Spin Boldak (Pashto: سپین بولدک) is a city in Kandahar Province of Afghanistan, serving as the capital of Spin Boldak District. Its current mayor is Lutfullah Latifi.
Spin Boldak sits along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. It is linked by a highway with the city of Kandahar to the north, and with Chaman and Quetta in Pakistan to the south. The Wesh-Chaman border crossing is located in the southeast of the city.
The Third Anglo-Afghan War was a short war which began on 3 May and ended on 8 August 1919. The new Amir of the Emirate of Afghanistan Amanullah Khan declared a Jihad against the British in the hope to proclaim full independence, as well as to strengthen his own legitimacy. Amanullah's forces invaded British India on three fronts taking advantage of the unrest in India, in an effort to seize the old Afghan provinces west of the River Indus.
Initial victories saw the Afghans invade across the border, defeating the British and occupying Bagh. The British retaliated, leading a counterattack that routed the Afghans. Conflict continued in Kurram, which saw the British overwhelmed. Taking their own initiative, the British seized Spin Boldak in the south, while an Afghan offensive in Thal was contained, with the British occupying Dacca in turn by the end of May. The Royal Air Force were also used in bombing and strafing attacks on the frontier tribes as well as targets within Afghanistan, including Kabul and Jalalabad. Although small in scale, it was a contributing force for Amanullah to call for an armistice in June.
National Highway 01 or NH01, formally called the Ring Road (Pashto: د افغانستان حلقوي سړک; Dari: شاهراه حلقوی افغانستان), is a 2,200 km (1,400 mi) two-lane and four-lane road network circulating inside Afghanistan, connecting the following cities (clockwise): Kabul, Maidan Shar, Ghazni, Qalat, Kandahar, Delaram, Herat, Qala e Naw, Maymana, Andkhoy, Sheberghan, Mazar-i-Sharif, Puli Khumri, Charikar, and back to Kabul. It has extensions that connect Jalalabad, Bamyan, Khost, Spin Boldak, Lashkargah, Zaranj (Route 606), Farah, Islam Qala, Torghundi, Ymamnazar, Hairatan, Kunduz, and Fayzabad. The Ring Road is part of AH1, the longest route of the Asian Highway Network. National Highway 01 consists of four major sections, NH0101 to NH0104, linking the major economic centers.
Spin Boldak is a district in the eastern part of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. It borders Daman District to the west, Arghistan District to the north, Qila Abdullah District of Pakistan to the east and Shorabak District to the south. The population was estimated at 100,400 in 2006. The district center is the town of Spin Boldak, located in the western part of the district on the road to Pakistan.
On 21 November 2009, five Afghan Border Force members were killed by a roadside bomb.
The Chaman border crossing is one of the major international border crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Located on the Pak-Afghan border, it leads north from the town of Chaman, Chaman District, Balochistan into Wesh, Afghanistan in Spin Boldak District, Kandahar province. More generally, it links the two provincial capitals: Quetta and Kandahar.
At least 10,000 peoples cross this border on a daily basis for businesses in Wesh, Afghanistan and return home in the evening.