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]
History
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.
Timeline
1870: Establishment of Balahisar Post office in Kabul and a post office in the center of each province of the country serving Primary Postal Services Affairs and Postal Stamps.
1928: After having joined the Universal Postal Union and some other individual company agreement were signed.
1929: Post is conveyed towards Torkham and Kandahar by vehicles.
1929: Various type of deliveries such as letters, postcards, newspapers, magazine and other printed materials as well as parcels are made inside and outside of the country.
1934: Title of the post administration from General Directorship of Telephone and Telegraph was changed into the Department of Telephone and Telegraph, and later on it was elevated to the Ministry of Communication.
1973: Law of postal services was amended.
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]
