Strong earthquake rattles eastern Afghanistan

KABUL (AFP): A strong earthquake rocked eastern Afghanistan on Friday, AFP journalists in the capital Kabul and Nangarhar province said.

The 5.8-magnitude quake struck around 130 kilometres (80 miles) northeast of Kabul, the United States Geological Survey said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

Residents in Bamiyan and Wardak provinces, west of the capital, also told AFP they felt the earthquake.

Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan, particularly along the Hindu Kush mountain range, near where the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates meet.

A shallow 6.0-magnitude quake in the country’s east in August 2025 wiped out mountainside villages and killed more than 2,200 people. 

Weeks later, a 6.3-magnitude quake in northern Afghanistan killed at least 27 people. 

Large tremors in western Herat, near the Iranian border, in 2023, and in Nangarhar province in 2022, killed hundreds and destroyed thousands of homes. 

Many homes in the predominantly rural country, which has been devastated by decades of war, are shoddily built. 

Poor communication networks and infrastructure in mountainous Afghanistan have hampered disaster responses in the past, preventing authorities from reaching far-flung villages for hours or even days before they could assess the extent of the damage.