Kabul-Kandahar road closure lands transporters in trouble

KANDAHAR (Pajhwok): The closure of the Kabul threat has landed passengers and transport companies in trouble.

The traffic on the major highway came to a halt on Monday after Taliban militants warned transporters against using the route.

Transporters said the Taliban had warned them not to ply the Kabul-Kandahar and Kandahar-Herat highways until their second order.

Ahmadullah Dactar, head of Ahmad Shah Abdali Transport Company in southern Kandahar province, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the Taliban warned them through a telephonic contact.

He said no passenger buses and small vehicles could go on the highway after the warning.

The militants had warned vehicles against travelling on the Kandahar-Herat highway, but cars were seen on the road today without any problems, he said.

He said there were rumors the militants would close the Kandahar-Herat highway tomorrow as well.

Dactar said the Taliban had provided no clear reason for closing the highways, but it was rumored the rebels planned to launch attacks on some districts and provinces.

“That is the reason people avoid commuting on this highway,” the transporter said, calling it failure of the government and security forces to protect highways against threats.

Transport companies’ owners have repeatedly shared complaints about bad road conditions and insecurity on highways with the president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), but they did not nothing practical to improve the situation, Dactar  said.

“The government takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from transport companies in taxes each year, it is government’s job to reconstruct damaged bridges and culverts on highways and ensure security,” he added.

He said transport companies incurred millions of afghanis losses today due to the highway closure. “The losses may increase if the problem persists”, he added.

Mohammad Qahir, a taxi on the road between Kabul and Kandahar, said he started moving from Kandahar to Kabul this morning, but he had to turn back half way.

He said people on the highway told him that militants were stopping vehicles and arresting drivers over ignoring their warning.

Qudratullah, a resident of Kandahar province, who was transferring his patients for treatment to Kabul, told Pajhwok: “It was 3am midnight when I along with my children went to the Kabul bus station in Kandahar city, but representatives of transport companies told me that no vehicles can go on the highway due to militants’ warning.”

He said he could not travel by air as his economic condition was not that good.

mds/ma