Agency Name: | Afghan Post |
Type: | Postal Administration |
Headquarters: | Ministry of Communications and IT, Mohammad Jan Khan Watt 1001 Kabul, Afghanistan |
Motto: | Fast Safe Secure |
Chief1 Name: | Molaway Rahmatullah Maki |
Chief1 Position: | President |
Agency Type: | Government organization |
Parent Department: | Ministry of Communications and Information Technology |
Website: | https://afghanpost.gov.af/en |
Afghan Post is the national mail and courier organization of Afghanistan with its headquarters in Kabul.[1] [2] It has offices in all 34 provinces and 420 or so districts of Afghanistan.[3]
Most homes in Afghanistan, particularly in older neighborhoods and in the rural areas, do not have street addresses. Names and other descriptions may be used in place of street addresses.[4]
The first postal arrangements in Afghanistan are credited to Sher Ali Khan, who established a postal service in the 1860s as part of a program to modernize the country. In the late 1970s, it had grown into one of the stronger regional postal services, able to send and receive letters from anywhere in the world.
During the 1990s, the Afghan postal service was suspended due to a civil war in the country. Sending a letter usually meant having to find someone traveling in the direction of the recipient willing to carry a note and hoping for the best. It gradually began to develop in the mid 2000s during the presidency of Hamid Karzai, especially on mail and parcel delivery. Under director Ahmad Wahid Wais from 2017 to 2021, Afghan Post expanded its activities on freight, e-commerce and providing data services to government agencies.[5]
Early 2020s there were around 3000 postal points for the public to access those services: one or two post offices per province, one postal agent or agency at least per district. Wais extended the activities to freight and e-commerce.[5] From at least mid-2010s mail from Afghanistan is not posted with postage stamps.[5]