Skipper Rahmat Shah hit a fighting unbeaten 84 to foil Bangladesh's bowling attack as Afghanistan reached 211-4 on the second day of the one-off test in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Rahmat stood tall on a dry and hot day against some probing pace and spin to bring Afghanistan within 135 runs of Bangladesh's first innings total of 346 at Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Bangladesh resumed on 317-8 but managed just 29 runs in the first session.
Shah added a useful 70 runs for the third wicket with Abdul Malik, who scored a patient 62, after opener Sediqullah Atal fell for 17 and Shahidullah Kamal managed 20.
At close, Rahmat was unbeaten after batting for 186 balls while wicketkeeper Ikram Alikhil was 26 not out.
Bangladesh's pace attack of Hasan Mahmud and Ebadot Hossain gave their team early breakthroughs by removing Atal and Kamal before Rahmat found an able ally to avoid further losses.
Malik matched his skipper shot for shot, hitting a six and four fours in his maiden test half-century, finally falling to Hossain to leave Afghanistan 134-3.
Five runs later, spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz had former skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi stumped by Litton Das for a duck.
Rahmat and Alikhil defied the bowling in the final session during their unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 72, boosting hopes of a first innings lead.
Hossain was the pick of Bangladesh's bowlers with 2-50.
Earlier, Bangladesh's last two wickets survived just 8.2 overs before they were bowled out for 346.
Mohammad Saleem finished with 4-82 while fellow fast bowlers Yamin Ahmadzai (3-79) and Ismat Alam (2-20) also chipped in with useful wickets.