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| July 22, 2002 | Monday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 11,1423 |
Truckers’ strike creates food shortages in Afghanistan
CHAMAN, July 21: Food shortages are gripping Afghanistan’s southern provinces as truck drivers continue their strike protesting extortion by Afghans, officials said here on Sunday.
The trucks, which mostly carry food from the town of Chaman to the southern Afghan province of Kandahar and three other provinces, have remained parked for two days.
“For the last two days, no goods trucks have crossed either way through the border, causing shortages of food supplies in Afghanistan” a local official told AFP.
Truck driver Jan Mohammad said they would not operate their vehicles unless the administration in Kandahar stopped their men from extorting money at check points.
“At each check point until Kandahar, we have to pay thousands of rupees as a bribe to gun-toting militia men,” he said.
Most of the trucks are stopped at the Spin Boldak town close to Chaman. The UN World Food Programme has stored food supplies in the area and hires private trucks to transport the goods.
Geran Mohammad, an Afghan official in Spin Boldak, told AFP that the governor of Kandahar, Gul Agha Sherzai, had called a meeting with truckers’ representatives to sort out the issues.
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