Thousands displaced from Arghandab District

KABUL (Tolo News): Eight months of war and violence have dealt major destruction to the people in Arghandab district in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. The war has left thousands of people in the district homeless.

Arghandab is one of the 17 districts in Kandahar that saw some of the fiercest battles between the Afghan security forces and the Taliban during this period. Many people who left their native villages have now migrated to neighboring districts and say their conditions are miserable.

Haji Mohammad is a native of Arghandab who fled his village months ago due to war and now has returned to his village. “Fighters were still using our homes, you see that our homes have seen major destruction,” said Haji Mohammad. The main road connecting Arghandab to other districts is still closed due to landmines.

“There are landmines all around, no one is able to move this way,” said Ahmadullah, a resident of Arghandab who returned to his village after five months. Afghan security officials have said that they need months to clear landmines from the road. “We need a lot of time even if we are able to clear 700 or 600 or 500 landmines daily,” said Mohammad Rafiq, the Arghandab police chief.

Two major bridges and several small size bridges were also destroyed during war in the past 8 months in Arghandab. On March 24, the “Taliban” detonated a car full of explosives on a bridge in Arghandab, damaging parts of the bridge, Kandahar police said at the time. Arghandab, Zherai, Dand and Pajwai districts have witnessed clashes between government forces and the Taliban in the last few months.

According to the refugees and repatriation directorate of Kandahar, over 11,000 families have been displaced due to conflicts in the province.