Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge

About

The Afghanistan–Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge is a road–rail bridge across the Oxus River in Central Asia, connecting the town of Hairatan in Afghanistan with the town of Termez in Uzbekistan. It was built by the Soviet Union in the former Uzbek SSR and opened in 1982 as a military supply route during the Soviet–Afghan War. Today, it is used for trade and travel purposes between the two independent countries. The Friendship Bridge is the only fixed link across the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border, which follows the Amu River for its entire length. The bridge is located some 75 kilometers (45 mi) north of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The nearest other bridge across the Amu Darya is some 120 kilometers (75 mi) to the west, a pipeline bridge crossing the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border from/to the Lebap Region. Before the Soviet–Afghan War, there was no fixed road or rail link between Afghanistan and Uzbekistan, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union. In 1982, several years after falling under Soviet occupation in Operation Storm-333, Afghanistan agreed to allow the Soviet Union to build a permanent replacement for the temporary pontoon bridge to resupply the Soviet 40th Army and Afghan National Army. It formally opened on May 12, 1982, at a ceremony attended by Afghan General Secretary Babrak Karmal and Soviet Uzbek First Secretary Sharof Rashidov. It was planned to link the Soviet railway network to Kabul by building a rail line across the bridge and through Puli Khumri and Bagram Air Base. During the war it was repeatedly attacked by the Afghan mujahedeen using magnetic depth charges supplied by the British Secret Intelligence Service, who also crossed the bridge to commit sabotage operations in Soviet Uzbekistan. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence also planned to train militants to destroy the bridge through underwater demolition, but Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq rejected the idea to avoid Soviet reprisals on Pakistani communities near the border with Afghanistan. At the end of the war it was the site of the final withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan on February 15, 1989. The

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