Two fatal road accidents in Afghanistan have left at least 11 dead and more than 40 injured. On the night of Saturday, November 19, a passenger bus left the road and crashed on the Kabul-Baghlan Highway, health sources tell Zan Times. At least nine people, including two women and two children, were killed, and another 40 were injured in the crash. The bus was travelling from Kabul toward Faryab when it crashed in the Malkhan area of the Salang Pass, a mountainous pass between Baghlan and Parwan provinces.
According to health sources, those injured in this incident were taken to Pul-i-Khumri Provincial Hospital in the capital of Baghlan. Two of the injured are reported to be in critical condition.
Soon after, two people died on Sunday, November 20 in another fatal traffic accident, this time in the Ashtarlai district of Daikundi province. Again, the vehicle veered off the road and then crashed.
Ishaq Ali Rashidi, the Taliban traffic director in Daikundi, confirmed the accident, saying that the two men who died were a father and son.
Daikundi is infamous for its bad roads, which quickly become dangerous when snow hits the mountainous region. While no official causes have been given for the two fatal crashes over the weekend, the majority of road accidents in Afghanistan occur due to drivers’ carelessness, high speed, and vehicles and roads that are not maintained or up to code.
Though statistics are hard to obtain as many accidents aren’t reported, Afghanistan’s rate of fatal traffic accidents was rising even before the Taliban returned to power, when much of the country’s road maintenance ceased after government funding all but collapsed. According to the World Health Organization, there were 16 traffic deaths per 100,000 population in 2019. By comparison, Pakistan’s traffic fatality rate was 13 per 100,000 population.
Those who survive traffic accidents also have to contend with an increasingly fragile healthcare system. Often, the wounded die of blood loss or what should be treatable injuries because they cannot obtain medical treatment quickly enough. And the situation is getting worse, quickly. Since the Taliban returned to power, their incompetence combined with a notable lack of interest in the healthcare system means that hospitals and clinics are starved for funding and often unable to buy even the basics needed to sustain life. That fiscal crisis as well as the flight of medical professionals out of the country means that the medical system is in crisis.
