1. General description of the security situation in Afghanistan
1.6 Mobility
number of districts, ranging from 379 to 407440, which has to be considered when analysing assessments by different sources.
As reported by UN Secretary General, on 31 December 2019, the Taliban allegedly captured Darzab district in Jawzjan province after the withdrawal of the ANDSF. The Taliban also took the control over Arghandab district, Zabul province, while the ANDSF recaptured Guzargahi Nur district in Baghlan province, which was held by the Taliban since September 2019.441 In June 2020, the UN Secretary General reported that neither PGFs nor AGEs ‘achieved any significant territorial gains’ between March and June 2020. In March 2020, the Taliban recaptured Yamgan district, Badakhshan province, while in April the ANDSF overtook the districts of Khamyab and Qarqin in Jowzjan province, held by the Taliban for around two years.442 In June 2020, USDOS reported that the Afghan government maintained its control in ‘Kabul, provincial capitals, major population centres, most district centres, and most portions of major ground lines of communications (GLOCs)’, while the Taliban threatened district centres and contested ‘several positions of main GLOCs’.443 According to the Afghan authorities, ‘the Taliban carried out 422 attacks in 32 provinces’ during the third week of June, killing almost 300 Afghan security personnel, making the week the ‘deadliest’ in the course of the conflict.444
An assessment of the Long War Journal (LWJ) mapping Taliban control in Afghanistan in a frequently updated map and based on open-source information, considered 133 districts of Afghanistan (33 %) to be under the control of GoA or have undetermined status, 189 districts (47 %) to be contested, 75 districts (19 %) to be held by the Taliban; one district was assessed as ‘unconfirmable Taliban claim of control’.445 According to the population figures, 15 million people were living in areas controlled by GoA or having undetermined status, while 13 million Afghans found themselves in contested areas and 4.5 million in the Taliban-controlled areas.446
connecting Kabul with northern and north-eastern provinces, were blocked due to the Taliban-initiated clashes.452
In 2019 and the first part of 2020, the incidents affecting mobility comprised clashes between PGFs and AGEs453, checkpoints454, abductions455, and killings.456 IEDs planted on roads and highways were reported to cause casualties among civilians457, military458, and police.459 Travellers were reported to face ‘taxes’460 charged along main roads, which became a source of revenue for the Taliban.461 According to USDOS, drivers, including taxi, truck and bus drivers, reported on checkpoints ‘operated by security forces and insurgent groups, who extorted money and goods from travellers’.462 The local media specified that the cases of extortion at checkpoints established by ‘Taliban insurgents as well as government forces’ became frequent on the Kandahar-Kabul, Kandahar-Herat, and Kabul-Torkham Highways463; cases of extortion were reported also, for instance, on the highway connecting Mazar-e Sharif, Balkh province, and Dar-e Suf district, Samangan province464, and the Baghlan-Balkh Highway.465 According to the Asia Foundation 2019 survey, almost 80 % of Afghans reported ‘some or lot of fear when travelling from one part of the country to another’. Some or lot of fear when travelling was particularly expressed by interviewees of Uruzgan (89 %), Faryab (87 %), Sar-e Pul, Khost, and Ghazni (86 % each), and Kabul (85 %). Among women, 34 % reported a lot of fear when travelling; this figure was higher in Ghazni (66 %), Panjshir (57 %), and Bamyan (48 %).466 Referring to the 2018 WOA Assessment, UNOCHA reported that 61 % of displaced households in Hilmand, Uruzgan, Zabul. Khost, and Paktia said that women felt ‘less safe when travelling to or at specific locations’ or could ‘be subject/vulnerable to violence’.467
Afghanistan's major population centres can be reached either by land or by air.468 In more remote areas, road conditions are often bad and the roads ‘are regularly closed due to flooding, landslides, snow or avalanches in high altitude areas’. As noted by UNOCHA, such provinces as Baghlan, Kunar, Logar, Maidan Wardak, Nuristan, Panjshir, Samangan, and Sar-e Pul ‘have no functioning airstips and air traffic is regularly interrupted by poor weather’.469
According to the airport map produced by the Austrian Country of Origin Information unit in March 2019, scheduled passenger services to domestic and international destinations exist from Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, and Mazar-e Sharif while domestic airports with scheduled passenger function in the provinces of Farah, Helmand, Nimroz, and Uruzgan.470
452 Tolonews, Taliban Attacks Stop Traffic on Northern Highway: Sources, 6 July 2020, url
453 AA, Taliban, Afghan forces clash in Balkh province, 18 March 2020, url
454 Tolonews, Taliban Attacks Stop Traffic on Northern Highway: Sources, 6 July 2020, url
455 Al-Jazeera, What peace means for Afghanistan’s Hazara people, 18 September 2019, url; NYT, A Country Where Driving Makes You a Target, 26 December 2019, url; Afghanistan Times, Danesh Calls for Security Along Daikundi-Uruzgan Road, 22 June 2020, url
456 NYT, A Country Where Driving Makes You a Target, 26 December 2019, url
457 RFE/RL, Dozens killed as Bus Hits Roadside Bomb In Western Afghanistan, 31 July 2019, url; Tolonews, Nine Civilians Killed in Kandahar Roadside Mine Blast, 3 June 2020, url; Afghanistan Times, 6 Civilians Killed by Paktika Roadside Bomb, 20 April 2020, url; Tolonews, Six Civilians Killed in Mine Blast in Jawzjan, 24 June 2020, url
458 GardaWorld, Afghanistan: Multiple IED attacks in Khost and Daikundi provinces April 21, 22 April 2020, url
459 Tolonews, 3 Police Killed in Herat Roadside Mine Blast, 5 July 2020, url
460 USDOS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2019 - Afghanistan, 11 March 2020, url
461 Salaam Times, Afghan forces move to secure highways against Taliban's 'customs tax' extortion, 14 December 2018, url
462 USDOS, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2019 - Afghanistan, 11 March 2020, url
463 Tolonews, Drivers Outraged Over Extortion on Highways, 17 January 2020, url
464 Pajhwok Afghan News, Security forces, Taliban extort money on Mazar-Dara-i-Suf road, 9 December 2019, url
465 Tolonews, Taliban Attacks Stop Traffic on Northern Highway: Sources, 6 July 2020, url
466 Asia Foundation (The), Afghanistan in 2019: A Survey of the Afghan People, 2 December 2019, url, p. 63
467 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview – Afghanistan, December 2019, url, p. 69
468 EASO, Afghanistan – Security Situation, June 2019, url, p. 65
469 UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs Overview – Afghanistan, December 2019, url, p. 11
470 Austria, BFA-Staatendokumentation, Afghanistan - Airports [Map], 25 March 2019, available upon request at url (accessed by EASO on 25 March 2019)
Hamid Karzai International Airport (KBL), known as Khwaja Rawash Airport471, is located at a distance of 16 kilometres from Kabul city centre.472 In November 2019, a suicide car blast near the airport caused civilian casualties.473 Kandahar Airport, named Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport and serving as the country’s second main airport, is situated 16 kilometres south-east of Kandahar City.474 Herat International Airport (HEA) is situated 18 kilometres south of Herat City.475 Mazar-e-Sharif International Airport (MZR), or Mawlana Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi International Airport, is located 8 kilometres from Mazar-e-Sharif.476 In January 2019, an air corridor connecting Mazar-e Sharif and Europe via Turkey was opened for cargo flights.477
471 Sweden, Lifos, Lifosrapport: Inrikesflyg, I Afghanistan (version 3.1), 2 July 2019, url, p. 4
472 Hamid Karzai International Airport, Hamid Karzai International Airport, n.d., url, (accessed 10 July 2020)
473 Washington Post (The), 12 killed in Kabul suicide blast, including children, 13 November 2019, url
474 Ahmad Shah Baba International Airport, n.d., url (accessed 10 July 2020)
475 Afghanistan, Civil Aviation Authority, Aeronautical Information Publication, Aerodrom (AD) Part 3, Edition 89-2020, 21 May 2020, url, p. 100
476 Afghanistan, Civil Aviation Authority, Aeronautical Information Publication, 21 May 2020, url, p. 241
477 Pajhwok Afghan News, Mazar-i-Sharif-Turkey-Europe air corridor formally opens, 9 January 2019, url