and the 2022 suspension of insurance services.
- Warehousing and Physical Stock Management (opens in a new tab)
Logistics Cluster, Logistics Operational Guide. Storage arrangements and how commercial storage is charged, site selection, layout, safety and security, physical storage and warehouse documents.
- Inventory Planning and Management (opens in a new tab)
Logistics Cluster, Logistics Operational Guide. Stock records, cycle counts, spot checks, full counts, discrepancies and stock reports.
- Afghanistan Coordination Meeting Minutes, Kabul, 12 August 2026 (opens in a new tab)
Logistics Working Group (Logistics Cluster). Border and corridor status, and the working group's daily road-status mapping.
External sources are cited for the facts they report and were checked when this guide was last updated. Citing them implies no relationship with, or endorsement by, their publishers.