Highway 1 (Afghanistan)

National Highway 01 or NH01, formally called the Ring Road (Pashto: د افغانستان حلقوي سړک‎; Dari: شاهراه حلقوی افغانستان‎), is an ancient 2,200 kilometres (1,400 mi) two-lane road network circulating inside Afghanistan, connecting the following major cities (clockwise): Kabul, Maidan Shar, Ghazni, Kandahar, Delaram, Herat, Maymana, Sheberghan, Mazari Sharif, Puli Khumri and back to Kabul. It was originally built and maintained by the Mauryan Empire, and is well documented in Greek and Buddhist sources from the 4th century BCE onward. An important arterial road for the region, it fell occasionally into disrepair but never into disuse; many rulers who held sway over sections of the road are known to have renovated it over and over again, and these include Sher Shah Suri, the Mughal Empire and the British Empire. It has extensions that also connect Jalalabad, Bamyan, Khost, Lashkargah, Zaranj (Route 606), Farah, Islam Qala, Torghundi, and Kunduz. It is part of AH1, the longest route of the Asian Highway Network. National Highway 01 is broken up into four major sections, NH0101-0104, linking the major economic centers of Afghanistan.[1]

National Highway 1
Route information
Part of
Highway system
Highways in Afghanistan

Kabul–Kandahar Highway Highway around Wardak Province in 2010

Somewhere on the Kabul–Jalalabad Road

Part of National Highway 1 has been refurbished since late 2003, particularly the Kabul–Kandahar Highway, with funds provided by the United States, Saudi Arabia and others. Most work on that stretch was done by Turkish, Indian and local companies. Japanese companies were also involved near the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. In the west, Iran participated in the two-lane road construction between Islam Qala and the western Afghan city of Herat. Pakistan rebuilt the Jalalabad–Kabul Road.