Feature: Kabul's congested roads unite drivers of both plush and old cars in shared vexation

Modern cars including dozens of new Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps and Corollas were among hundreds of old fashioned and used cars crawling at a snails pace on a congested street in Macrorayon, downtown Kabul.

"It is not the first day and won't be the last day for us facing such as traffic mess," a Land Cruiser jeep driver, Ahmad Haroon, told Xinhua.

Stranded among hundreds of new and old cars in a traffic jam, the exhausted motorist complained, "I'd rather stay at home, but obviously have no choice except to drive to earn a livelihood."

Working as a personal driver for a well-to-do businessman, the 28-year-old, clearly exhausted from being stuck in jams all the time, said that he encounters the energy-zapping traffic jams on a daily basis.

Kabul city, residents say, during former King Zahir Shah's reign in the mid 20th century, was developed to accommodate 1 million residents, with its streets supposedly able to accommodate around 50,000 cars.

However, according to officials, the population of Kabul has swelled to around 5 million people presently, as many residents from the countryside of the militancy-hit country have migrated to the capital.

Currently more than 300,000 cars are believed to be on the roads, both congesting and battering the city's streets, with no subway or metro system to alleviate the problem.

Even though new model cars attract the attention of passersby on the dusty city streets, the majority of Afghan motorists are driving second- and third-hand cars, some of which date back to the 1980s.

The international community pumping billions of U.S. dollars into Afghanistan over the past decade has widened the gap between rich and poor in the conflict-ridden and economically impoverished country.

Availing their purchasing power, many affluent families have established their own businesses and bought the latest model cars and other commodities to enjoy and enhance their affluent lifestyles.

Nevertheless, a lack of proper roads and motorways in the country has suppressed the dreams of wealthy families to drive in the manner they would like.

Although Afghanistan has made progress and achievements with the support of the international community in a number of different fields, 36 percent of the population, according to official figures, are living below the poverty line.

While some roads and streets have been rebuilt over the past decade, Kabul is still struggling with roads that are in desperate need of repair and other infrastructural difficulties.

"Facing traffic jams is a daily, problematic ritual," Mohammad Azam, a 25-year-old minibus driver, told Xinhua.

"We are utterly fed up being stuck in jams behind motorcades carrying government officials and other dignitaries consistently holding up traffic for hours," Azam grumbled.

In Kabul, whenever, ranking officials or foreign dignitaries are in transit, several streets are blocked off for security reasons.

"The government has to build new roads and re-asphalt older ones, then make provisions for regular citizens to be able to buy and and drive more modern cars," suggested Azam. Enditem