Currency Restrictions

Afghanistan imposes the following limits on foreign currency when exiting the country. Note that these limits only apply when you exit the country. They are not imposed when entering.

• $500 when exiting via land borders. This limit is not very uniformly enforced. Many travelers report crossing to Tajikistan without being searched or questioned much.
• $5,000 when flying out of Afghanistan.

If possible, declare the currency you bring into the country. This should make it much easier to exit if you have the same amount or less than you declared. Declaration forms might have to be requested upon entry.

Pakistan has a slightly higher limit of $1,000 when exiting via land borders and $5,000 when flying. Again, this limit applies for exiting the country, not entering. The same recommendation for currency declaration applies here.

Practically speaking, if you are traveling to Pakistan and Afghanistan in one trip over land, you need to be aware of the lower of the two limits which is only $500 and account for it in your plans. Declaring the currency is the safest bet, but the ability to do so is unclear.

If you need to have more than $1,000 to spend in Afghanistan and you are coming via Pakistan, there are some other options:

• Fly into Kabul from Islamabad with up to $5,000.
• Declare the currency when entering Pakistan and show that declaration form upon exit. This should work, but there are no firsthand reports of travelers doing this to confirm. Given how chaotic the Torkham border is, it’s unclear if this would work.

Lots of travelers also do neither and just sneak through borders by hiding the currency. Searches aren’t conducted very thoroughly, but any traveler could get unlucky so this remains a risk that everyone should be aware of.