What time is it in Afghanistan?
GMT+4:30 · Asia/Kabul
Back to AfghanistanNow in Kabul
GMT+4:30 UTC+04:30
UTC+04:30
all yearAfghanistan Time
Afghanistan keeps one clock, Afghanistan Time, four and a half hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time, from Herat in the west to the end of the Wakhan Corridor in the east. The country spans almost two geographical time zones and has never used summer time, so Kabul's offset is the same in January and in July. The time zone database files the whole country under Asia/Kabul and records the half-hour offset since 1945; before that the clock stood four hours ahead of UTC.
Today
Daylight in Kabul today
DayLive
12:00
- Sunrise
- 05:46First light 05:21
- Sunset
- 17:40Last light 18:05
- Day length
- 11 h 53 min−3 min on yesterday
- Solar noon
- 11:43Sun at 53°, its highest
Plan a call
Find an hour that works in Afghanistan and elsewhere
The two rows are the same day, hour for hour. Pick a city, then an hour, and the line between the rows marks the office hours both sides share.
Time difference
How far Afghanistan is from other places
Neighbours
- ChinaBeijing+3:30 h
- IranTehran−1 h
- PakistanIslamabad+0:30 h
- TajikistanDushanbe+0:30 h
- TurkmenistanAshgabat+0:30 h
- UzbekistanTashkent+0:30 h
Around the world
- London−3:30 h
- New York−8:30 h
- Los Angeles−11:30 h
- São Paulo−7:30 h
- Moscow−1:30 h
- Dubai−0:30 h
- Delhi+1 h
- Tokyo+4:30 h
- Sydney+5:30 h
Clock changes
Afghanistan does not change its clocks
Daylight
Sunrise and sunset through the year in Kabul
- Sunrise
- 05:46
- Sunset
- 17:40
- Daylight
- 11 h 53 min
- Change
- −3 min
Longest day of 2026: 16 June, 14 h 28 min.
Computed for 34.53, 69.17 at sea level with the NOAA solar equations, to the nearest minute, taking no account of hills.
Writing the time
- Clock
- 12-hour
- Short date
- 5/3/2026
- Long date
- 5 مارس 2026
- Week starts
- Saturday
- Zone names
- GMT+4:30
- Time zone database
- Kabul
History
How the clocks in Afghanistan got here
- 1890
- To 1944.UTC+04:00 all year.
- 1945
- To today.UTC+04:30 all year, no summer time.
From the IANA time zone database, Asia/Kabul, as the build machine carries it.
Common questions
Questions about the time in Afghanistan
What time zone is Afghanistan in?
Afghanistan Time, abbreviated AFT, which is UTC+04:30: four and a half hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It applies across the whole country and all year round, and the time zone database lists it under the single identifier Asia/Kabul, the only Afghan entry in its zone table.
Does Afghanistan have daylight saving time?
No. Afghanistan has never observed daylight saving time, and the clock stays at UTC+04:30 through the summer. The time zone database shows no clock change at any point in the country's history since 1890, only the move from four hours to four and a half hours ahead of UTC.
Since when has Kabul kept UTC+04:30?
Since 1945, by the time zone database, which gives UTC+04:00 for Kabul from 1890 to 1944 and the half hour from 1945 onwards. The sources on file record the change of offset but give no reason for it, and none of them records any later change: the monarchy, the republics and both emirates have all kept the same clock.
Does all of Afghanistan keep the same time?
Yes. Although the country stretches across almost two geographical time zones, from the Iranian border to the Wakhan Corridor on the edge of China, it uses one time zone for its whole territory. A traveller crossing from Herat to Badakhshan does not change the clock.
How are dates and times written in Afghanistan?
The conventions on this page come from the Unicode locale data for Afghanistan: a 12-hour clock, dates written day first, and a week that starts on Saturday. Afghans also use the solar calendar for civil dates, in which, for example, the Taliban's entry into Kabul on 15 August 2021 fell on 24 Asad.