Kandahar-Khakrez route reopens after 18 months

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): Afghan forces reopened the Kandahar-Khakrez road for traffic on Monday after one and a half years, officials said.

Maj. Gen. Tadin Khan, police chief of southern Kandahar province, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the Taliban had blocked the road that connected Khakrez district with the provincial capital by planting bombs on it.

He said the road was cleared of landmines by Afghan forces, a process that took one month.

A convoy of military supplies also reached the district center after the road was opened, he said, adding many security posts were deployed on the road for security of traffic and people’s movement.

Residents of Khakrez district have repeatedly asked the government to help reopen the road. They told Pajhwok they had been in great trouble since insurgents closed the road.

Haji Mohayuddin, a resident of the district, said that hundreds of people including women and children had been stranded on both ends of the road after it was closed.

The public road had been closed by the Taliban and Afghan forces did not allow people to travel on subways, he said.

“If the road was not reopened at this stage, people of the district would have faced with severe drought and poverty”, he added.

Noor Ahmad, another resident of the district, was happy about reopening of the road and said some people were forced to shift their houses to Kandahar city due to pressures from the Taliban.

He asked local security officials to take effective steps for protecting the road against any threats and not let insurgents shut it again.

The Taliban had said they closed the road only for Afghan forces.

Khakrez district where Taliban are partially active is located 60 kilometers north of Kandahar city.

mds/ma