Thirteen years ago the United States called the reconstruction of the Kabul-Kandahar highway "the most visible sign" of efforts to rebuild Afghanistan.
But today, that stretch of road is no longer a sign of progress.
Instead, littered with bomb craters and insurgent checkpoints, it's now "beyond repair," according to an Afghan official, and a symbol of the failed US intervention here.
A report released at the weekend by a US government oversight body paints a grim picture of the state of Afghanistan's roads, including the roughly 16,000km that were constructed, paved, repaired or funded by the United States. The new roads were hailed as key to bringing economic growth and security, even when they eventually became too dangerous for travel.
Now, the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) says 95 per cent of the sections of road they inspected were either damaged or destroyed. And 85 per cent were either poorly maintained or not at all.