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Is It Safe to Fly Over Afghanistan? EASA's Afghanistan Bulletin CZIB-2017-08R19, the FL320 Rule in the Kabul FIR, and Why So Many Europe–Asia Flights Cross It Anyway

If you have flown between Europe and India, Southeast Asia or Australia in the past year, there is a fair chance your aircraft crossed Afghanistan. Look at the moving map on a London to Delhi or Frankfurt to Bangkok flight and you will often see the route pass north of Kabul, over the Hindu Kush, on its way to Pakistan. That surprises passengers, because Afghanistan is also on EASA's list of conflict zones, with a bulletin that has been in force since 2017 and was renewed again in July 2026.

Both things are true at once, and the reason is a single number: FL320. This post explains what EASA's Afghanistan bulletin CZIB-2017-08R19 actually says, why airlines fly over the country above that level and not below it, what the renewed Pakistan–Afghanistan fighting in late September and October 2026 changes, and how to check whether your own flight will cross the Kabul FIR.

What the bulletin says

EASA's Conflict Zone Information Bulletin for Afghanistan is CZIB-2017-08R19. It was first issued on 17 October 2017 and has been revised nineteen times since. The current revision is dated 24 July 2026, extended the validity to 31 January 2027 unless reviewed earlier, and revised the description without changing the recommendations. It covers the whole of Afghan airspace, which is the Kabul Flight Information Region, ICAO code OAKX.

The recommendation is short. Air operators should not operate within the Kabul FIR below FL320, which is a pressure altitude of 32,000 feet, and should closely monitor developments and follow all available aeronautical publications, including information shared through the European Information Sharing and Cooperation Platform on Conflict Zones. Above FL320 the bulletin does not tell operators to stay out; it tells them to be careful and keep watching.

The description explains the two separate concerns behind that line. The first is security. Since the Taliban took control in August 2021, EASA assesses that the situation has not been stable and that extremist non-state groups retain the capability to target aviation, listing direct rocket or mortar attacks, indirect fire, suicide attacks and the potential use of man-portable air-defence systems, the shoulder-launched missiles known as MANPADS. The July 2026 revision added a second security concern: recurrent Pakistani cross-border military operations, including airstrikes and missile attacks, which EASA says increase the likelihood of military activity affecting Afghan airspace with limited warning.

The second concern is not about weapons at all. EASA notes the absence or limited availability of air traffic services across the entire country, which leaves operators with limited mitigating measures to rely on. That is the part most passengers have never heard about, and it is why the Kabul FIR is unusual even among conflict zones.

Why FL320: the MANPADS ceiling and the missing controllers

The FL320 figure is not arbitrary. It sits well above the engagement envelope of man-portable air-defence systems, which in practice threaten aircraft in the climb, the descent and at low cruising levels rather than at normal jet cruise altitude. It also keeps aircraft above the range of the rockets, mortars and small arms that have historically been used against airports and low-flying traffic in Afghanistan. A widebody in the cruise at FL340 or above is, by that reasoning, outside what the groups active on the ground can reach. The same logic underpins the altitude floors in several other bulletins; our explainer on [EASA conflict-zone bulletins for the Middle East](/blog/easa-conflict-zone-bulletins-middle-east-explained) goes through how the altitude-based recommendations are built.

The air traffic concern is different and arguably more important for day-to-day operations. Since the collapse of the previous government in August 2021 there has been no normal air traffic control service in the Kabul FIR. Overflights are conducted on published routes with aircraft separating themselves procedurally, broadcasting their position and intentions on a common frequency and relying on their own collision-avoidance systems, in airspace that is effectively uncontrolled at cruising levels. Airlines that have decided to overfly accept that arrangement on the basis of their own risk assessments, usually with extra briefing, extra fuel and strict adherence to the designated corridors. It works, but it removes the safety net that controlled airspace provides, which is exactly what EASA means by limited mitigating measures.

The corridors that matter are the airways P500 and G500, which cross the north of the country and connect the Central Asian airspace with Pakistan. Those two routes are the backbone of the Europe–South Asia flow through Afghanistan, and they appear by name in the US FAA's rules for American operators, which prohibit operations below FL320 but explicitly permit transits of P500 and G500 at FL300 and above.

Why airlines fly over Afghanistan at all

Look at a map and the answer is obvious. The direct line from Western Europe to northern India, and to much of Southeast Asia, passes through or very near Afghan airspace. For years that mattered less, because the airspace was closed to most Western carriers after 2021 and the routes went south through Iran or north through Russia. Then both of those alternatives degraded. Russian airspace has been closed to European carriers since 2022, as covered in our [Russia airspace post](/blog/flying-over-russia-airspace-ban-alternative-routes), and the repeated Iranian closures and restrictions of 2025 and 2026, tracked in our [Iran airspace status page](/blog/iran-airspace-status-open-or-closed), turned the southern route into an unreliable one.

That left the Central Asia corridor, over the Caspian region, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, with Afghanistan sitting squarely at its southern end. From late 2023 onward a growing number of European and Gulf airlines resumed high-altitude overflights of the Kabul FIR on P500 and G500, each after its own risk assessment and in line with the FL320 floor. The independent risk tracker safeairspace.net, which compiles the state warnings for each FIR, noted in early 2026 that commercial traffic continued to transit the FIR via those airways, and that the Middle East closures of March 2026 pushed still more Europe–Asia traffic through it.

So the honest summary is that Afghanistan is a high-risk airspace below FL320 that a large number of airlines have judged acceptable to cross above it, on two specific routes, under a specific set of precautions. That is not the same as saying it is safe in the everyday sense, and it is not the same as saying it is dangerous. It is a managed risk, and the bulletin is the public statement of where the line sits.

What other states say

EASA's bulletin is addressed to European operators, but it is one of several warnings on the Kabul FIR, and they broadly agree. According to safeairspace.net's compilation in October 2026:

  • The United States, through Special Federal Aviation Regulation 119, prohibits US operators from flying in the Kabul FIR below FL320 and permits transits of P500 and G500 at FL300 and above. The rule runs to July 2028.
  • Germany, France and Canada each recommend or require maintaining FL320 or above, in advisories first issued between 2023 and 2024 and still in force.
  • Italy's NOTAM of 1 September 2026 tells its operators to avoid the FIR below 25,000 feet above ground level and states that P500 and G500 are not affected.
  • The United Kingdom's NOTAM of 25 August 2026 asks operators to take the potential risk into account without specifying an altitude, which is a lighter form of warning than the others.

What changed in autumn 2026

The July 2026 revision of the EASA bulletin was already pointing at the Pakistan border. In the last week of September and the first days of October 2026 that concern became concrete. Pakistani airstrikes hit eastern Afghanistan on 28 September, and on 1 October Pakistan announced strikes on ten sites across three Afghan provinces, naming Kandahar, Khost and Paktia, after a militant attack on a police compound in Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa killed at least 23 people. Afghan authorities reported civilian casualties, named Kunar and Helmand among the areas hit, and a ceasefire that had held since March was widely described as having collapsed.

For aviation the significance is not the strikes themselves, which took place at low level against ground targets, but the pattern EASA describes: military activity affecting Afghan airspace with limited warning. Airstrikes, drones and any air-defence response along the Pakistan border all occur near the southern and eastern approaches to the Kabul FIR, and they are the reason the bulletin now names Pakistani cross-border operations explicitly. As of mid-October 2026 EASA has not revised the bulletin again and the FL320 recommendation stands, but the Afghanistan line on the EASA list is the one most likely to be reviewed early if the border situation worsens.

What this means for passengers

If your flight overflies Afghanistan it will do so at cruise altitude, on one of the published airways, with the crew briefed for the uncontrolled airspace and extra fuel on board for a diversion. You will not notice anything from the cabin apart from the route on the map and perhaps a slightly higher cruising level than usual. The risk the bulletin describes is concentrated below FL320, in the climb and descent and around airports, and no European airline is landing in or departing from Afghanistan.

If you would prefer not to overfly it, you can usually choose. Routes that stay north through Central Asia and enter Pakistan or China without crossing OAKX exist, and some airlines use them by policy; our guide to the [northern arc routes between Europe and Asia](/blog/northern-arc-flight-routes-europe-asia-caucasus-central-asia) covers them. The practical way to find out is to check the airline's recent routings for your flight number on a flight-tracking site before you book, and to read our guide on [how to check if your flight avoids conflict zones](/blog/how-to-check-if-your-flight-avoids-conflict-zones). Bear in mind that routings change daily with wind and with closures elsewhere, so a flight that avoided Afghanistan last week may cross it next week.

Quick answers

  • Is Afghan airspace open? Yes. The Kabul FIR (OAKX) is open to overflights, but air traffic services are absent or very limited, so transits are procedural and self-separated.
  • What does EASA say? CZIB-2017-08R19 tells European operators not to fly in the Kabul FIR below FL320 and to monitor developments closely. It is valid until 31 January 2027 unless reviewed earlier.
  • Why FL320? It keeps aircraft above the reach of MANPADS, rockets and mortars, which are the threats EASA names.
  • Do airlines actually fly over Afghanistan? Many do, at high altitude on the P500 and G500 airways, as part of the Central Asia corridor between Europe and South or Southeast Asia.
  • Did the October 2026 Pakistan strikes close the airspace? No. They are the kind of cross-border military activity EASA's July 2026 revision warned about, and the bulletin may be reviewed early, but as of mid-October 2026 the recommendations are unchanged.
  • Can I avoid it? Often yes, by choosing an airline or routing that stays north through Central Asia; check recent tracks for your flight before booking.