Vehicle registration plates of Afghanistan

Vehicle registration plates of Afghanistan were introduced in 1970. The current version was introduced in 2004. The dimensions of the license plates are approximately .

License plates are bilingual in Afghanistan; their general format includes the name of the province in either Persian or Pashto, with a corresponding Latin 3-letter code, a numerical code which ranges from 1 digit to 5 digits, and the class of the vehicle, identified by a Persian letter, and a corresponding Latin letter, or 3 in case of private vehicles.

However, the 5-digit code in the capital province of Kabul was exhausted. Thus, newer license plates have an additional extra digit, only in Persian, located separately from the actual numerical code. In addition, two hyphens are shown at the top and bottom of the 6th number.

Beginning in January 2026, plates bearing only Western Arabic numerals and category (e.g. BUS) were issued in Herat province to taxis, buses and cargo trucks operating between Afghanistan and Iran, with plans to further expand to other provinces.

Vehicle types

1. Temporary license plates began being issued by the authorities of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in September 2023. These license plates are valid for a period of three years, and are issued to vehicles that do not have official ownership deed and registration. They are mostly left-hand drive vehicles (steering wheel installed on the right-hand side of the car), imported from Pakistan or elsewhere, as they do not meet the basic requirement of legal registration. Nevertheless, installing license plates and keeping track of such cars, as well as facilitating their legal sale and purchase made it necessary to come up with a registration provision.

Provinces

In Afghanistan, license plates indicate the province in which the vehicle is registered in, both in Persian or Pashto, and with a 3-Letter Latin Code. Below is the Persian/Pashto name of each province and the 3-letter code shown on the license plate for each province.

See also

Notes

References