At least 18 people, including 10 children and five women, were killed and dozens more injured when a truck carrying returnees overturned on a highway in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Laghman early Saturday, Taliban officials said.
The crash occurred around 5:30 a.m. near the Surkhkanu intersection in Qarghayi district of Laghman province, along the main Kabul–Jalalabad highway, according to Habibullah Mubarez, the Taliban’s traffic director in Laghman.
Taliban disaster management officials in neighboring Nangarhar province said all of the victims were Afghan migrants who had recently returned from Pakistan. The passengers had been temporarily settled in Kunar province and were being transported to Kabul when the vehicle overturned.
The Taliban governor’s office in Laghman said in a statement that 18 people were killed and 35 others were injured in the crash. The wounded were transferred to medical facilities in Nangarhar for treatment.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
The latest crash adds to a growing toll from road accidents across Afghanistan, where poor road conditions, overloaded vehicles, reckless driving and weak enforcement of traffic regulations have contributed to frequent deadly incidents.
At least 20 people have been killed in three separate traffic accidents reported across Afghanistan over the past 10 days, according to local Taliban authorities and media reports.
Traffic accidents remain one of the leading causes of accidental deaths in Afghanistan. Major highways linking provincial capitals are often congested, while aging vehicles and limited emergency response capabilities can worsen the consequences of serious crashes.
The accident also comes as Afghanistan continues to receive large numbers of returnees from neighboring countries, particularly Pakistan, which has intensified efforts to deport undocumented Afghan migrants. Over the past week, at least 4,000 migrants are deported from Pakistan on a daily basis, according to figures provided by Taliban commission for refugees.
International aid agencies have warned that the mass return of migrants is placing additional strain on transportation networks and public services, especially in eastern provinces that serve as key entry points into the country.
