Khwahan residents in trouble after border bridge closure

KABUL (Pajhwok): The prices of essential food items have soared in Khwahan district of northeastern Badakhshan province following the closure of a bridge connecting the district with neighboring Tajikistan, local officials said Monday.

According to reports, Tajikistan border forces shut the crossing point between the two countries against Afghan traders after a Tajik shepherd was kidnapped in the border area.

Col. Samiullah Shirzad, commander of the sixth border battalion in Khwahan district, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the missing shepherd remained untraced.

He said traders incurred huge losses as their fresh fruits and vegetables rotted as a result of the bridge closure.

Meanwhile, Ghulam Qadir Akbari, Khwahan district chief, said it remained unclear why the bridge had been closed, but the issue had created huge problems for local residents in form of acute food shortages and price-hike.

Nayk Mohammad Nazari, Badakhshan governor’s spokesman, said local officials were in contact with the Tajikistan consul general in the province on reopening the bridge, but they were yet to receive a convincing response.

Shah Wali, a resident of Khwahan district, told Pajhwok that the price of a bag of 20-kilogram rice increased from 2,200 afghanis to 2,600 afghanis, a 500kg bag of flour from 1,200 afghanis to 2,000afs, a tin of 18kg of ghee from 1,600afs to 2,000afs and 49kg of sugar from 2,500afs to 3,500afs.

He said local people were in trouble and the officials concerned should to find a solution to the bridge blockade.

Besides the border bridge closure, all transport routes to the district have also been closed with the provincial capital due to heavy snowfall.

mds/ma

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