Afghanistan inaugurated air cargo corridors with Europe, Russia, China and United Arab Emirates on Thursday September 27, 2018. Air transport plays a pivotal role for Afghanistan as a landlocked country allowing it to overcome poor infrastructure for ground-transportation. Air cargo service routes are regarded as regional and international lifelines for Afghanistan.
Challenges
Central Asia has been slow to develop air cargo in part due to slower economic development and limited transport infrastructure. And Afghanistan has recently started to develop air corridors. Therefore, recent acceleration in exports combined with an effort to modernize the airport sector will create new opportunities for air cargo. However, so far, the only segment that provides efficient and reliable service is air courier services, which has been growing rapidly. Currently air transportation occupies the same position in the national economy of the countries as rail transportation occupied a century ago. However, the analyst projecting the role of rail transportation would have encountered fewer difficulties than are now encountered in assaying the future of air transportation. Air transportation is at an early stage in its technological development, like rail transportation was in one century ago; its market is likewise only partially foreshadowed in its past experience. A dynamic technology-new principle of design and of power production, a dynamic operational pattern-new organizational and managerial method require to be evolved in Afghanistan as savings in time and reductions in cost enlarge the demand for air services. All of these and other factors warn that Afghanistan has a long road to in this new transportation front.
Opportunities
Air transportation today, like rail transportation a heralded as the instrument opening a new frontier. Air transportation has gone through its initial trial period in other countries. The past experience of other countries would help Afghanistan a lot to build on them. Also, The US, European, Asian and other countries have strongly voiced to support Afghanistan in this sector. Therefore, as it has won a large measure of public acceptance. It has experienced a very substantial growth, but it may still prove to be dependent on government financial and international community support, at least in establishing certain new international routes and in bringing service to the country.   
Air transport is one of the most sustainable routes for Afghanistan due to its landlocked nature. Though Afghanistan has very high quality products, it has not been able to export them to the regional and European markets due to transportation problems and limitation it had in terms of land road transportation in the past. However, thanks to the policies of the NUG, Afghanistan has been able to change this critical challenge to a strategic economic opportunity for Afghanistan. As a result, air Cargo Services will enable Afghanistan to export its karakuls, carpets, fruits and other products. So far, Afghanistan’s exports have risen 32 percent in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period last year and this trend would continue in the future.