Nine people died and 35 were hurt on Sunday, 22 February 2026, when a passenger bus left the road and rolled over on the highway between Herat and Badghis in western Afghanistan.
Local officials told Tolqun News the crash happened at about 11 a.m. in the Sabzak area of Qala-e-Naw, the Badghis provincial capital. The bus was making the run from Herat toward the city when it veered off the carriageway and overturned. KabulNow, citing the Taliban police command in Badghis, placed the spot at Band-e Sabzak, inside the city’s Sixth Security District, and identified the vehicle as a 303-type bus.
Police blamed driver negligence.
Women and children were among the casualties, according to officials. Several of the injured were reported to be in critical condition. Security personnel carried the wounded to nearby medical facilities, and traffic police opened an investigation into how the crash happened.
Second fatal crash in two days
The Badghis wreck was not the only one that weekend. KabulNow reported that five people died the day before in Badakhshan, in the northeast, when a Toyota 4Runner left the road between the districts of Kishm and Tashkan and fell into a river. Ehsanullah Kamgar, spokesperson for the Taliban police command in Badakhshan, said the accident took place on Saturday afternoon, 21 February, in the Pul-e Tashkan area. Rescuers recovered four bodies from the water and were still looking for a fifth victim. The cause was not clear. Taken together, Taliban authorities put the toll from the two incidents at at least 14 dead and 35 injured.
A rising count of road accidents
Road accidents kill hundreds of people every year in Afghanistan and injure many more, KabulNow noted. Officials routinely list reckless driving, poor road conditions and a shortage of traffic signs as the main causes.
The numbers have climbed sharply. Data reviewed by Etilaatroz and KabulNow show 1,187 accidents recorded between March 2021 and March 2022. The figure rose to 2,662 the following year, then to at least 5,520 between March 2023 and March 2024, a nearly 80% increase over two years. The outlet described that as a fivefold rise since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, and said recent reports suggest the trend has continued, with hundreds killed and injured in recent months across several provinces.
Sources
- Nine killed, 35 injured in Afghanistan highway bus crush – TOLQUN NEWS
- Fourteen Killed, Dozens Injured in Separate Traffic Accidents in Badakhshan and Badghis – KabulNow
