December 17, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 22, 1424

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DURANI (Afghanistan), Dec 16: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday reopened a newly renovated key highway linking the capital with the former Taliban stronghold and economic centre of Kandahar in the south.

“This is not the end of the reconstruction, it is just the beginning,” he told the assembled ministers, provincial representatives and diplomats amid tight security, with helicopters flying overhead while US and Afghan national army troops patrolled on the ground.

Karzai reopened the road near Durani village, 43 kilometres south of Kabul at the start of the US-renovated section.—AFP