Kabul traffic is notorious for its congestion and disorder, but according to many residents, recent steps taken by city authorities in preparation for Thursday's Loya Jirga have only made matters worse.
The Jirga will be held in five days on the campus of the Kabul Polytechnic University in the Afshar area of District Five. But security forces have blocked off small to large roads in sweeping fashion all around that part of the capital.
Kabul drivers are used to traffic jams caused by accidents, checkpoints and the frequent broken down vehicle. With rules of the road in the city being more or less up for individual interpretation, driving in Afghanistan's biggest city has never been a picnic.
But many residents have voiced major complaints in the lead up to the Loya Jirga, saying that it takes them hours longer than normal to travel around certain areas of the city. Reportedly, the blocked roads around the Polytechnic University campus have had far-reaching ripple effects on traffic conditions.
While government officials and security personnel are allowed to pass through the closed roads unencumbered, average citizens are forced to walk.
Agha Muhammad, University Student, "There is still five days until the Jirga, but security forces have closed the roads and I had to walk from Kabul University to here," said one student named Agha Muhammad, who lives in the neighborhood of the Polytechnic University.
Officials have maintained that the roadblocks are precautions necessary to ensure the security of the event. As the Jirga will bring together some 3,000 leaders from around the country to decide on the controversial Kabul-Washington security pact, security for it has been a top priority for organizers.
The fact the Taliban threatened the event, and orchestrated a suicide bombing at a checkpoint outside the Jirga grounds that left 42 casualties on Saturday, has only heightened security concerns.
But still, even after Saturday's devastating attack, Kabul residents are not happy about the daily imposition of the road blocks.
"If they have done this for security, then clearly they can't really maintain good security anyway...they are just creating problems for the people," a university student named Shams-u-din Safi told TOLOnews.